[name]One[/name] of the coolest things about the naming world is the diversity, but sometimes a name’s position (or lack thereof) in the top 1000 will influence whether you’d use it or not. And there are some names that people just dislike. So if you could control the top 1000, are there any names you would put in? Any you would take out? Make more or less popular? Names you would replace with other names?
For example, I would:
Put [name]Aveline[/name], [name]Ivah[/name], [name]Sabina[/name], [name]Winter[/name], [name]Sabella[/name], Sabelina, Avelina, [name]Avalon[/name], [name]Azalea[/name], [name]Sayer[/name], Kainan and [name]Raphaela[/name] somewhere in the 400s or 500s, so they would feel more familiar
Make [name]Ava[/name] slightly less popular, say in the top 200
Take [name]Nevaeh[/name] out; nobody seems like respect this name much
Bring back [name]Ida[/name]!
Replace [name]Jayden[/name] with the more sensible spellings [name]Jaden[/name]/[name]Jadon[/name].
Replace [name]Kaitlyn[/name] with the original [name]Caitlin[/name].
Replace [name]Makayla[/name]/[name]Mikayla[/name] with [name]Michaela[/name] or [name]Micaela[/name].
Ensure [name]Renesmee[/name] stayed out of it.
Make [name]Addison[/name], [name]Emerson[/name], [name]Emery[/name], [name]Avery[/name] etc as popular for boys as they are for girls.
First of all, I would swap the popularity of most unisex names. [name]Bailey[/name] for a boy? Yeah, it would totally be in the top 100 instead of almost falling off the top 1000. Same for [name]Avery[/name], [name]Emerson[/name], [name]Finley[/name], [name]Aubrey[/name], etc. The only unisex name that can stay how it is would be [name]Hadley[/name]… I know I’m such a hypocrite but I love [name]Hadley[/name] for a girl right now! Which is so weird, but I have loved [name]Hadley[/name] on a girl for a really long time.
I would move [name]Sophia[/name]/[name]Sophie[/name], [name]Olivia[/name], [name]Isabella[/name], and even [name]Isabelle[/name] to around the 200 mark, so people didn’t always freak out about how rabidly popular they are, and I would move [name]Charlotte[/name] to the 100 mark or so. I would get rid of all trendy spellings (here’s to looking at you, [name]Mikayla[/name], [name]Jayden[/name], [name]Natalee[/name], and [name]Alivia[/name]!) and all made-up name (hellooo, [name]Jayden[/name], [name]Nevaeh[/name], [name]Braelyn[/name], [name]Jaelyn[/name], [name]Jalen[/name], etc.!), not to mention the stripperish gem-type names ([name]Emerald[/name], [name]Amethyst[/name], etc.).
And [name]Zenobia[/name] would definitely have her day in the sun!
I take the whole [name]Isabelle[/name] comment back. I’m very happy with it ranking at 105, haha. Well known, but nowhere near as rabid as [name]Isabella[/name]. If [name]Isabella[/name] ranked at 200 or 300 or even 400, [name]Isabelle[/name] would probably be fresh and sweet and I’m sure it would be viewed by others as something along the lines of [name]Charlotte[/name], [name]Ruby[/name], or [name]Lydia[/name].
Move [name]Sophia[/name], [name]Sophie[/name], [name]Charlotte[/name] [name]Gabriel[/name], [name]Olivia[/name], [name]Blake[/name], [name]Wyatt[/name], and [name]Nicholas[/name] down are the 200-300 mark, so I could use them without worrying about the popularity.
I would jettison all the creative spellings (multiple spellings of [name]Jadon[/name], [name]Madison[/name], etc.). Accepted variant spellings I can handle, but yooneek spellings make me cry inside.
Make sure that names like [name]Quinn[/name], [name]Avery[/name], and [name]Gale[/name] are higher up on the popularity charts for boys than they are for girls. Also, [name]Elliot[/name] would be only a boys name and would consistently stay around the 300 mark in all its variant spellings.
I agree with OP on cutting [name]Nevaeh[/name] and banning [name]Renesmee[/name]. I would add [name]Katniss[/name] to the banned list, as well.
[name]Jethro[/name] and [name]Jemima[/name] would be in around the 400 mark.
