For 4 years me and my husband have been in love with [name_u]Emerson[/name_u] for a boy and [name_f]Evelynn[/name_f] for a girl. But now [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] is in the top 15 names and [name_u]Emerson[/name_u] I see getting really popular as a girl name. We want to announce the name when we announce the gender (in about a month) should we stick with our names or look at different ones? I’m really torn on what to do.
If you really love the names, which it sounds like you do, use them. [name_m]Don[/name_m]'t settle on a name you don’t love as much just because of popularity. Your [name_f]Evelynn[/name_f] or [name_u]Emerson[/name_u] may never even run into another kid with their name. [name_f]Samantha[/name_f] was given to about 25,000 girls every year around the years I was born and I think I only had 3 classmates with the name throughout my school years.
As far as [name_u]Emerson[/name_u] goes, I just looked up the US stats and its usage on girls isn’t really that much higher than on boys (1,780 for girls and 1,191 for boys in 2015), so I personally don’t think it should impact your decision to use it. It seems like a very unisex name now and it’s a handsome name for a boy. I think it’s silly that people let names “go to the girls” because they stop using them on boys when girls start using them.
I second what @[name_f]Tavy[/name_f] said - don’t give up a name just because of popularity. I was born in the late 1990s, and my name ranked between #28 and #36 from 1995-2000, which was about 50,000 baby girls named [name_u]Haley[/name_u]. I’ve encountered three girls who spell my name the same way as I do in my entire life, and one was born well after 2000.
Also, a friend of mine from high school named her baby boy [name_u]Emerson[/name_u] about a year ago and got nothing but positive comments about her choice - so I wouldn’t worry about it being too popular for girls now.