Popularity: How important is it?

Girl Names
1

[name_m]Hi[/name_m] Berries!

I’ve been compiling a list of names I love for a while now, but I’ve just now started to think seriously about popularity. Like many of you, I like names that are not too popular, but not too crazy, either. But what does that even mean? I know that, at the very least, my desire would be for my child to be the only kid in their grade with their name. I went to school with too many Taylors and Caitlyns, and while they had perfectly lovely names, they expressed resentment at having to put their last initial on everything, and often wished for more unique names.

So how do you guys define and measure popularity? [name_f]Do[/name_f] you have any hard and fast rules, when it comes to naming? Two categories that I see as significant when discussing popularity are the Top 1000 and Top 100. I see it this way:

Top 100 = Popular

Top 1000= Familiar

Out of the Top 1000 = Unusual, even potentially risky, but not unusable if it is the right name.

Is that how you see these categories? And is there a category that you deem “Too Popular”, like the Top Ten? Also, is there a place within the Top 1000 that you think is the perfect spot, like 500’s, for instance? And how closely do you stick to your popularity guidelines when naming; Is it worth bending, for a name you love?

Thank you in advance for answering! Popularity is so relative, so it really helps to hear other’s perspectives!

2

Honestly, I love looking at the Top 1000 list when it comes, out, and tend to not like the Top 10, but the list as a whole doesn’t mean anything to me. Names are popular based on where you live, so I would pay more attention to the state-by-state popularity list provided by the SSA each year. A great example of regional popularity is that, where I live, I know maybe two little girls (under age 7) with a Top 10 name, but I know at least 10 Giannas, Briannas,Tatianas, Arianas, etc. in my area. So sure, maybe national popularity is something to consider, but in terms being the only one with your name in the class, the state list is definitely more accurate.

3

Popularity doesn’t bother me one way or another. I either love the name or I don’t. I don’t put a number on it.

4

For me personally, it’s a plus if names are unusual/less used, but I would still use my favourite names regardless of popularity. My favourites range from top 50 names** like [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] and [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] to ones that aren’t in the top 1000 like [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f], to anything in between popularity-wise, and I’d be equally likely to use any of them regardless of popularity.

I like when names are unusual/lesser used because they’re more surprising to me. That being said, it’s more about what I’ve come across myself than statistics- there are some names that were in the top 20 for my birth year that I’ve never met someone with, and names ranked a lot lower that I’ve known multiple of. (Which also shows that statistics won’t be 100% reliable as a reflection of the names you/your child comes across in real life.) I also like that other people are more likely to find unusual names interesting, but it’s not a must for me.

That being said, the sound of the name and the way it feels (cheerful, elegant, etc.) are far more important to me. Special meanings or associations (e.g. a favourite character) are also often a factor. Popularity is a lot further down the list of considerations.

From what I’ve seen outside of Nameberry, popularity is a plus for some people and a downside for others. I’ve known people who purposely picked a popular name to ensure it wasn’t “too weird”, others who wanted something less common that they hadn’t heard before/don’t know anyone with. I think popularity is a lot more based on people you know/names you hear around you than the statistics though, for people who aren’t into names. This may be because I live in [name_f]Canada[/name_f] though, we don’t have national rankings that get publicized so the idea of a name being statistically more or less popular isn’t really on people’s radar much.

As to the popularity of people’s own names… I’ve known a lot more people who’ve disliked having super-common names (think [name_f]Jessica[/name_f], [name_f]Emily[/name_f], etc.) than who’ve disliked having unusual ones, some to the point of going by their middle name/another name. This mostly tends to happen with top 10/top 20 names though, beyond that it doesn’t seem to be much of a problem. There are people who’ve disliked their unusual names too, but these are often names like [name_f]Jewel[/name_f] that have minimal history of use as a name. But of course, in both cases many people have loved their names anyways.

**from the US stats, since [name_f]Canada[/name_f] doesn’t really have them.

5

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! My favorites also range all over, from Top 50 to [name_m]WAY[/name_m] outside the Top 1000! And it’s a good idea to look at popularity by state! I’ll have to check that out!