@ashthedreamer - true; some people would discard [name]Isabelle[/name] with ‘Oh, they wanted [name]Isabella[/name] but it got too popular.’ But [name]Isabelle[/name] and [name]Isabella[/name] feel like two different names to me. [name]Isabelle[/name] is quite sweet and light while [name]Isabella[/name] is more elaborate and dramatic. And I agree with the thing about stripperish gem names. [name]Amethyst[/name], [name]Diamond[/name], [name]Sapphire[/name] and [name]Emerald[/name] feel more like bling jewellery than names. Well, my name’s [name]Amber[/name] so maybe I’m one to talk, lol.
@frustratedauthor - yes, I think [name]Katniss[/name] should keep off the top 1000, and [name]Elliott[/name] (in any spelling) has never felt like a girl’s name to me, even though I used to watch Scrubs where there was a female [name]Elliot[/name]. And I think [name]Jethro[/name] and [name]Jemima[/name] deserve more recognition!
The common denominators so far seem to be:
you both want to get rid of the tryn’deeighe spelyngz (me, too!)
you both want unisex names to be more popular for boys than girls. (I won’t lie: I want the unisex names to be more popular for boys, too! Probably just a bias of mine since I love the names [name]Emerson[/name], [name]Addison[/name], [name]Peyton[/name] and [name]Emery[/name] on a boy. But more ideally for me, they would be used on boys and girls in equal proportion.)
invented names like [name]Renesmee[/name], [name]Katniss[/name], [name]Jaelyn[/name], [name]Braelyn[/name], etc, are to stay out completely. (Agreed!)
@rowanasabe and hayley88 - I think that if you love a name specifically because it’s rare (as in something like [name]Affinity[/name], Sevillah, Roxelana, etc) then it’s not so unreasonable to want it to stay out of the top 1000.
Creative and yooneek type names that spellings… GONE!
[name]Nevaeh[/name], [name]Precious[/name], [name]Princess[/name], [name]Unique[/name], among other names that sound more like My [name]Little[/name] Ponies? GONE!
[name]Isabella[/name] (and other variants), [name]Olivia[/name], [name]Chloe[/name], [name]Mia[/name], and the like… moved down to about 150, 200 or so. (seriously, they need a break)
[name]Lily[/name], [name]Charlotte[/name], [name]Sophia[/name], [name]Autumn[/name], and [name]Lillian[/name]… knocked down to somewhere in the 200 or 300 range, so I don’t get the “too popular” dismissal.
[name]Renesmee[/name], [name]Katniss[/name], and other teenybopper gems… GONE! In addition to being ensured they don’t weasel their way on the top 1000.
Names like [name]Avery[/name], [name]Morgan[/name], [name]Madison[/name], [name]Taylor[/name], [name]Alexis[/name], [name]London[/name], and [name]Cassidy[/name] would be far more acceptable as boy’s names. They wouldn’t be higher than say 700 or so for girls.
Nonsensical variants of [name]Michaela[/name]/[name]Micaela[/name]… GONE!
Made up [name]Aidan[/name]/[name]Aiden[/name] variants and the like… GONE! I don’t mind if legit type names like [name]Aidan[/name] and [name]Hayden[/name] stick around though. [name]Just[/name] please, no more [name]Brayden[/name], [name]Zayden[/name] etc. – !
[name]Blake[/name], [name]Luca[/name], [name]Quinn[/name], [name]Elliot[/name] and other truly male names? Not on the girl’s top 1000!
I wish [name]Alexis[/name] was as popular for boys as it is for girls. It’s at #219 for boys, though, so [name]IMO[/name] it’s good to see it hanging on. I thought of it as more feminine until my sister got me to watch her DVD box sets of [name]Buffy[/name] the Vampire Slayer and [name]Angel[/name], where [name]Alexis[/name] Denisof plays [name]Wesley[/name]. Now it’s really masculine to me! Especially with the nickname [name]Lex[/name]!
Roxelana just kind of sits on my name lists gathering dust and cobwebs. It’s really similar to my great-grandmother’s maiden name so ideally it would be on my list, but I’m going to be a scaredy-cat and stick with [name]Roxana[/name] if I ever plan to honour her. I think Roxelana sounds familiar enough to hit the top 1000, but I doubt it ever will.
I just thought of other names I would remove - one being [name]Kaydence[/name]. Specifically because it’s not far behind the original [name]Cadence[/name]. [name]Cadence[/name] is fine, but [name]Kaydence[/name] is just krayzy. And [name]Neveah[/name], in this spelling. I think this spelling is actually prettier and more logical than [name]Nevaeh[/name], but given the origin of [name]Nevaeh[/name], it just doesn’t work.
