Since I’ve been a little girl [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] has been my favorite name. Its beautiful, literary, and classic. It also, honors DH’s late grandmother. However, it has gotten so popular that I’m a little afraid to use it. Most of the names I like are in top 100, but I feel like this has the potential to be the number one name, and I hear it frequently. Would you still use it?
Yes definitely, and it is [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] that’s making me think like that, such pretty name but so overdone, I don’t want my child to have had the name du jour and be one of many of an era as she grows up.
I have a couple of favorites, so I’d probably go with a less popular one. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you have any other names you love as much?
I agree that [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] is extremely popular, and it does have the potential to go #1. However, if you feel it’s the name, use it!
I wouldn’t use it b/c I feel neutral about and there are so many names I’m wild about.
But if you’re wild about it, don’t let it stop you.
[name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] is a good name. I’m reading the tickertape as I’m writing this and I’d personally much rather be named [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] than [name_f]Arabella[/name_f], [name_f]Amarantha[/name_f], [name_f]Carlee[/name_f], [name_f]Zabelle[/name_f], or [name_f]Molly[/name_f].
Good luck!
[name_u]Leslie[/name_u]
I feel you on [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f]. I’ve always loved it. I always had a popular name and didn’t want that for my kids. Personally, I would keep looking. If nothing else sticks, then [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] is the name for you. But, you may find a not so popular name you love just as much.
I’ve loved [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] for 6+ years now. I’m 100% in love with the name and want to use if I have a son. Popularity doesn’t bother me because I love it so much. I also love [name_f]Lily[/name_f] but wouldn’t use it in the FN spot because there are many other less popular girl names I love more. Therefore, I have [name_f]Lily[/name_f] in the MN spot and have chosen another less popular “[name_f]Lily[/name_f]” name, [name_f]Lilia[/name_f], in the FN spot. [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] I love whole-heartly and couldn’t picture my son with any other name (ATM) and [name_f]Lily[/name_f] I like a lot but can’t get over popularity.
You just have to ask yourself if you are 100% in love with the name, can’t picture your daughter anything else, and will regret not using it. If so, then use it! If you feel like you’d be ok using another name on your list or a variant that’s not as popular then you should go with that. Good [name_m]Luck[/name_m]!
If it’s the name you love, use it. Name popularity is not as overwhelming as it once was.
There were 13,030 girls named Charlotte in the US last year (#7). In 1990 the #7 name had 24,861 girls (Stephanie). For further comparison, last year #1 Emma had 19,414. In 1990, #1 Jessica had 46,473 girls bearing the name.
Also, some names popularity vary by area. My oldest is named Delaney. It was ranked 190 the year she was born…and we’ve met at least 6 other Delaneys.
To answer the title question, yes. Since I am in love with more obscure names, if a high-profile celebrity suddenly chose one of my names this month or next and I anticipated the popularity would jump 300+ places in a year, I would consider choosing something different.
To answer the question you pose about [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], if I were truly in love with it, I would use it anyway.
I would have said “yes definitely!” to the title question, until I actually had to name a child with my husbands agreement. It was so hard for us to agree on a name, one of the reasons I would veto names is because of popularity. But for the sake of compromise I went from not wanting anything in the top 100 to considering anything not in the top 10, and now the name we’ve finally agreed on (and will 98% use but waiting till we meet baby) is in the top 20, and top 10 in our state. In the end, the name feels right, and because the ONLY reason I didn’t want to use it was because it was popular, I just had to let that go. [name_m]Even[/name_m] our two “back up” names are more popular than I would like. In the end I tell myself, it’s popular because it’s a great name.
Specifically for [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], I do love it and it’s “unfortunate” that it is so popular (but it’s popular because it’s great!) at least it’s not one of those names that’s just trendy, it’s a classic, and that helps in my opinion. I don’t know many little children, so can’t say I hear it a lot in real life, but I do know one little [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] and when I think of her i don’t think “how unfortunate she has a popular name,” I just think it’s adorable. There’s also lots of good nickname options.
The creepy thing I did the other day was look up hospital birth announcements, to see what people in my area are actually naming children (only one hospital in 4 actually had these online though). I only found our likely name twice in the 1.5yr long records. I didn’t calculate a percentage but that made me feel a little better.
It depends. If I love the name but it doesn’t really WOW me anymore, I’ll let it go. But if after a while, even with its popularity I still love it a lot, I’ll definitely keep it on the list AND pair it with more uncommon middle(s), which is the case with [name_f]Isabelle[/name_f] [name_f]Rowena[/name_f] for me. 
I would (did) not. I’ve been a ‘name nerd’ since I was a child and when we sat down to name our daughter, one of my rules was that it couldn’t be super popular. My own name is one of those uber-popular J names of the 80s. Well, we named her [name_f]Olivia[/name_f]. 
which, if have been the popularity lists, is #2. I fell in love with the name, my husband loved the name, our parents loved the name. I fought it the rest of my pregnancy. Nothing else “fit” her but it was #2! What I have learned, parenting a child with a super popular name, is that popularity is relative. We’ve met no other Olivias but heard of 1 recently named. My friend’s daughter, on the other hand, was ranked somewhere in the 70s. I have met 6 in the last 6 months and heard of 4 others.