6

There are so many names that even the top ten is fine. There are fewer people with top 10 names per class now than there used to be.

7

I see popularity similar to how you see it. However, around the 500 mark is when I see a name getting more familiar and then the top 100-200 is the next category. However, popularity doesn’t bother me like it used to. I like names that are relatively popular ([name_m]Sebastian[/name_m], [name_f]Iris[/name_f], [name_f]Liliana[/name_f], [name_f]Cora[/name_f], & [name_u]Luca[/name_u]), I like some lesser known but still in the top 1,000 ([name_m]Maximilian[/name_m], [name_m]Valentino[/name_m], [name_m]Matthias[/name_m], [name_f]Amalia[/name_f], [name_m]Raphael[/name_m], [name_f]Estelle[/name_f], & [name_m]Arthur[/name_m]), & some that are relatively uncommon/unheard of in the US & not in the top 1,000 ([name_f]Mirabelle[/name_f], [name_m]Olivier[/name_m], [name_f]Evelina[/name_f], [name_m]Emil[/name_m], [name_f]Callista[/name_f], [name_m]Marius[/name_m], & [name_f]Odette[/name_f]).

My style is all over the place popularity wise. As long as it’s not in the 5-10 range (for a first name) I’m good with it. I agree it’s a great idea to look up the popularity of a name in your area! [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] actually at #60 in my state rather than #24 in the country which makes me happy!

8

I have a threshold for too popular, guilty pleasure names that I would definitely never use as firsts, but still love. It’s any name given to greater than 1000 babies (in the most recent year that there’s data available for) which is about the top 70 where I live. I wouldn’t bend the rules for them, and have pretty much accepted they’ll never be usable for me. Technically any other name is fair game, but in reality, the names I’d actually use, preferably I’d like to be out of the top 1000. I love plenty of names in the top 1000, and if I made ‘No names in the top 1000’ a hard fast rule, the majority of the names on my list would be GPs (so I don’t), but most of the names I’d use today aren’t in the top 1000, and I feel much more comfortable sticking to that. I do have wiggle room; [name_m]Caspian[/name_m] is my favourite, would use today no matter what, boys’ name, even though he’s is in the top 1000, becoming more familiar and rising.

9

I grew up with a common and popular name. I’ve been one of five in a classroom and at work. I’ve always hated it and I’ve never felt like it was my name but instead I just had a name. Because of that, popularity is a huge factor for me.

I’m most drawn to names that are not commonly heard everyday. A perfect scenario would be to give my child a name that was outside of the Top 1000 ([name_m]Stellan[/name_m], [name_f]Hermione[/name_f]). But as a rule, I’m likely never going to use a name within the Top 200. I’d rather not be in the Top 300 or 400, but if I really love a name, I’ll go to outside of the Top 200.

10

I am more fond of less common names. It was hard enough having another girl with the same name, but different spelling in the same grade as me (290 students).

While it would be great to stay out of the top 300, I would look more at the percent rather than the ranking number. So, say you wanted a name unlikely to appear more than once in 1000 children, using the 2016 SS data, that means no names above #165, [name_f]Makayla[/name_f]. Of course you will also want to consider that some names have multiple spellings, so cross reference with the Name Nerd list. So I would skip [name_f]Makayla[/name_f], as it is number 67 on that list.

11

I agree with this completely. I have some popular names ([name_f]Lydia[/name_f], [name_u]James[/name_u]) on my list, but if I was naming a child, I’d probably go with a more unusual name.

12

For me, it’s not so much about popularity, it’s about how a name will sound in 20/30/40 years time.

There are names that are mainstays of the Top 100 like [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], [name_f]Sarah[/name_f] and [name_m]John[/name_m], which I would be happy to use, because they are timeless. There are other names, which while not such mainstays, are still classic ([name_f]Olivia[/name_f] is one off the top of my head).

However, I personally try to steer clear of ‘trendy’ popular names, which often fall out of fashion just as quickly as they came into fashion. That’s more the issue for me, trying to avoid those names. I have a friend named [name_u]Chelsea[/name_u], born in the year it reached its peak (#15 in 1992), and just seven years later it had fallen out the Top 100. Now it’s in the 300’s. It has dated very fast. No-one could predict that of course, it’s difficult to predict if names which suddenly become popular will fade just as fast, or stick around a bit longer.