I would take the last 15 years and swap [name]Phoebe[/name] and [name]Chloe[/name] over. [name]Chloe[/name] is my #1 favourite- but I doubt I will use it due to the fact that it has risen even higher here in Australia now- some areas it is now #1. [name]Phoebe[/name] (the one I will probably use because it is similar enough to [name]Chloe[/name] that I like it and it has hovered in the 50-75 range over the last 15 years- which appeal to me- known yet not over done.)
So my ‘fiddle’ with the list is simple: I would just swap those names so I could actually choose [name]Chloe[/name] without fear of having a clone name.
But as that is unlikely, I guess I will have a [name]Phoebe[/name]. Unless I go nuts for something else.
I’d take out [name]Nevaeh[/name], [name]Jayden[/name] and every other made-up abomination. I’d also swap [name]Ashley[/name], [name]Avery[/name], [name]Madison[/name] etc. over to the boy list.
I’d also stick [name]Annora[/name] somewhere in there, probably in the 500s somewhere, so I can have a little [name]Annora[/name] and people don’t say “Did you make that up?”
I would:
Ditch the ridiculous spellings…or at the very least, put them near the bottom, like the 800s or so.
Make unisex names used more equally.
Push my favorite names down about 50 spaces or so.
Push the more obscure yet completely legitimate names up the list so they get more recognition.
Switch up the top ten a bit, so [name]Ava[/name], [name]Isabella[/name], [name]Emily[/name], [name]Emma[/name], [name]Olivia[/name], [name]Jacob[/name], etc. become significantly less popular.
@emiliaj - Sorry to hear about you losing [name]Chloe[/name] to the #1 spot. I like [name]Phoebe[/name]. Have you considered Cloelia nn [name]Chloe[/name]? Or [name]Claudie[/name]?
@aureliagwendolen - Completely agree about [name]Annora[/name], a lot of people think it’s made up when it isn’t! ><
In the UK top 100 I would put Theo much, much further down so I could use Theodore nn Theo.
Totally agree Amberdaydream, I’d love to have [name]Theodore[/name] as a first name on my list but [name]Theo[/name] has ruined it for me. So move [name]Theo[/name] way out, along with [name]Sebastian[/name], [name]Gabriel[/name] and [name]Zachary[/name] so their popularity wouldn’t bother me. For that matter as [name]Theo[/name] is a nickname, I’d like to remove all nicknamey names and only allow full first names; I seriously don’t get using [name]Ollie[/name], [name]Zac[/name], [name]Theo[/name], [name]Sam[/name], [name]Ben[/name], [name]Tom[/name] as full first names.
Along with that rule of only having full first names, I’d only allow traditional or real alternative spellings, such as [name]Elliot[/name] or [name]Elliott[/name] and [name]Catherine[/name] and [name]Katherine[/name] so we don’t have to see [name]Leila[/name], [name]Laila[/name], [name]Layla[/name],[name]Laela[/name], [name]Jayden[/name], [name]Jaden[/name], [name]Jadyn[/name], [name]Jadin[/name] etc.
Like most on here remove the boys names from the girls list, and increase the popularity of Addion, [name]Avery[/name], [name]Aubrey[/name] in the UK but only on boys.
Let us mourn the loss of [name]Theodore[/name] to [name]Theo[/name]. I wanted [name]Matilda[/name] nn [name]Tilly[/name] for a while, but [name]Tilly[/name]/[name]Tillie[/name] is also in the top 100 for the UK. Sure, we seldom use the frowned-upon trend of boy names on girls, but we do have this awful habit of using nicknames as given names. In some cases I think it’s OK (i.e. names like [name]Kate[/name] and [name]Lola[/name] can stand alone) but [name]IMO[/name] [name]Tilly[/name] is just a bit too cutesy to stand alone. Same goes for [name]Lexi[/name]/e and [name]Evie[/name] (I feel as if I have lost [name]Eve[/name] and [name]Eva[/name] to [name]Evie[/name], even though I wasn’t going to use [name]Evie[/name] as a nn.)
Same for [name]Avery[/name], [name]Emerson[/name], [name]Finley[/name], [name]Aubrey[/name], etc. The only unisex name that can stay how it is would be [name]Hadley[/name]… I know I’m such a hypocrite but I love [name]Hadley[/name] for a girl right now! Which is so weird, but I have loved [name]Hadley[/name] on a girl for a really long time.
I think Roxelana sounds familiar enough to hit the top 1000, but I doubt it ever will.
I like [name]Phoebe[/name]. Have you considered Cloelia nn [name]Chloe[/name]? Or [name]Claudie[/name]?