Are you sorry you used a popular name

[AnitaMcC]

Dh and I named our kids in a family tradition: after family and/or saint (either first or middle name is also a saint name).

 

Ds#1 named after Dh,

Dd named after MIL and great grandparents,

Ds#2 named after a saint and his middle name is my maiden name, and

Ds#3 named after FIL and two BILs.

 

We don't care if the names are popular or not, etc. We picked names that have a lot of meaning to us and that is all that mattered to us.

[weddell]

When I was growing up the grade above mine had around 60 kids. 6 of them were named Jennifer and 6 of them were named Jason. That is 20% of the class with just two names! The Jennifer era was crazy!

 

A friend of mine named her daughter Abigail. She and her husband knew it was popular but didn't care. She is a high school teacher and her husband is a professor and so they have heard a lot of names, but since Abigail is a more recent trend, they hadn't heard of a lot of kids with that name in their classes. The baby is 1.5 years old now and although she wouldn't want to change her daughter's name and still loves it, I've heard her make more than one comment of regret. I know of 6 kids with that name 6 years old and under. My friend knew it was a popular name, but it didn't really strike her how popular until she actually named her baby that and then started noticing it everywhere.

 

I think popular names are different in different places. I know there are the national lists, but I think the names really vary by region. So that if worth considering too. Your name choice may be popular nationally, but not in your area, or it may be super popular in your area.

[happypamama]

DH and I both have traditional, timeless Biblical names; I've always known a few of each of them of various ages, but not so many that they're super common. In my class of 150 kids in school, there was one other Sara(h) -- not too bad. So DD and DS1 ended up with similar sorts of names. So did DS2, except that I seem to hear his name a lot lately. (Actually, though, I looked at the social security charts -- DS1's name has actually been higher on the lists in the past several years than DS2's. DS1 does tend to go by his full name, whereas I know a lot of boys with his name use a shorter form.)

 

We didn't choose them to be popular or to avoid being popular, but rather because we liked them and thought they fit the child. This thread is slightly concerning to me, though, because Abigail is one of my top choices if this baby is a girl, and it's really popular right now. Katherine is my other choice, and with the British royal wedding coming, I'm afraid that it's going to have a surge in popularity this year. Oh, well, I guess. :)

[momofkhm]

for your child?

 

The biggest problem?

It drives me NUTS that they are both in the top four names for 2011.

 

So, if you named your child a wildly popular name, did you later just not mind? DH wonders why it would matter, after all, she'll be homeschooled, lol. Maybe he's right. It's just bugging me.

 

You're asking the wrong person. :) I grew up not being able to find things with my name spelled correctly. To a child it's an important thing. Now I couldn't care less. But as a child... My kids have popular names. Spelled in traditional ways. They will be able to find ready made personalized products if they so desire.

 

Even now when they are homeschooled, it does matter. My oldest and my middle both play soccer. They both have the only name duplicated on their teams. (Separate teams) It doesn't bother me. I don't think it bothers them.

[keptwoman]

All 3 of my children ended up with names that were quite popular. And all 3 times it has not been an issue, even with the 2 kids that went to school.

[Carrie12345]

I guess we didnt want especially popular names and we tried to choose accordingly. I would have chosen more unusual name-s dh was the more conservative.

 

Who knew that Jared would be such a popular name? And how many variations of spelling? Jared's best friend is also called Jared, same spelling.

I never even heard the name till I was an adult.

So we tried but failed with that name- but its ok. Not something we lose sleep over, and he likes it well enough.

 

I have a Jared, too! It was #57 for 1998.

My kids range from # 29-70 for their birth year (I used 09 for the baby), so they're not top 10, but I feel like I hear all but Sebastian all the time. No actual regrets, though.

[Jenny in Florida]

Dh and I named our kids in a family tradition: after family and/or saint (either first or middle name is also a saint name).

 

While we didn't have a family tradition on which to draw, my husband and I were very careful and intentional about our children's names, and we followed the same pattern with both:

 

First name is a traditional but not common one with Celtic roots and a meaning we loved.

 

Middle name is from my mother-in-law's family.

 

Last name is my husband's (and his father's).

 

So, they each got something from us (first name), something from their grandmother (middle name) and something from their grandfather (last name).*

 

We like it. They like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* For those who are wondering, we do not have a relationship with my family of origin. That, too, is intentional.

[stephanier.1765]

One of my boys is Kyle, and another is Evan. These are both pretty popular, but it hasn't bothered me at all. They even seem to think it's kind of cool to occasionally come across another kid with their name.

