When would you consider a name too popular to use?

I don’t mean by rank, but rather amongst your broader circle of friends and acquaintances. We’re pregnant with our third child, our second boy, and one of the names my husband and I both like quite a bit is [name_m]Jasper[/name_m]. But we know so many kids with this name. Seriously: There’s [name_m]Jasper[/name_m], the older brother of a boy my son goes to preschool with (and we’re friendly with the family). There’s [name_m]Jasper[/name_m], the son of an old high school friend, and [name_m]Jasper[/name_m], the son of an old high school friend’s older sister. There’s [name_m]Jasper[/name_m], the younger brother of a child my daughter is becoming friends with. And there are Jaspers in the park, the playground, the grocery store- I have met so many in this neighborhood over the years. It’s enough that I’m tempted to cross the name off our list for this reason alone, even though otherwise it would be a top contender. So just out of curiosity- at what point would you consider a name too popular to use?

And while you’re here, what do you think about the name [name_m]Jasper[/name_m] with big siblings [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] and [name_m]Wilder[/name_m]?

Thank you!

[name_u]Love[/name_u] [name_m]Jasper[/name_m]! My DH wanted to add it to list when I was preg w my second boy but I said No for the same reasons listed above I knew too many. If anyone at my kids school, sports or dance have the name I will NOT use it.

I would nix it. I know even a little girl names jasper… it sounds like jasper is everywhere in your world. This is going to sound bold but I look at my list which is small… and I say ok … is anyone in my family carrying any of these names, if yes and I’m not naming the child for them then I cross it out. Then I think about adult friends… and honestly kids I knew growing up, characters on shows or in books or movies that I would feel really stand out and I would cross all of them off. Then I think about all the kids we know… now this year filling out valentines in our group we hang out with I realized that there are NO duplicate names, people are being conscious of other peoples kids, no one is having kids all at once and a lot of it is chance but there aren’t duplicates in age groups with that group and in our church their aren’t duplicates, and its nice, I like knowing if I hear ___ they mean my kid or they dont and its nice for my kids. I always say people better not ‘steal’ them all, I crossed like six names off this year… between that and the ones I’ve used -_- I haven’t lost my top picks though so that’s good, and we’ve been having kids longer than a lot of our friends and family… so I appreciate it, appreciate it a lot when people don’t ‘steal’ our names. If I got up tomorrow and found out someone used one of my kids names that knew my chikd I would be confused as to how they thought that was proper etiquette, like when I was a child two babies were born in my congregation and they had my name and I have a common name and there was a reason… still… I thought they were names after me for a while there :wink: its not the end of the world, its really ok if they’re casual friends and they might not be in your life much or later on in life but you’re still going into it knowing he will be surrounded by kids with his name. Possibly [name_m]Casper[/name_m]? I find I’m liking that more than [name_m]Jasper[/name_m] now, cas is cute and the friendly ghost association I think has worn off.

I would say that I wouldn’t use a name that anyone in my family had as a first name (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, parents, siblings, or the children of cousins/siblings and I have a LOT of cousins), unless I was naming them for that person. If one of my cousins gave their child a middle name that was top of my list, I don’t think I would have a problem using that as a first or middle (unless the child was called by their middle name). I think the same would go for close friends & their children. I don’t yet have children, so its hard to say about kids’ friends, though I would definitely stay away from the names of my kids’ good friends I don’t know about siblings of their friends, it would probably depend on the relationship between the families.

That being said, it sounds like there are a LOT of Jaspers in your community and I would avoid it if I were you.

I think it sounds great with [name_f]Matilda[/name_f], but personally I would avoid it because the -er ending of your son’s name. [name_m]Wilder[/name_m] & [name_m]Jasper[/name_m] doesn’t work for me (too catchy), but that is just my personal preference.

Other options: [name_u]Dylan[/name_u], [name_m]Felix[/name_m], [name_m]Holden[/name_m], [name_u]Jude[/name_u], [name_m]Leo[/name_m], [name_m]Roman[/name_m], [name_u]Sinclair[/name_u], [name_m]Zane[/name_m]

I think [name_f]Matilda[/name_f], [name_m]Wilder[/name_m] & [name_m]Zane[/name_m] would sound awesome!

I consider a name being too popular when I see it too often, or when it is in the top 50. I avoid names that are in the top 100, even though I love some of them like [name_f]Scarlett[/name_f], [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_m]Gabriel[/name_m], [name_u]Sawyer[/name_u], [name_u]Hunter[/name_u], [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m], [name_m]Zachary[/name_m] or [name_m]Ezra[/name_m]. Maybe we will reconsider them one day, except if they are in the top 50. Now that being said, if I had a big crush, I would not hesitate, I would just give an uncommon middle name and probably use both names.
[name_m]Jasper[/name_m] is not too common in my opinion.

I love the idea of [name_m]Zane[/name_m]!!!

I like [name_m]Jasper[/name_m], and I like the way that it sounds with your kids names. That being said, I will be a first time mom and don’t know many small kids right now. I am having the same worrying thoughts about [name_m]Henry[/name_m], which is our top pick if we have a boy…

I love the way [name_m]Jasper[/name_m] sounds with [name_f]Matilda[/name_f] and [name_m]Wilder[/name_m]. A perfect sibset!

My own rule for names is if I’ve had more then 1 in my class in a year, its too popular. (I teach Kindergarten, so my kiddos are pretty trendy with the names.) Some of the names I’ve had multiple of surprised me - a few years ago I had two [name_f]Gianna[/name_f]'s and a [name_f]Giavanna[/name_f]. Definitely took [name_f]Gianna[/name_f] off my list! Some like [name_u]Aidan[/name_u]/[name_u]Jayden[/name_u]/[name_m]Kaiden[/name_m] don’t really phase me though. I expect to have a lot of those!