What's your name? What did you think of it growing up?

Girl Names
1

I am due with a baby girl in [name]April[/name] and am still struggling with names.

I love some of the classic names like [name]Charlotte[/name] and [name]Grace[/name], but they are so popular! I notice a lot of people on this forum saying “if you love a name, use it. It doesn’t matter if it’s popular.” I wonder if this is shaped by our experiences with our own names. My name is [name]Sarah[/name] and I hated always being one of 5 or so other [name]Sarah[/name]'s in my class so I don’t want my daughter to suffer the same annoyance. But I also don’t want her to have to spell or explain her name all the time!

Is there anyone out there with a popular name that had the name experience as I did? Anyone with an unusual name who loved/hated it? [name]Just[/name] curious! Thanks.

2

I agree, popularity really puts me off a name as I had to grow up with a really popular one. I grew up in the 90’s with the name Jessica, so you can imagine that there were at least 4 other Jessica’s everywhere I went! I hated it, it still happens now; at university there are 3 other Jessica’s on my degree in my year (and there’s only 50 of us in total!). And at large family / friend gatherings there are always lots of other Jessica’s as well. I just hated always being ‘Jess W’. Unless I thought I had found the ultimate perfect name, I would never use a name that was very popular as I wouldn’t want my child to be one 5 kids with the same name. I was always so jealous of people with rarer names!

Popular names get boring anyway because you hear them all the time! (I used to love Olivia, Emma and Lily when I was younger, but I am so sick of hearing them now!) If you really like Charlotte or Grace etc but are concerned about popularity you could always use them in the middle spot?

As for people saying ‘if you love a name, use it’, well I don’t necessarily agree. The child has to live with the name, not the parent, so parents should think ofthe consequences their child’s name could lead to.

Just because you don’t pick a popular name doesn’t mean that your child will always need to explain / spell her name for everyone. Just pick a rarer one which is easy to spell etc. For example my favourite boys’ name atm is Rupert, which is not common at all, and I doubt anyone would have trouble spelling it!

Hope this helped. Good luck with naming your baby! :slight_smile:

3

My name is [name]Amber[/name] which was like 45 or something the year I was born. I never met another one until college and I still rarely ever hear of another…I loved my name. Other [name]Ambers[/name] always intrigue me too. I think it is the best name.

[name]Charlotte[/name] [name]Grace[/name] is [name]Sarah[/name] [name]Michelle[/name] gellars daughter, a celeb baby…

4

I’m a [name]Shannon[/name]; it was around 20 (in the US; I’m in [name]Canada[/name]) the year I was born, and was definitely trendy – it peaked right around the year I was born, after a sharp rise, and then it dropped off sharply. I was in a small elementary school (usually two classes for each grade, sometimes one full class and one half class) and there was one other [name]Shannon[/name] in my grade. None for a few years on either side of us. In a high school of about 700, I knew 3 other Shannons, maybe 4? We didn’t really hang in the same crowds, though, so I didn’t notice it so much.

But I never really felt like my name was a popular name, and I didn’t realize it was a trendy name until I found the name wizard site with the graph. I’ve only ever known Shannons who were my age or maybe 1-2 years on either side of me. That’s a different kind of popularity than a name like [name]Elizabeth[/name] or [name]John[/name].

It has been important to me as an adult that we choose names that are uncommon enough that there won’t likely be another kid with the same name in their classes. I don’t know if that’s a result of not being the only [name]Shannon[/name], but hearing from Jennifers and Jessicas often how much they hated the popularity of their name certainly cemented it.

5

My name is [name]Meagan[/name], and it was super popular in my area when I was growing up. I did hate being one of several [name]Meagan[/name]/[name]Megan[/name]/[name]Meghan[/name]'s in my class. There was even a girl in my grade with the same spelling and last initial as me. That was a real problem when we had classes together and she eventually started going by her middle name.

I think [name]Charlotte[/name] [name]Grace[/name] is a beautiful name though.

6

I’m [name]Ashley[/name] [name]Marie[/name], which I don’t think could get any more predictable. [name]Ashley[/name] was number 2 the year I was born and four years later when my sister came along, [name]Ashley[/name] was number 1.

I remember thinking that when I thought about my name, I didn’t like it because it was popular and [name]Marie[/name] was such a boring MN that everyone had. I was like, 10, haha, when I thought that. Which is utterly ridiculous because I didn’t know single other [name]Ashley[/name] and when an [name]Ashley[/name] came to visit the school and there was a chance that she’d be in my class, I was like, over-the-moon excited, bahaha, I just always wanted to meet another [name]Ashley[/name]! So I think my reasoning was just an excuse because most of my life I really didn’t like my name (mainly because I thought it was blah and boring and too masculine, and I thought it was SO weird that I shared my name with my UNCLE).