 

They are the only two who almost never need to spell their name out. (Almost never--can you believe there are alternate spellings of Kyle?)

 

I have a Kyle and Evan too. :lol: When I named my oldest Evan (he's 23) we didn't know any other Evans at all but within a few years it became popular.

 

I also had never heard the name Kyle until I was an adult but fell in love with it right away. I loved the way it looked and the way it sounded so when #3 came along he was a Kyle from the start.

 

My middle son is Alexander, another popular name. I had loved it since I was a teen. While driving home after discovering we were having a boy, I knew he was going to be an Alex. We never wavered once.

 

Each name is just perfect for each boy. The only thing I wish we had done differently was a different middle name for Kyle so we could have called him by his initials (like K.B.) when there were multiple Kyles on his team.

 

The boys' names are short and sweet and easy to spell. They also go perfectly with our last name. No regrets at all and I've never heard any of them wish they had been named differently.

[Violet Crown]

We also shared a like for Sophia but not only is it insanely popular, but we both like the other two names more, so we just cut it.

We cleverly came up with "Sophia" sixteen years ago, when it wasn't in the top 100 (btw you can check popularity and trends here). I've asked her since how she feels about having a name that's become so common, and she says she doesn't mind, since it's not common in her age group. She did mention that she's often startled by hearing "Sophia! Quit that right now!" or the like scolding. :001_smile:

[Mom22ns]

My name was wildly popular when I was a child and I hated it. At one time there were 3 Debbies in class with me (third grade maybe) it was terrible. I made dh promise we would not do that to our kids. Both of their names were somewhere around the 20th most popular. Popular enough to be well known, but not popular enough to have to share it with all their friends.

[Jenny in Atl]

I thought when I named my oldest (Mackenzie) it was not a popular name. She's been in classes where at least four other girls (the same age) were also named Mackenzie. :tongue_smilie:

 

So far Fiona has not been as popular. :D

[Mrs Mungo]

I am a Jennifer, and my eldest is an Emily. Whoops.

[texasmama]

I am a Jennifer, and my eldest is an Emily. Whoops.

 

Well, you will always be Mrs. Mungo to the Hive.:D (My oldest is Emily, too - #1 on the list for her year of birth...)

[ChristusG]

When naming my kids, I always make sure that their names are not in the top 1000 at any time. Of course, now DD #1's name has moved to within the top 400....Grrr LOL. But DD#2's name is still not into the top 1000. Now I've been trying to come up with a name for #3. Not sure if it's a boy or a girl yet, but I think we pretty much have a boys name chosen....again, not in the top 1000. Still working on one for a girl.

[JeneralMom]

 

Does anyone but me remember when "a Jennifer" was popular slang for the younger woman your ex-husband dated after you broke up? That was a lovely couple of years . . .

 

 

I have never heard that expression.

[Cheryl in NM]

We used a popular name, but I mis-spelled it! :001_huh:

 

The hospital required the paperwork to be filled out immediately in the am, I'd been up a good part of the night that ended with emergency C-section. Dh HAD to go back to work or lose his job. I was completely out of it! I knew the name we picked, but not how to spell it. :tongue_smilie:

 

So we ended up with Benjaman. Dh's work buddies laughed and called ds Ben-Jammin! It's a running joke around here now. Ds used to get irritated when people mis-spelled his name so I told him that he was welcome to change it when he was 18. It doesn't bother him now.

[Heather in VA]

I think sometimes you just can't plan for popularity. My middle daughter's name is Rachel. Quite popular obviously. When she was 3 years old through Kindergarten she went to a Montessori school. There were about 100 kids. So you'd think she would run into an issue with a bunch of Rachels. Nope- she was the only Rachel, BUT there were 4 Dominiques. Who would have thought?

 

Heather

[Jennifer in MI]

Our kids have fairly popular names.

 

Samuel

Andrew

William

Margaret

 

We thought we were being a little creative with WIlliam (we call him Will). But, there are now a TON of them. It's okay. I haven't met a William I don't like!

 

Margaret - I just LOVE htat name. We call her Meg.

 

If I had another girl, she'd be Josephine and we'd call her Jo. But, we're NOT having another.

[Kebo]

When it came time to name our first child (a boy), my husband told me that "guys don't want an unusual name -- they just want something masculine and 'normal'". I suggested many (slightly!) off-the-beaten-track names and he vetoed all of them. We did end up with a popular name, as it was all we could agree on, but it hasn't been a big issue for us or our son (I think it bothers me much more than it bothers him :001_smile:). We also call him by an unusual nickname, though his friends use the more common form.