So for me, if a name is popular and I like it, I’ll also factor in the style of name etc.

In terms of names I like, as others have said, names on my (very long) complete list, vary from being Top 20 to being way outside the Top 1000. When it comes to having children, which I hope to do one day, I like to think I’d go with names that I truly love, rather than worry too much about popularity. However I think if I loved two names equally, popularity could be the tiebreaker!

13

I love a lot of names that are in the top 100 (heck, [name_f]Olivia[/name_f] is one of my favourite names and it’s #2 where I live) but I also love uncommon, unusual names. Popularity does not bother me in the slightest, it isn’t important to me. I do have names I don’t like because I am bored of (e.g. [name_f]Emily[/name_f], [name_f]Amy[/name_f], [name_f]Chloe[/name_f] and [name_f]Jessica[/name_f], I knew soooo many of each when I was growing up that the names are bland now) but it just so happens they were popular in the 90s.

14

Popularity doesn’t affect my favourite names at all. I could easily end up with one child whose name has been #1 for centuries, and another whose name has never entered the top 1000.

Trendiness would be slightly more of a concern, because I would prefer to give my children names which would transcend the era they are born in. It would not make me hesitate about a name that fitted the rest of my criteria, however.

15

I don’t believe popularity is important whatsoever, and that it’s highly unlikely for a child to be one of more than 3 in one class with any given name, and here’s why;

Here are the number of births for each #1 name from 1980-1989

1980 - [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] - 58,379 births
1981 - [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] - 57,046 births
1982 - [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] - 57,113 births
1983 - [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] - 54,339 births
1984 - [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] - 50,562 births
1985 - [name_f]Jessica[/name_f] - 48,345 births
1986 - [name_f]Jessica[/name_f] - 52,668 births
1987 - [name_f]Jessica[/name_f] - 55,988 births
1988 - [name_f]Jessica[/name_f] - 51,537 births
1989 - [name_f]Jessica[/name_f] - 47,882 births

Compared to the past decade;

2006 - [name_f]Emily[/name_f] - 21,398 births
2007 - [name_f]Emily[/name_f] - 19,535 births
2008 - [name_f]Emma[/name_f] - 18,806 births
2009 - [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] - 22,289 births
2010 - [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] - 22,898 births
2011 - [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] - 21,833 births
2012 - [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] - 22,292 births
2013 - [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] - 21,293 births
2014 - [name_f]Emma[/name_f] - 20,292 births
2015 - [name_f]Emma[/name_f] - 20,415 births
2016 - [name_f]Emma[/name_f] - 19,414 births

The difference in the trend is that so many less babies are being given that #1 name, it’s almost incomparable.

To put it into perspective, the names in the 1980s that sat between 18,000 and 23,000 births were in the lower end of the top 10, or even just outside the top 10.

Nowhere near as many babies are being given names within the top 100 as they once were. In 1980, 3.27% of all baby girls born that year were given #1 name [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f], vs. [name_f]Emma[/name_f]'s 1.01% in 2016.

To put it in perspective, the name in 1980 closest to 1.01% of all births was [name_f]Angela[/name_f], which was #12 that year.

Also, a lot of the time, names that don’t rank overly high in the national top 100, (or that don’t rank nationally in the top 100 at all) rank within a state’s top 100. So national popularity isn’t always a good indication.

For example: I went to school with 6 girls named [name_f]Kaitlyn[/name_f]. Nationally, though, the name was only #42.

I knew very few girls with names in the top 10 for the year we were born as well (I didn’t go to school with a single [name_u]Ashley[/name_u] (#2) or [name_u]Taylor[/name_u] (#6), and I never knew more than 2 girls with the names [name_f]Jessica[/name_f], [name_f]Brittany[/name_f], [name_f]Amanda[/name_f], [name_f]Emily[/name_f], [name_f]Samantha[/name_f] or [name_f]Hannah[/name_f] - in fact the only names I knew a multitude of girls with that ranked in the top 10 when I was born were [name_f]Sarah[/name_f] and [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]).

