As someone who spends a fair amount of time on Nameberry, I find it particularly interesting and funny when my “real life” experiences don’t match up with the general sentiments around these message boards. I have visited this site for over a year but now that I have a baby, I have a totally different perspective! I’m curious whether other berries have experienced this, and/or how perspective on your child’s name changes as they get older.
My experience: We named our son a top Nameberry name, [name_m]Silas[/name_m], which I love! And I love the reasons why we chose it, together with his middle name. But after we chose it, I became concerned (mostly after reading these forums, haha) that the name is incredibly overused!! However, in [name_m]New[/name_m] [name_m]York[/name_m] City, where we live, I have yet to meet another baby with the name. TONS of people ask if it is a family name, which leads me to believe that either they are not familiar with it or it seems very old-timey to them. And several people have asked if we made the name up! I guess I am realizing that, at least at this stage, I value recognizable names more than I expected to. I find it to be a relief when I am meeting new people and their babies, and I also am happy when people don’t have follow-up questions about my son’s name.
Has anyone else had similar experiences??
My cousin just named his baby [name_m]Silas[/name_m]! I think it is on the rise, but they are from a rural area and the name has a rural, country vibe. I could see that it wouldn’t be as popular in NYC.
Both of my girls have unique names, [name_f]Maeby[/name_f] more than Saela. I’ve met people with children named Sayla and [name_f]Selah[/name_f], which sound the same but have different spellings. I still absolutely love them, and love that they will be one of a kind. We got a lot of questions with [name_f]Maeby[/name_f], but they’ve stopped now. She just completed kindergarten and we never got any questions from anyone related to the school. We get a lot of compliments now! We love that she is likely the only one they will ever meet and it really let’s her give them their only impression of the name. She owns it!
Whilst I’m somewhat new to this site, i definetly think there is a difference in nameberry vs real life experiences. I am constantly explaining my kids names- I don’t mind because we picked somewhat unusual names, especially for where I live in Aus, however it does feel good when their names aren’t questioned. At the park today, for example we met an [name_f]Olivia[/name_f], [name_f]Ava[/name_f], [name_m]Connor[/name_m], [name_m]Thomas[/name_m] and [name_f]Mia[/name_f]. As I was calling my youngest I got asked if her name was [name_f]Claire[/name_f]- I said no it’s [name_u]Blair[/name_u] and she looked at me like I had two heads. Can’t please everybody. By the way I love [name_m]Silas[/name_m]!
There’s definitely a NB vs. real-world dichotomy! I’m not a mom yet, but I do get weird looks when I mention that I love [name_u]Bailey[/name_u] for a boy, [name_f]Madelief[/name_f], [name_f]Anouk[/name_f], etc., though.
It’s always odd seeing the taste that Berries have (and I always think my taste is rather tame, compared to most!) compared to the general public. [name_m]New[/name_m] babies I’ve met/heard of recently are [name_f]Harmonie[/name_f] (little sister to Om!n!e), [name_u]Brayden[/name_u] [name_m]Andrew[/name_m], [name_m]Gavin[/name_m] [name_m]Christopher[/name_m], [name_f]Audrey[/name_f] [name_f]Susan[/name_f] (which feels quite [name_u]Berry[/name_u]-esque, honestly, and I honestly love, but it’s so classic that the parents really didn’t have to be Berries to pick it), [name_u]Aiden[/name_u] [name_m]Ethan[/name_m] [name_u]Carter[/name_u], [name_m]Josiah[/name_m] [name_m]Asher[/name_m] [name_m]Luke[/name_m], and [name_m]Levi[/name_m] [name_m]John[/name_m]. There is some Nameberry overlap, but most of them feel like “general public” names as opposed to something you’d find on Nameberry.
It’s really kind of funny, isn’t it? I for one have never met other little girls called [name_f]Ziva[/name_f] or [name_f]Viola[/name_f], so I do get lots of looks and questions. [name_f]Noor[/name_f] on the other hand is very mainstream within my family and Arabic/Middle-Eastern communities, I think because it is so easily used in English-speaking contexts. So I have met a few Noors here and there and of all sorts of ages.
My stepson’s name is [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] and to be honest, I’m yet to meet other little boys with his name, although adult [name_u]Alex[/name_u]'s and teenage young-adult [name_u]Alexis[/name_u]'or [name_u]Lexie[/name_u]'s are abundant. My [name_u]Lexi[/name_u] doesn’t have a single kid in his grade with his same name and my daughters also have never gone to pre-school or kindergarten with any [name_m]Alexander[/name_m]'s as well.