Now, I love the popularity factor of my name. Some of the best friends I have ever had have been other Ashleys. I still like meeting other Ashleys to this day. Sure, it’s popular, and sure, she might have some issues with it, but it’s nowhere near the end of the world. I think, within reason, it’s fine to say, “Popularity isn’t everything. If you love it, use it.” [name]Charlotte[/name] and [name]Grace[/name] are STUNNING names, with centuries worth of history, and some great namesakes to go with them!

I don’t know which year you were born, haha, but at the height of [name]Sarah[/name]'s popularity in 1993, there were 24,196 [name]Sarah[/name]'s born that year. In 2010 (which is the most recent of the statistics we have until [name]May[/name]), there were 7,598 Graces born and 5,314 [name]Charlotte[/name]'s born. That is significantly less than the number of Sarahs that were born in 93! When you average that out between states, that’s an average of 152 Graces and 106 Charlottes per state, which really isn’t that bad at all. I think a lot of people on here find it so important to use a name not in the top 100, or even the top 1000, but once you get out of the top 10, sometimes the top 20, names really aren’t that rabidly popular. I know a lot of people really would have liked to have less popular names, but as a shy kid, I loved having a mainstream name that connected me to others, kwim? Maybe your daughter will love that about her name, too.

Good luck!

7

Same with me. Actually I really love my name but my fn is very popular at my time so that I found a lot of namesakes in school and univ. My mn is worse. It’s [name]Angelina[/name]. And can you imagine how many people using any variance of [name]Angel[/name] ([name]Angelina[/name], [name]Angelica[/name], [name]Angelia[/name], [name]Angela[/name], [name]Angelique[/name], etc). Tons. Especially the catholic/christian as a baptism name. [name]Even[/name] my college dormmate have that name and it’s really…awful (to me).

So yes, I planned for my future children, I will use a unique/unusual name that aren’t too popular and have a special meaning.

8

My name is [name]Katie[/name] [name]Charlotte[/name]. I do like [name]Charlotte[/name], but [name]Katie[/name] is so popular, and I’ve always found it plain! My dad wanted to name me [name]Jemima[/name], but my mother vetoed it. I wish that my name was [name]Jemima[/name] instead, though! [name]Jemima[/name] > [name]Katie[/name]. Haha!

9

I’ve had a really mixed, up and down relationship with my name. [name]Chelsea[/name] was number 84 in the rankings for girls the year I was born, and not really popular at all in the UK where I was born. It was so rarely used my mom figured that it was okay enough to use on me, her son, given that the place name had a lot of significance to her. I then lived in [name]France[/name] where the name wasn’t really known at all and so started life with a unique name and never even knew it was a “girl” name. When I did learn it was a “girl” name then of course that uniqueness sucked and it bothered me. I returned to the UK when I was ten and by now the name ranked number 38 for girls and had peaked at number 15 in the US, but I had still never met a female [name]Chelsea[/name]. I then moved to the US and that changed shortly after. I met my first girl [name]Chelsea[/name] in middle school and there were three or four in high school, plus guys I knew had other [name]Chelsea[/name]'s as relatives. So I got to experience the feeling of having a more popular name too and being called on as “[name]Chelsea[/name] A”, but other times I was called “Boy [name]Chelsea[/name]” too. Honestly I grew to prefer “[name]Chelsea[/name] A” than “boy [name]Chelsea[/name]”.

10

I’ve been trying to find uk name lists for when I was born, and struggling, but I know my name ([name]Sophie[/name]) was very popular. In primary school there was another [name]Sophie[/name] in my class, right before me in the register, which got a bit confusing if I wasn’t paying attention. [name]One[/name] other [name]Sophie[/name] in secondary school, and there’s two others on my uni course (out of ~80, we’ve got 3 Sophies) I’ve not minded having a popular name, everyone knows how to spell it. My sister’s got a more uncommon name with the more unusual spelling variation that she often has to spell out, so I’ve grown to appreciate not needing to do that.

[name]Sophie[/name]'s still a constantly popular name now (#5 in 1999, #7 last year) and I love meeting little Sophies. My mum’s friend has a granddaughter called [name]Sophie[/name] who’s a year old. My reaction when I found out was ‘good choice of name’. And it is. I’ve loved growing up as a [name]Sophie[/name], and while it was annoying at times not knowing whether it was me or another [name]Sophie[/name] being addressed, I’d much rather that than my sister’s problem ('it’s an ‘i’ not a ‘y’) every time.