In short, no, popularity doesn’t bother me at all. Neither does trendiness or how dated a name feels.

It seems a bit silly to say “well I went to school with 6 Kaitlyns so I can’t use a top 10 name!!” when really, [name_f]Kaitlyn[/name_f] was well below the top 10 when I was born, or to say “I was one of 4 [name_f]Sarah[/name_f]'s - my daughter can’t be named [name_f]Emma[/name_f]!!!” when statistically, names aren’t shown to be as popular overall as they once were.

That’s just my take on it. I posted a similar response with top 10 data from 1986 vs. top 10 data from 2016 to this on another thread: Nameberry - Welcome to the Nameberry Forums

16

It matters, but not too much. My #1 girls name was number 26 in the UK last year, which was down from the year before. I do worry about our choice becoming even more popular, because of course, we all want to pick a unique name.
But I don’t think it should stop you picking a name you love. At the end of the day, they’re up there for a reason right?!

17

A lot of people say they don’t think popularity is important…and this dismays me, especially on a name site. Popularity should be a factor when naming your children. That doesn’t mean you have to name your child something that is completely obscure, but you should definitely consider how many Emmas or [name_m]Lukes[/name_m] or Noahs or Sophies you know before bestowing these on your child. And that’s the key for me. [name_m]How[/name_m] many people I know with a particular name is much more telling of the ‘popularity’ than the rankings. And it is a big factor for me. I was the only one of 450 students called [name_f]Trina[/name_f] (though there were two other Katrinas, but they were called [name_f]Kate[/name_f] and [name_f]Katie[/name_f]). I enjoyed having my name as there was no confusion about identity (both literally and in my head). However, I know that the Sarahs, Matts, and Jackies in my school hated having so many that shared their name. I once had 6 Jackies in one class of 26. It was obnoxious, especially for them. As a teacher, too, I had many students with the same name and they got aggravated all the time. I had many [name_u]Alexis[/name_u]'s (both boys and girls) and many, many Marias.

Please, please consider how many people near you have the same name before giving it to your children. Popularity does actually matter, especially in a world where everyone is continuously encouraged to look and act like everyone else.

18

Popularity definitely matters to us. One of the first things DH told me when we were looking for names for our daughter was that he did not want a popular name. This is because both of us grew up with many people that had the same name. Only in my class of 30 there were 3 girls named [name_f]Ida[/name_f]. Later, when I was in HS there were 8 girls named [name_f]Marie[/name_f] in the same year. DH grew up in Latin [name_u]America[/name_u] where pretty much everyone has [name_f]Maria[/name_f] in some part of their name. I also feel that all the kids I know have the same names and they are all from the top 10. Note that I live in a small country though :wink:

Anyways, we both agreed that we wanted to find something more unusual for our daughter. Our goal was to find an uncommon common name; one that is well established and has rich history, but that is not in the top 10. If I lived in a bigger country I would probably set the limit to top 100. As it turns out, the name we chose is not even in the official list. It peaked in 1895 and had a gradual decrease until the early 2000s. Only 38 girls were given the name last year, which we can definitely live with!

19

This topic is always sure to draw out Nameberry’s drama queens, and I see this thread has not disappointed in that regard. I’m someone else who doesn’t care about popularity. I would happily give my child the most popular baby name in [name_u]America[/name_u] if it was the name I loved. I’m an [name_f]Emily[/name_f] born in the 90s, and while I did occasionally share my name with a classmate, it did not scar me for life. I feel like a lot of this concern about popularity comes from the idea that a name will make your child unique. I know people with highly unusual names who are incredibly dull, just as I know people with very common names who are incredibly interesting. Naming your daughter [name_f]Andromeda[/name_f] [name_f]Evanthe[/name_f] [name_u]Juniper[/name_u] will not make her more unique than [name_f]Emma[/name_f] [name_f]Rose[/name_f]. It just won’t.

20

In my mind, if a name is popular, it is because it is cute, right? That being said, I wouldn’t want my child to be one in ten, [name_f]Olivia[/name_f]'s. But, if I really loved a name, I’d use it.