[name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] is a lovely, classic name. It may be popular but it will never go out of style or be trendy. If you love it, and it’s THE name, use it.
Personally, yes, I probably would unless there was no name I could possibly love more. I’ve always disliked how common my name is, and I’ve always hated sharing it with others and needing to go by my full name or use another distinguishing factor. It’s also been annoying for teachers, especially when there were three Abbys in my tap recital dance of six girls. It was confusing during choreography. I also don’t instinctively answer when someone calls my name because I’m used to it not being me.
[name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] is a beautiful name, and if it feels right, then use it! But for me, I could easily find another name, especially a girl’s name, that I love more than whatever name I had that was too popular for me.
Yes and no. There are certainly a few names I can think of where the popularity of it has put me off. But giving my hypothetical kids super duper unique names that no one else will ever have has never been a priority in my mind. My name was popular in the decades before I was born/reasonably still popular when I was named. There have been times where I’ve had to go by my last name or initial, or there have been multiple people with the same name in the vicinity and we all turn when someone says the name. It’s a little annoying and confusing sometimes, but it’s not a death sentence.
I tend to base my decision on whether a name is too popular or not more off of people I know rather than the national stats. [name_f]Scarlet/name_f is pretty popular, but I’ve never even heard of a baby with the name. On the other hand, I feel like I hear a mom shouting for her son [name_u]Aidan[/name_u] every time I step out into public, so that has dulled my enthusiasm for the name a bit.
Similar to what a previous poster said, [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] is what I consider a classic. It’s not like [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] or [name_f]Ava[/name_f], which both essentially went dormant and then exploded into popularity again here within the past few years. [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] has been steadily popular for decades, and across many age demographics. That may or may not be of any solace to you.
Absolutely not.
The days of 4 Jennifers in a class are over. Name popularity just isn’t what it used to be and since the people who went through the 4 Jennifers and 3 Jessicas in each class are now having kids, I think we’re over correcting and worrying about scenarios (i.e. “I don’t want my kid to be 1 of 7 Magnolias in her class!”) that just aren’t logical. I’m not saying [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] definitely won’t have another [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] in her class, but she very well may not, and there certainly won’t be 5 or 6.
It depends on your priorities. [name_f]Imagine[/name_f] how you’d feel not using the name you love. [name_f]Imagine[/name_f] how warm and fuzzy you’ll feel using an honor name you’ve loved for years. I’m not one to throw out a good name you love because other people have also seen the merit of using the great name you’ve chosen.
If you love [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], use [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f]. It’s beautiful and classic, which is why it’s loved as a name.
Absolutely not.
My favorite girl’s name is [name_f]Elisabeth[/name_f], so while not the popular spelling, it’s still obviously the same name. My twin sister is [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] (which is perennially popular), so it would be to honor her, and unless my future husband/father of my children strongly objects, I can’t see me ever not using it should I have a daughter. NB: The tweak in spelling, is because I’d want to use the diminutive [name_f]Elsie[/name_f], which is more intuitive with the S version).
[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] could be the #1 name, and I’m adamant I’d still use it, because it means so much to me.
I would. Part of the reason I love the names I want to use is because they are unusual and memorable. Popular names aren’t bad and can work for many (just not for me). But if you’re really having doubts about popularity, maybe [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] isn’t the one. When it comes down to it, maybe you’ll love [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] too much not to use it, and popularity won’t matter. It’s hard to predict.
[name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] is gorgeous and I feel like you’ll always regret it if you don’t use it. Besides, no one can know what the future holds for the popularity of any name, and more often than not names are popular for a good reason
A few years ago, I would said that I would. But at the moment, I wouldn’t. My grandmother’s middle name is [name_f]Aurora[/name_f], it was also her mum’s middle name. She always told my mum and my aunt to use it, they never did.
I love everything about the name [name_f]Aurora[/name_f], except that it’s growing fast. But, it’s not enough for me to stop using it. It’s the name, at least, right now that no significant other objects. If [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] is like that for you, go for it. Popularity is something about [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], but not everything of it.
Probably not. [name_m]Julian[/name_m], [name_f]Audrey[/name_f] and [name_m]Ezra[/name_m] are some of my favorites, and they’re relatively popular right now, but that’s because so many people recognize that they’re great names. [name_m]Julian[/name_m] would honor my partner’s mother and [name_f]Audrey[/name_f] would honor my grandma, so those names have meaning that transcend trends. I would probably consider pairing them with less common middles to add some distinctiveness, but it’s not a big deal to me. There are very positive aspects to having a name that’s widely recognized.