What do you consider a popular or unique name based on ranking?
To answer your question about the top 1000, I definitely don’t consider any name in the top 1000 popular. Most kids with a name ranked 1000 aren’t going to meet another kid with their name.
I like names that are less popular than mine, so I investigate by seeing how many people in my birth year had my name, and then going for names less popular than that
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But in terms of unique, I think there are some names in the bottom of the top 1000 that feel unique even if they technically aren’t: [name_u]Joyce[/name_u], [name_m]Ephraim[/name_m], [name_m]Rogelio[/name_m] all would light up my eyes with surprise if I heard of a baby with those names. But others in that same range, like [name_f]Belle[/name_f], [name_m]Wes[/name_m], or [name_m]Duncan[/name_m], ~feel~ less unique even though they were used the same about last year. So some of it is more arbitrary.
[name_m]Even[/name_m] in the extended data, there are some really familiar names that don’t rank, whether it’s because it’s a mom name now (like Courtney) or because it’s a spelling variation of a more popular name. I wouldn’t necessarily say [name_u]Courtney[/name_u] is a unique name for a girl, but it’s not in the top 1000 for the US
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I can only speak for [name_f]England[/name_f] and [name_m]Wales[/name_m], but basically I’ve obsessed over this concept many times and ended up with this information:
Roughly 1 in 65 boys, or 1 out of every 130 children overall, are called the number one boy’s name (Oliver) in [name_f]England[/name_f] + [name_m]Wales[/name_m]. About 1 in 75 girls / 1 in 150 children are called [name_f]Olivia[/name_f], which is the top girl’s name. By rank 100 it’s about 1 in 400 boys or 1 in 600 girls with the name, and 1 in 1000 children overall. Obviously the numbers keep getting smaller. Only 1 in 10,000 boys/girls, or 1 in 20,000 children overall, are called the 1000th most popular name. So yeah, it can really vary!
For me personally, I consider anything under about rank 50 to be bordering on “popular”, or more accurately “might have more than one in a class”. [name_f]My[/name_f] ideal comfort zone for names is under 200, but a lot of my faves do go over that, it isn’t a hard and fast rule or anything. Also popularity is weird and doesn’t necessarily obey the data. In my primary school class of 30 there were 3 Charlottes - [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] was not even a chart topper the year I was born, but it made up 10% of my class! So you can never really be sure!
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Honestly, I think it depends on area, and although the rankings are both quite useful and interesting, and I’m not trying to knock them in any way, I don’t know that they fully capture popularity.
Example: I don’t know nor can I ever remember meeting a single [name_f]Ava[/name_f] or [name_u]Elijah[/name_u]— of any age— and they’re both Top 10 names right now.
That said, I’m generally not worried about a name’s popularity at all if it’s not Top 100 or if there isn’t anyone in my life with that name.
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I tend to go by state rather then overall country (Australia has this option) and keep and eye on the local papers birth announcements and check a name over many years rather then just a single year.
When I had my eldest (Emilia) [name_f]Amelia[/name_f] was top 5 in the state but my [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] has never had one spelt either way in her year. And never met one spelt with an E but there are two anneliese’s in her year at her school and that’s not top 100 at all in Australia (in the year she was born)
So for me I judge a name has become too popular for me to use if I see it more then 3 times in my area (I.e park/playgroup/friends group etc) or if over 150 babies are born in the state with the same name
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For me, anything below the top 50 is popular. Having worked with kids, anything outside that you don’t come across too many.
To be honest though, it totally depends on the area. I’ve met quite a lot of Aoifes, Honeys and Tallulahs depsite them not being actually popular
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For me maybe the top 20 or 30 are popular. The other thing to bear in mind is for how many years a name has been in the top numbers. Some names stay in for 30 years or more - like [name_f]Jessica[/name_f] and [name_u]Ryan[/name_u] - and others are only in the top 30 for a year or two, meaning there are not that many of them out there.
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People definitely overestimate how popular names are. I’m guilty of this myself. When we picked our baby’s name I was super worried it would be too common because it’s currently ranked at #323, but now that we’re in the hospital with him every single nurse or doctor we’ve said his name to has said “oh that’s so unique!” I mean even if you look at [name_f]Olivia[/name_f], the top girls name right now, it still only have 17535 babies given that name last year. That may sound like a big number but when you take into consideration just how many babies there are in the world it’s still a tiny percentage (about 1.001% to be exact). Plus like others have mentioned there are other factors to take into consideration like how many years a name has been popular, like if a name was high ranking for 10 years but then fell out of popularity it still would probably seem common. Alternatively a name that just broke into the top will still feel unique.
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it definitely depends on the name’s historical ranking more than the current ranking. for example, nowadays if you called your son [name_u]John[/name_u] he’d be unlikely to meet another [name_u]John[/name_u] his age (based on england & wales data). this doesn’t mean that [name_u]John[/name_u] is a rare or even uncommon name though, because he will almost certainly meet an older [name_u]John[/name_u], or a [name_u]Jack[/name_u] his own age (Jack is currently ranked number 8). with that being said, i think anything that’s never been in the top 100 can be called uncommon provided it’s the most common spelling.