 

My husband is Robert, one of the most common names for his age group. I was once talking with 3 friends and realized that all four of us were married to a Robert. Doesn't bother my husband a bit. It would drive most women crazy I think, though. So he allowed just a little more creativity with our daughter's name. It's still more popular than we realized at the time, but not so much as to be a problem. It can be hard to find a name that hits that sweet spot between well-used and "weird".

Edited April 17, 2011 by Kebo

[GWOB]

Dh wanted to name dd3 Emily. While I love that name, I just couldn't do it. We tried to compromise by naming her Amelie after both my great-grandmothers, but I thought she would have a difficult time correcting English pronunciations of a French name. So we went an entirely different direction and named her Jillian. There were a few Jillians where she was born, but we haven't come across one here.

 

Now, I feel a little differently about boy names. Like Kebo (?) said, men want "normal" names. I wanted something traditional, but not wildly popular. So we ended up with a Samuel. We have another Samuel at church and one in our hs group. My Samuel just thinks it's totally cool that other guys have his name.

 

I had to talk dh out of a potentially popular name with our first. Dh was a big "Matrix" fan and wanted to name our dd Trinity. We settled on a relatively obscure name I thought was totally unique- Cora. Of course, after she was born, I started hearing the name much more often.

[Skadi]

Well, my DH has had to veto a bunch of my suggestions. Eowyn, Calandria (nn. Callie), Adelaide, Lorien...Alistair, Dresden, Dexter, Atticus. The list of zany names I like goes on.

 

Thankfully, we do have a pre-made list of names that we've both agreed to. Genevieve, Violet, Norah, Claire...Simon, Ciaran, Dominic, Henry. I don't think any of those are wildly popular right now, according to the SS site.

[mcconnellboys]

Even if a name is popular now, it might not be in years to come. My older son has an almost unheard of name, yet we have run into a couple of other guys (oddly enough, through swimming) that share his name. My youngest's name was not popular here when we gave it to him, but has been gaining in popularity ever since. Names go in and out of fashion, so I'd go with what I like....

[redsquirrel]

Well, my DH has had to veto a bunch of my suggestions. Eowyn, Calandria (nn. Callie), Adelaide, Lorien...Alistair, Dresden, Dexter, Atticus. The list of zany names I like goes on.

 

Thankfully, we do have a pre-made list of names that we've both agreed to. Genevieve, Violet, Norah, Claire...Simon, Ciaran, Dominic, Henry. I don't think any of those are wildly popular right now, according to the SS site.

 

I just read an article about how popular Henry is becoming. I guess it is a very popular name with the celebrity babies for the past couple years?

[SailorMom]

Our teens are Kyle and Alex. We didn't look at the popular names lists - never do - we just liked the names.

[Crimson Wife]

Thankfully, we do have a pre-made list of names that we've both agreed to. Genevieve, Violet, Norah, Claire...Simon, Ciaran, Dominic, Henry. I don't think any of those are wildly popular right now, according to the SS site.

 

I hate to burst your bubble, but most of those names are super-popular right now. Especially Genevieve, Violet, Claire, Dominic, and Henry.

[lauracolumbus]

My son's name is Michael and was at the time the most popular boys' name (it's also my dh's and his father's name). Amazingly, we rarely run into other Michaels.

 

My dds both have unusual names: Camille and Francesca.

 

I wouldn't have it any other way, even w/all the butchering of spelling and pronouncing (which I find people tend to do w/even the easiest names).

 

Laura

[mommaduck]

We've also tried to use traditional names, but not overly "popular" names...only to have them show up as popular names for that year or surrounding years.

[BlsdMama]

I was thinking you need an Emma. :)

 

 

 

I'm in utter agreement with you. Emma would be perfect. :) The only (slight) problem with Emma is that we call Daniella, Ella.

 

The popularity of the biblical, traditional names haven't bothered me.

 

It's ISABELLE that is driving me nuts. Isabella is DH's absolute, hands down favorite. I refuse to use Isabella because the nickname would be Bella... And with the popularity of Twilight, I just steadfastly REFUSE.

 

The second choice is Olivia, which I suspect will be the new name.

 

Emma was on the list.

Naomi, Hadassah, Lydia, and Michaiah were all mine that DH will not consider. His thought - why would you purposefully choose an 'odd' name? BECAUSE it's different. :) We have different takes on names. His favorites? Samantha, Alyssa, etc. Names that are not only popular, but very reminiscent of the early '90s? We have very different name choices. :lol:

 

I hated Rebecca, but LOVE it now. I wasn't wild about Abigail. Elizabeth was a given because she was named after our Hannah. Ana (Briana) was the ONLY name we could agree on at all. But of all the names I wasn't crazy about - at least they were biblical.