Interestingly, the two most common names in my secondary school year were [name]Thomas[/name] and [name]Rebecca[/name], yet there’s nobody with either name at all on my uni course. So just because it might be a high ranking name doesn’t necessarily guarantee you a lifetime of being Firstname X.

11

My name is [name]Elisabeth[/name] [name]Charlotte[/name]. I always went by [name]Libby[/name], so much so in fact that in the 6th grade my teacher asked me if I wanted my full name on something and I came home crying that I was [name]Elisabeth[/name]. I always loved [name]Charlotte[/name], it was also my grandmother’s name, her aunt’s name, etc all the way back to [name]Ireland[/name] in the mid 1800’s. I think I have settled on it for my 3rd daughter due in [name]April[/name] since there is so much history for my family with the name and it is classic – a different type of popularity to the trendy popular which come and go.

12

My name is [name]Natalie[/name]. I never fell back on my middle name because it’s a surname ([name]Hart[/name]), although I can never recall ever having to do so. [name]Natalie[/name] was at #58 or so the year I was born, but it’s only gone up since then. Surprisingly, I never had the dilemma of being in a sea of Natalies. The only time I remember another [name]Natalie[/name] in my grade was when I was in 6th grade, but it wasn’t too bad.

Overall I liked my name growing up… well, except that short period of time when I was 12 when I insisted on being called Lain. (pronounced lane, like the word) Not sure where I got the name from, but it only lasted for about 2 weeks until I realized it didn’t really feel like “me”.

[name]Even[/name] though I never had problems with having a trendy or popular name, (at least it was never really popular where I was) I wouldn’t want any child of mine having to experience the anguish of being the 4th [name]Olivia[/name] in a class or something.

13

I have a common name for my age group, but I still like it. I was named after my Great-Grandmother, so, even though it became popular (thank you, [name]Barry[/name] Manilow…), it had special meaning for my parents. I was one of many girls with the same name in my class. It never really bothered me.

14

I couldn’t stand having another girl with the same name as me in my small class all through school. Also, my name ([name]Dawn[/name])dates me very easily.

15

My name is [name]Mattie[/name] [name]Adele[/name], and i was the only [name]Mattie[/name] in existence until the elf kin “Maddies” started popping up like toad stools. To this day, my name remains unique, distanced a good decade (or two) from the maddison / [name]Madeline[/name] craze.

16

Whenever a post like this comes along, I have to direct people to my blog! It’s all about peoples’ experience of living with their names. There are a lot of entries with people with names that were popular for their time, and you get a lot of differing responses. Check it out, and fill out the form to tell your story as well! I’m always looking for more entries.

www.yournamestory.com

17

My name is Maurilia [name]Renee[/name], and I’ve always been the only one. It’s one of the names that gets butchered most of the time, and I even get called other people’s names by people I haven’t known long ([name]Miranda[/name], [name]Amelia[/name], etc). I’ve never met someone besides my grandmother (who I was named after) with my name, and I’ve always thought it was kind of cool. I always thought it was a pain to have to correct everyone when I was younger, but now that I’m more mature, I honestly don’t mind. I like my name a lot, and I like that I’m always the only one.

18

My name is [name]Angela[/name], and while I liked the name, I was one of three or four girls with the name in my classes. According the SSA charts, there were like 1800 girls born in my state the year I was born. It got old to have an initial after my name so they could tell me apart from the others. For a while, I decided that I was going to change my name to [name]Gabrielle[/name], which at the time was pretty exotic (at least for my small town). I never did, of course, but it was a manifestation of my frustration. I kind of envied my friends who had more unusual names. I would pester them to tell me about their names, because I thought they were fabulous.

It became especially aggravating as I got older and started to encounter people with my first and last name combo. My university library always had to ask me my middle name, because lo and behold, there were two of us!

[name]Don[/name]'t get me wrong. As a grown up [name]Angela[/name], I love my name and appreciate its beauty. It’s feminine and lacy and exactly the kind of name I want for my own daughters. But had it been less popular, I think it would have made my life a bit easier and made me feel a little less like one of the crowd.

For my own kids, I would definitely forgo a name due to popularity. I love [name]Isabella[/name] and [name]Charlotte[/name], but I don’t want my kid to spend their childhood being [name]Isabella[/name] S. So for me, popularity is definitely and issue. Popular names can always be relegated to the middle, which is likely what I will do with my babies. :slight_smile: But to see how popularity translates into actual kids, I suggest checking out the SSA charts for your state for the most recent year. Seeing how many actual children were born in your state will give you a good idea of how likely it is that your kid will be one of the masses.