Hey there! As the title implies, I’m looking for general thoughts on where you draw the line between popular and uncommon / “out there” names. Is it just hearing it around where you live, a number on the name popularity chart… seeing it on Nameberry a lot?
(And if it’s numbers… where does that division lie - e.g. Top 200 are popular, anything beyond that is rare)
[name_f]TIA[/name_f]!
It depends on the name for me. I usually like to avoid the top 100 just in general, and also anything that seems poised to make the top 100 or has just left the top 100, because I realize that my kid isn’t only going to associate with those born the same year they are. So, I guess I basically avoid the top 115, for girls at least. My boys style tends to be more mainstream though, and I’ve decided to not let it bother me since I don’t have a ton of boy favorites to begin with, so I just like to avoid the top 50 there.
Sometimes, one of the reasons I like a name so much is the fact that I’ve never heard it before. This would be the case of [name_f]Juno[/name_f], which I love because of how uncommon it is (among other reasons, of course). It’s different for something like [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f] though, which I love for different reasons. So while I’m not upset that [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f] is number 355, I would be upset if [name_f]Juno[/name_f] ranked that high. Same thing goes for [name_f]Iris[/name_f]. I love [name_f]Iris[/name_f], but not because she’s super rare. It doesn’t bother me that she ranks close to the top 200, but I would be upset if [name_f]Maeve[/name_f] got that high.
I don’t think it’s a mystery on this site that I don’t like how popular my name is because I’m pretty sure I’ve ranted about it at least a thousand times. So I do drop names from my list when they become too popular for me. Not just because of their ranking, but also because I usually tend to hear more of them at that point anyways. [name_f]Violet[/name_f] and [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] are two examples. I love both but I’ve started hearing them more and more (especially [name_f]Violet[/name_f]) so they’re strictly middles for right now.
For me it’s the top 250 for boys and the top 150 for girls that are what I consider “popular” or at least the names above that mark are placed as “middles only” no matter how much I like them. ([name_f]Athena[/name_f] is my highest rated “can be used as a first name” at #158 in 2015)
(Uncommon names for me start at #500 and down on both lists. The best, though, to me are ones like [name_f]Ciel[/name_f], Humility, [name_m]Scipio[/name_m], [name_f]Elzbieta[/name_f], Anaxandra, because while they are legit historical names they show up very little or none at all when you look at the SSA charts.)
It depends on the name, but usually the top 100-200 makes it too common for my liking. It can often come down to whether I’ve heard of it or not or know someone with that name - given that names are becoming more varied, I think it is getting harder to find rare names, as most people are looking to make a statement with what they call their little bundles. Knowing a few little people with a name will often dampen the appeal for me. For example, when my niece was born, [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] was beautiful to me… but there are so many [name_f]Sophie[/name_f]'s/[name_f]Sophia[/name_f]'s now that the name seems totally lack-lustre to me…
For me, it’s more about how often I hear the name used. Sure, it may be #5 in the charts but if I’ve never come across someone with that name, or heard it shouted out in a shop, or seen it pop up on Facebook, then for me, I wouldn’t consider it too popular.
My rule that puts a name on my too popular guilty pleasure list is any name given to 1000 or more babies according to the latest (UK) popularity list. That’s around the top 60. In an ideal world none of the names I actually use (as firsts) would be in the top 1000, but I doubt that will happen. I don’t know many actual babies or children, so I depend on popularity lists where I live to help. As I get older and face the very real (and scary) possibility that people around me will start having kids, I might change how I feel about it.
Generally, if it’s within the top 100 in my state then it’s getting too popular for me. That being said, a few of my most loved names, especially for boys, are in the top 50-100 now and I don’t think that would stop me using them (boys’ names in particular as I have far fewer that I love in comparison to girls’). Local usage and whether I’ve heard lots of people or know others with the name also impacts on my perception of its popularity. There’s an article I love on babynameswizard called “What is a popular baby name?” that always reassures me when I start getting upset that many of my long time favourites ([name_f]Harriet[/name_f], [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f], [name_u]Jude[/name_u], [name_m]Hugo[/name_m], [name_u]Owen[/name_u], [name_m]Theodore[/name_m]) are getting too popular. Ideally, I’d like a name to be out of the top 200, but ultimately I’ll choose a name I love even if it’s getting a bit more popular than I’d like.
I always go by how many I know personally - [name_u]Kennedy[/name_u] is #57 for girls, but I’ve only ever met one, and she’s the same age as I am - 22+ years older than my future child will be.
However, almost every little girl I know right now is named [name_f]Isla[/name_f], [name_f]Isabelle[/name_f] or [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] - all beautiful names, but I personally won’t use them because I know so many.
Most names on our list are super popular in terms of ranking ([name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u], [name_u]Hadley[/name_u], [name_u]Kennedy[/name_u], [name_u]Harper[/name_u], etc) but since we don’t know any, we don’t consider them popular. [name_u]Harper[/name_u] is in the top 10 and I have never encountered it outside of the internet, haha.
For boys it’s the same, although we do like a lot of classics - we still don’t know any Aarons and only one [name_m]Thomas[/name_m] - as for the trendier picks, I know 2 Hunters, and no Bentleys, Parkers or Greysons.
