I was looking up some of my favorite names to see how popular they are, but it didn’t help much because I don’t know how popular a name should or shouldn’t be. So…should I cross it out if it’s in the top 50? Top 100? Or does it just depend?
I think that is totally up to you. Is it going to bother you if you meet kids with the same name as your baby? In my opinion anything in the top ten is unusable. I would only consider a name in the top one hundred if I absolutely loved it. Go with your gut and just make sure you love the name, no matter how popular it is, or may become.
It’s up to you how popular is too popular. If you’re comfortable with meeting five other children named [name]Sophia[/name], than go with it. If you hate the idea of ever meeting a child with the same name, or having your daughter be [name]Mia[/name] H, than maybe not. Are those examples too extreme?
For me, the top 150-200 is where I draw the line. Unless I really, really love a name, I wouldn’t dream of using it. Parto fme just doesn’t like the idea of my son or daughter being identified as [name]Alice[/name] A. or [name]Frederick[/name] A.
If you really love a name, popularity won’t be that big a deal.
-[name]Athena[/name]
Usually, I don’t consider a name that is tremendously popular, the range about 100-200. I just don’t like a child being [name]Rose[/name] B. or [name]Ian[/name] H. in a class of a couple Ians and Roses. It’s not very appealing. Unless it is a name I REALLY love or has a very important meaning for me.
It depends strictly on your preferences. For some people, popularity is a huge consideration. For others, not so much. I’m one of the latter–I won’t eliminate any name because of popularity rankings alone–but there are many people who won’t use a name in the top 1000 or top 25 or whatever. It just comes down to what you think is important and what you’re comfortable with.
It really just depends. I have a daughter named [name]Ryley[/name]. We have met several other girl Rileys (of various spellings) and boy Rileys (also of various spelling). But I just looked at all the class lists for the school she goes to and of the 100 kids in Kindergarten…she is the only one. And in the whole elementary school there is a boy Rylei in first grade (I only know it’s a boy because he is on Delaneys soccer team) and a [name]Riley[/name] in third grade (IDK the gender though). So that is three total out of roughly 400 students. That is a ratio I can live with. For some people that is too popular.
She was born in 2007…
the top 5 names that year for girls were:
[name]Emily[/name]
[name]Isabella[/name]
[name]Emma[/name]
[name]Ava[/name]
[name]Madison[/name]
of those 5 names there is one lone [name]Isabella[/name] in kindergarten…no girls by the other names.
That is why I don’t understand why people put so much stock in popularity. There really are just too many variables.
It’s all up to you, but personally I wouldn’t name any child of mine a name that I already know 2-3 people with that name.
Like I know 4 [name]Anna[/name]'s so far (and I’m only in 9th grade!), 2 [name]Sarah[/name]'s, 2 [name]Alex[/name]'s, etc.
Also Top 10 Names. Unless you REALLY love them, I wouldn’t personally use them. I just feel like it’s nice to grow up with a name that no one else has. Since I moved to my new school, I’ve only ever met one other [name]Cate[/name], with the same C spelling and she’s in a grade below mine. I’ve never actually met a [name]Kate[/name] unless they are much older than me.
I was reading an article about this very issue yesterday and popularity just doesn’t mean the same thing that it used to.
Because the popularity lists are so readily available, fewer and fewer people are choosing name in the top list, so while 50 years ago there was a very good chance that in a class of 30 at least 1 would have the #1 name for their birth year. However, now, statistically you would need at least 3 classes of 30 kids to find 1 with the #1 name for their birth year.
So your child has a much lower chance of knowing multiple people with their name just because of the change in naming practices over the last 20 years.
I agree with the pp’s advice that I would personally avoid using a name that someone in my family or close friend set used unless you absolutely adore it, but in general, I wouldn’t eliminate anything that I love just because of the popularity chart.
Unless you’re extremely concerned with giving your child a very unique name, it’s not something I would really take into consideration.
Im from [name]North[/name] [name]America[/name], so the name popularity list I look at is the US one.
Although I like most names in the top 100, I wouldn’t use them, other than the following exceptions.
[name]Gavin[/name] and [name]Charlotte[/name] are the only names in the top 40 I would consider using.
[name]Jaxon[/name], [name]Kennedy[/name], [name]Madeline[/name], [name]Xavier[/name], [name]Chase[/name], [name]Stella[/name]- other names from the top 100 I would consider.
Other than those exceptions, I personally wouldn’t use any of the other names
To me a name becomes unusable when I get annoyed from hearing it. [name]Asher[/name], [name]Archer[/name], [name]Grey[/name], [name]Greyson[/name] are some that I just can’t stand because I hear them all the time.
I don’t but a lot of stock in to popularity outside the Top 10. I knnow 5 Masons ranging from 5-6mos. To me that’s 2 Masons too many.
For me 11-25 is usable, 26-39 is better and anything 40 or lower is great. This is based off of my own name and my brother’s name (mine was 49th national, 35th state and his was 62nd state.
and 72nd national). I’ve yet to meet another kid with my brother’s name and I’ve only met one other [name]Erin[/name] my age and a second that is 15-18 years older than me. So I’d say anything under 30 should be okay if popularity isn’t a big deal.