I realize that deciding whether or not to give your baby a popular name is a very personal and nuanced decision with many factors, from how much you like the name and what personal significance it has to you to how popular it is in your specific town/city, and that there’s nothing inherently wrong with names that are popular (in fact - you could argue that they’re popular for a reason, so they must be inherently right!). I also know, though, that many people, myself included, have strong feelings about not wanting their kids to have names that are too popular or to be forever known as [name_f]Emma[/name_f] P. because there are 3 [name_f]Emma[/name_f]'s in the class.
I’m curious to know what other people’s threshold for “too popular” is, in a general sense. Top 10? Top 100? Top 500? Of course the line isn’t written in stone and the right name could still be the right name even if it’s a bit more popular than you’d like.
Personally, I’d only use a top 100 name if I really, really loved it and it had a lot of personal and family significance. I tend to feel that I’d rather use a name that’s #500 or below, but I’d be open to a 100-500 name if I liked it a lot, but I’m curious to hear other people’s take.
I’m the same way. I’d rather use a name below #500, but if the name had a lot of personal/family significance and it felt really right, then I would use a more popular name.
I think top 50 would make me uncertain. Maybe that will change by the time I have kids, maybe not. But as you said, just because something isn’t in the top 100 for my country, doesn’t mean there won’t be loads of kids with that name in my city, or if it is popular it could still be uncommon in the region, so it’s more complicated than a number.
It really depends. I recommend looking at how many times the name is used. Generally, girls’ names are more prone to changing and the top girl name is less popular than the top boy name. When was it last popular? If it ever was. You could look at the charts and see [name_f]Marie[/name_f] in the 600s, but realise that it was wildly popular a century ago, and it is the middle name of many women.
For me, I prefer names halfway through the list or so. Many of mine are either off the list (but used to be on) or are roughly halfway through. It’s a good balance as the names are known, but chances are they’ll be the only one in their class or school with the name. Though it doesn’t guarantee anything. My name was in the 50s when I was born, and I’ve only been in a class with a kid who shared my name once.
I feel like I may be the odd one out here but I simply avoided the top 10 names when naming my child.
I wanted her to have a name that was recognisable and well-liked while not being common enough that she’s the fifth in her class.
[name_f]Harriet[/name_f] is something like #61 in [name_f]England[/name_f] and I think I found that. I go to baby groups and know a few other babies through family etc. and haven’t met another one yet and I’ve had nothing but positive comments. I think it’s a personal preference though and I could see why you’d want to go for something a bit more unique.
For me personally, top 100 gives me pause, top 40 would make me not choose it unless I had to because I loved it too much. I would never do a top 20 name though, that’s too popular for me personally.