For girls out of the top 1000 is when I start to consider it less popular. For boys in the other hand I say out of the top 500.
If it’s in the top 1000 I wouldn’t even consider a name, no matter how much I liked it.
For me, it’s hearing it where I live/in my circles. For example, the name [name_f]Tenley[/name_f]. It’s ranked #671 nationally, #597 when popularity includes various spellings, and yet I know of 3 from all my different circles. In my opinion, that’s a lot for not being around children and having peers that are only starting to have kids now that we are closing in on our 30s. I believe nameberry’s figures are based on what people search, but that doesn’t mean they are being used so I don’t consider those results. I also consider national and state rankings; however, if I were to live in a small state like DE, the rankings fluctuate so widely that I wouldn’t really worry.
As I get older, popularity concerns me less. I’d rather have a name I love rather than one that is unique just for the sake of being unique. Although, I still like names with few spelling variations since that’s what gave me more headaches growing up than the fact that my name was popular 
First, I consider how many I’ve met in my lifetime. Then how many children I know (If any) with the name.
Then I look at the ranking. If I think something might be borderline too popular for me, I do an SSA analysis. I have a spreadsheet where I maintain the 85 year number of occurrences of a given name and its common spelling variants. I get encouraged when I see fewer than 25,000 people with that name over the past 85 years. If the concentration of the naming appears directly tied to a certain time period that is NOT the past 30 years, I consider that, even if the name was once mega-popular. I do 85 years even though that’s a bit of an overkill because I want to know a rough estimate of the potentially living individuals with the name in the US. Of course immigration also affects these numbers and most people over 75 with the beloved name are bound to be dead, which makes me sad. It’s a convoluted and involved way of going about it, but I have only done it for a couple dozen or so real contenders. Then I look at the 3 states where I have lived and check the populatity for the past 15 years and if it’s too popular in one of them, I take that into consideration.
I’m in the UK, and like @myosotis I look more at the number of children given a name per year than its actual ranking. Over 200 or so babies given a name in a certain year feels reasonably well-used to me (though not really “popular” until probably Top 100 or so), even if I haven’t actually met that many myself. However, that wouldn’t stop me using a name if I loved it, especially if (as @sparkleninja said) it’s a fairly well-known, traditional, consistently used name rather than one that has experienced a steep climb. Examples of names which were used more than 200 times in 2015 but which I would consider include: [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] (no. 27 in 2015, when I used it for my daughter’s middle), [name_f]Violet[/name_f], [name_f]Zara[/name_f], [name_f]Pippa[/name_f], [name_f]Esther[/name_f], [name_f]Eve[/name_f], [name_f]Tabitha[/name_f], [name_f]Beatrix[/name_f], [name_f]Jemima[/name_f], [name_f]Cleo[/name_f], [name_m]Oscar[/name_m], [name_m]Leo[/name_m], [name_u]Teddy[/name_u], [name_u]Luca[/name_u], [name_m]Louis[/name_m], [name_u]Dexter[/name_u], [name_m]Felix[/name_m], [name_u]Jesse[/name_u], [name_m]Maximilian[/name_m], [name_u]Rex[/name_u], [name_u]Robin[/name_u], [name_m]Rufus[/name_m], [name_m]Otto[/name_m]…
I’m wary of names that are making huge leaps up the charts year on year, even if they’re still relatively unpopular, but again that wouldn’t stop me from using a name like that if I loved it and didn’t know any others. My daughter’s name is increasing gradually in use, and the name we’ve chosen for our son due in a few weeks experienced a big leap in 2015, and I expect it will have increased again last year. I hope neither of their names become too popular, but I’ve thought about it a lot during this pregnancy and decided that the name we’ve chosen is a genuine love of mine which has family significance, and it’s more important to me to use the name (and “risk” picking a future favourite) than to choose something else which is less likely to explode in popularity but which I feel less connected to.
I agree. The only thing that would keep me from using a name that I love is knowing several other kids (or even adults, though that’s less likely) by the name. [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] may be a top ten name, but I could use it because I don’t know a single one. However, for a good example of the reverse, [name_u]Emerson[/name_u] is only #180 for girls, but I know two and have met even more.
It becomes popular when it enters the top one hundred, or I hear or read it too often,
Lots of great opinions so far!
For me it is a combination of the actual chart #s and how often I actually hear a name. I am aware that my interaction with babies/young kids is quite limited, so if I hear a name more than twice it registers as quite popular for me.
That being said, if as name is meaningful to me (as opposed to a name is just really like for the sound) I would still use it regardless of popularity. Ex: I know 3 little Emilys and know it is a top 20 name, but it its a family name so it’s time it still on the table.
To me, a name becomes popular when it gets to the point I am sick of hearing it. It doesn’t matter where it is on the charts, if it’s #4 or #617, if I hear it so much it becomes boring, it’s popular.
I won’t actually use anything in the top 200. I do like names that are very popular, but I liked growing up with a name that was just my own. I want to give that gift to my children. Theyll have common middle family names so if they want a “normal” name, they can use their middle.