I follow Swistle, too, and weighed in on the topic on her page, so I’ll just copy/paste my comments here. 
Such a fun topic.
"I love this phenomenon, and I use it as an example every time a person mentions that they love a name, “but it’s too popular”. You never know!
I’m raising two young kids right now, so we’re immersed in the name world, and I’ve always been a name enthusiast, so I’m familiar with the SSA lists and the trends. I’m fascinated by the fact that I’ve never met one [name_f]Ava[/name_f]. Not a single one. I like the name, I know it’s popular, but it just doesn’t exist in my social circle at all. We’re in the US Midwest.
We do know two Atticuses, two Clarks, two Junipers, and three [name_f]Marys[/name_f].
Another thing that happens all the time is that people pick an individual name that isn’t high on the charts, but neglect to consider the differing spellings or the sound families. That I can think of, we know 17 girls whose names start with El-, and 7 that start with Ev-. Several of those are different spellings of [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] and [name_u]Everly[/name_u].
I have a friend whose daughter is named [name_u]Ellison[/name_u] Starts-with-B-and-rhymes-with-Lawyer. She gave her a backpack with “E. (Last name)” on it and sent her off to kindergarten. It’s a relatively small class (let’s say, a dozen kids or so). In that class is a little girl named [name_f]Ellen[/name_f], whose last name also starts with B and rhymes with [name_m]Lawyer[/name_m]. There is one letter difference in the last names. [name_f]My[/name_f] friend would never have guessed that that backpack would not have been sufficient, given that the last name is not common, and the chances of those two girls’ names being so similar.
I was born in ’86 in [name_u]Arizona[/name_u] and named [name_u]Ashley[/name_u]. Hugely popular name at the time of my birth and my parents had no idea. Typical story. But we knew no other Ashleys at the time. After kindergarten, we moved to [name_u]Texas[/name_u]. Suddenly, there were Ashleys EVERYWHERE. It was normal that I was one of three in a classroom. In one of my classes, there were three [name_u]Ashley[/name_u] Ws, so we all had to go by our last names as if they were our firsts. I hated it. But in high school, we moved to [name_u]Kansas[/name_u]. While there were plenty of Ashleys still in my graduating class, I was usually the only one in a classroom. And I moved to another [name_u]Kansas[/name_u] town in adulthood, where I vaguely know two other Ashleys, but we’re not generally in the same circle. All of that to say, even when a name IS crazy popular, like it was in the days before internet and no one knew it was popular, it still ebbs and flows throughout life. I’ve been one of many, and I’ve been the only. It’s hard to know what a child might experience ahead of time.
Always pick the favorite name!"
"Thought of another one.
[name_f]My[/name_f] son is named [name_u]Rory[/name_u]. It was in the 400s on the SSA list the year he was born. But he started going to a weekly church gathering when he was 3, and there was another boy named [name_u]Rory[/name_u]. 2 Rorys in a class of maybe 30 kids."
