So I’m having an October baby, and I’m one of those crazy pumpkin ladies. I though Luna would be the cutest name for my baby girl, but according to this article and Nameberry:
Luna is THE most popular baby name in many countries. Including ones like Japan and Brazil? It makes me very confused because this doesn’t seem right. But is there anyone out there who can attest to the popularity of this beautiful name? I know I have never met a little Luna…
yes, luna is popular around the world, but you should only really be concerned about the country/ies you live in/are planning on living in
also, popularity is really just random, you can have the most popular name in your country and never meet someone else with your name or you can have a less popular name and know 3 people with your name
there’s no reason for this to deter you from using a name you love, if luna is the name for you, then use it!
What is a crazy pumpkin lady? Gotta ask.
I have never met a [name_f]Luna[/name_f] and I’ve taught for decades. But again, maybe it’s every other baby.
It is a very popular name overall, it seems. I personally know 5 under 5 in the small town I live in, 3 overseas and a handful across a few other states (former classmates’ kids, daughters of acquaintances, etc). That isn’t counting the sign in sheet at our local library kid’s center, the doctor’s office, social media…
That said, it is a beautiful name. Don’t let popularity scare you off if this is a name you truly love. It may not be “different” anymore but it is still a great name and gives off a wonderful fall vibe.
I’d use it
The names listed in that article are not names that people have given their actual children. It’s a list of names that people have searched the most. Meaning that they were just interested in the name for whatever reason (pronunciation, origin, possible child’s name, etc) and looked it up on this site. When The Hunger Games was all the rage, [name_f]Katniss[/name_f] was at the top of those lists but no one was actually naming their baby that (well, I’m sure someone did but not enough people for it to become popular). I always hate when articles like this are put out because it’s always misleading. [name_f]Luna[/name_f] would never be a popular name in Japan, for example, because there is no “L” in Japanese. It would be pronounced [name_f]Runa[/name_f] instead.
I personally have never met a Luna either and it’s been in the top 10 for a while here!
Yes, this!!
Yep like @Pansy said, that article is talking about what people are searching and not what people are actually naming their babies.
With that being said [name_f]Luna[/name_f] is rising in popularity internationally
Luna is very popular, but it is only the MOST popular name on NB.
This is the popularity ranking for the US: Top Baby Girl Names in US 2019 | Nameberry
This is for most-searched names on the site: Top Girl Names 2021 | Nameberry
(Luna is #1 on this list!)
I for one absolutely love the name [name_f]Luna[/name_f]. If you like it so much then I’d say go for it!
Fortunately, I’ve never met a little Luna! And I live in a predominately Hispanic/Latino State. It is ranked high in the US and also popular worldwide, but I wouldn’t let that stop you from using a name that is truly calling to you. I would personally regret not using some of my popular favorites!
I’ll chime in as the person who actually wrote the original article this is based on.
As others have said, these are the names getting the most views on Nameberry from various countries around the world, not the names currently given to the most babies in those countries.
In some cases, this could indicate that the name is on the rise and set to become more popular. You can already see this happening in birth data for Luna from the US, UK, Aus, NZ and several European countries, for example.
However, in other cases the interest is due to other factors. For example, the interest in Ludo in Pakistan turns out to be due to people googling the board game, which is hugely popular there.
It is a source of eternal frustration to me as well that when articles like this are picked up, they always call them “These Are the Top Names of 2021” or similar, without making clear what the stats actually show.
That said, if name popularity puts you off, Luna is very much on the rise in several countries. It’s currently at #14 in the US and does look set to rise further.
But it’s a beautiful name! One of my favourites and perfect for an October baby 
You could also consider Lyra for something equally witchy but a little less popular (for now).
I agree with the other posters. These rankings are based on how many clicks the Nameberry pages for those names get, not numbers of babies.
I’m not sure about Brazil, but Luna is definitely not the most popular name in Japan. It’s not even in the top ten for girls (and also the Japanese alphabet doesn’t even the letter L, but some Japanese girls named Runa may choose to spell their name as Luna in English). Haruto and Honoka: Japan’s Top 2020 Baby Names | Nippon.com
[name_f]Do[/name_f] you know if stats are normalized to the number of people in a country? So for example if you’re getting a ton of clicks from US users, but way few clicks from Russian users do you normalize for population? [name_u]Or[/name_u] do [name_f]English[/name_f] speaking countries dominate the stats?
The main NB popularity chart just takes into account all pageviews, no matter where they came from. The US is obviously by far the biggest audience, but there are several non-English speaking countries in the Top 10.
For this article, I looked at top pageviews from each country individually. So, for example, the top names in [name_u]Israel[/name_u] obviously had much fewer views overall than the top names in the UK, but they were still the most viewed from that particular country.