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In my opinion there are four criteria -
- Is it below the top 100 for both sexes?
- Does it sound similar to any name in the top 100?
- Has it risen highly in the last few years (Anything above 200 spots.)
- Does it have a common alternate spelling (in my opinion this is any spelling that has earned it’s own place in the top 1000 this also includes spinoff names a la Nova/Novalee)?
Examples -
Annabella ranks at about #873 but it sounds really similar to Annabel which isn’t in the top 100 but is in the top 200. It also sounds similar to Isabella which is in the top 10 and Arabella which is in the top 200. Whereas Felicity ranks at #386 which is a higher ranking by a solid 400 places at least. But no name in the top 1000 sounds like Felicity (maybe Felix but that’s loose at best) thus it feels less popular than Annabella.
Kalani is #397 but Kehlani is #168 , Kaylani is #340 and Kailani is #282. In comparison Gemma is #207 but as there is only one other spelling (which does not rank in the US top 1000) it feels much less common.
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Usually the top 100 to be safe and the top 50 definitely. If you’re in the US, the ssa releases state specific popular names (top 50) and I try to keep an eye on those.
100-200 to me are the most popular. 300-400 are inbetween, it depends on where you are. I consider 500 and below “unique” ish…like you may meet a few in your lifetime but probably not the most popular name. Definitely 900-100 is rare. And there are some lower (in the 400-600 range) that are rising quickly, and I would consider those “popular” if they are experiencing a large rise now.
I feel I agree with @Wittyusername103 , also some names, like [name_f]Annabelle[/name_f] might seem more popular if you include [name_f]Anna[/name_f] or [name_f]Belle[/name_f], or some names that used to be popular.
Although I would certainly not be happy with choosing a popular name, most important thing to remember is to pick a nice name. I would never pick name that is ugly, but unheard of, rather I might reconsider some popular, but lovable variant.
I agree, to me under top 50 is popular, or a name that sounds like a popular name. For example [name_f]Taylee[/name_f] and [name_m]Tayden[/name_m] might not be popular but sound like it because [name_f]Kaylee[/name_f], [name_f]Hailey[/name_f], [name_u]Aidan[/name_u], etc are. Names with multiple spellings like [name_f]Adalyn[/name_f], [name_f]Madelyn[/name_f], [name_f]Aliyah[/name_f], [name_u]Kayden[/name_u], etc, are sneak popular. I currently work with kids and my group has a [name_f]Kaylee[/name_f], [name_f]Caylee[/name_f], [name_f]Hailey[/name_f], [name_f]Haylie[/name_f], [name_f]Hailey[/name_f], [name_u]Kayden[/name_u], [name_m]Caydon[/name_m], Kdynn, [name_u]Hayden[/name_u], [name_u]Jaylin[/name_u], three Madisons, [name_f]Madelyn[/name_f] and [name_f]Madelyn[/name_f], [name_f]Kaitlyn[/name_f], [name_f]Katelynn[/name_f], and Katilynn. None are too ten names but you see the issue. Also had severak other [name_u]Devin[/name_u] and [name_u]Jaylen[/name_u] spellings, multiple Janiyas, and two Brianna’s. Only one [name_f]Olivia[/name_f] and one [name_u]Elijah[/name_u]. One [name_f]Ava[/name_f] and [name_f]Emma[/name_f], one [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] and one [name_f]Sophie[/name_f]. A few Bens, [name_m]Matthews[/name_m], Zach’s, and Austin’s. Two Isabella’s and one [name_f]Isabel[/name_f]. Strangely three Messiah’s. Only one [name_u]Liam[/name_u], multiple spellings of [name_u]Cameron[/name_u], two Abby’s, and two Grayson’s and Gavin’s. The real repeats are the ones who have more than one or two accepted spellings. [name_f]Hailey[/name_f], [name_f]Kaylee[/name_f], [name_f]Kaitlyn[/name_f], [name_f]Adalyn[/name_f], etc are far more popular than [name_f]Emma[/name_f] or [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] in my area.
What if a name is only in the top 400 in the US (where I live) but in the top 100 on Nameberry? Does that mean it’s popular? Going to become popular?
Nameberry categorizes it’s popularity list by likes and searches on the their website so it’s absolutely zero indicator on the naming scene at large or the popularity list
That makes sense
For me, no. I work with children and for example, have only met one [name_f]Emma[/name_f], no Olivias and maybe 2 Avas, which are the US top 3. The names I’ve met loads and loads of are ones that never broke the top 10 - [name_f]Zoey[/name_f], [name_f]Claire[/name_f], [name_f]Aurora[/name_f], [name_u]Aria[/name_u], [name_f]Adriana[/name_f], [name_f]Annabel[/name_f], [name_u]Quinn[/name_u], [name_u]Paisley[/name_u], etc.
For me popularity is based on who I know and what I hear day to day, as it’s a better indicator of what’s popular in my area.