 

We both LOVE Rachel. Unfortunately the rest of the kids have these deep, meaningful names, and well, Rachel means ewe. Sigh. Why ewe? I can just see the discussion now, "Well, we named you THIS because it was beautiful. And we named you THIS because it means A Father's Joy and we named you, and on and on down TEN names until we got to Rachel. And her name will mean female sheep. :001_huh: If only we had by-passed meaning all along. Then we'd be free to use Leah too, another favorite we both REALLY like.

 

Frankly, my choice is Lydia.

His is Isabella.

We're neither getting our first choices. ;)

 

I suspect we'll compromise on Olivia.

 

We really focused on the meaning of the names we ended up choosing, and for that reason they are very special to us. Even if their names are popular, we know that they have those names for very specific reasons, so it doesn't bother me.

 

HEY! I think you might have just figured out WHY Isabelle bothers me so much! It isn't JUST that it's popular. It has the same meaning as Elizabeth. :( I don't like that very much.

 

My last one is Sophia. I love the name, always have. And I don't care that it's popular because to me it means wisdom, which, with the last one, I hope I finally got a little.

 

Sophia was on our list at third, but because we like the other two more, it got knocked out. I liked it too because it meant wisdom. Our middle name choices are either:

 

Katherine (Greek) - pure

or (most likely)

Serene / Serenity (Latin) which has obvious meaning.

 

Isabelle (Spanish) means God's covenant or a promise/oath to God which goes well with Serenity.

Olivia (Hebrew) means of the olive tree and the biblical significance of the olive branch/tree was (other than fertility) peace. So peace and serenity go well together. :) Plus, it is Hebrew and most of our children's names are Hebrew.

 

my husband and I were very careful and intentional about our children's namesWe like it. They like it.

 

 

LOL. And therein lies the problem. Now try to do it TEN times.

 

Ana is Ana Joy - character/trait name, named after DH's mom, means strength.

Christian (obvious meaning) and Joseph - my dad's name

Hannah - Hebrew, grace, biblical meaning, Elizabeth - covenant/oath of God and mat. grandmother

Elizabeth (Hannah's middle name, she was named after her sister) and Grace - character trait, biblical meaning

Rebecca (captivating) biblical meaning and Kristine - my mom's name

Timothy means Honoring God and obviously Timothy in the Bible was a good man, and Gerald after DH's father

Abigail means a Father's Joy and Faith has obvious meaning / character trait

Sarah means princess, biblical meaning and Elaine was REALLY important to me as it is my grandmother's name and she was significant in my life.

Daniella is the fem. version of Daniel - a great Biblical hero and means God is my judge but we paired it with Hope - God is my judge and hope. (At least this is what it means in OUR heads, lol.)

 

And so, there are times, especially when we are expecting the EIGHTH girl, that I just wished we had started with A and traveled down the letters of the alphabet using random names from a dart board with NO meaning whatsoever.

 

How do you say to a child, "Sorry, you're #10. You got leftovers." LOL. You don't.

 

So we torture ourselves over it. Seriously, I've lost sleep over naming this little girl.

Edited April 17, 2011 by BlsdMama

[Tracy]

For both kids, we used a common first name and an unusual middle name. They both go by their middle names, but if they ever want a more traditional name, they can use their first names. We did it this way, because this is how my dh was named, and it works very well for him. His middle name, which he goes by, is from his Croatian grandfather, and dh husband really likes being different. But many people stumble over it when they first meet him. So unless he expects to have an ongoing relationship with someone he meets, he just introduces himself by his common first name. He feels it works especially well for job interviews. He doesn't want his name to become an obstacle to getting a job.

[Tracy]

 

We both LOVE Rachel. Unfortunately the rest of the kids have these deep, meaningful names, and well, Rachel means ewe. Sigh. Why ewe? I can just see the discussion now, "Well, we named you THIS because it was beautiful.

 

My dd is Rachel, and I don't tell her that it means ewe. I tell her she was named after the woman that Jacob worked for 14 years to marry.

[GWOB]

I'm in utter agreement with you. Emma would be perfect. :) The only (slight) problem with Emma is that we call Daniella, Ella.

 

The popularity of the biblical, traditional names haven't bothered me.

 

It's ISABELLE that is driving me nuts. Isabella is DH's absolute, hands down favorite. I refuse to use Isabella because the nickname would be Bella... And with the popularity of Twilight, I just steadfastly REFUSE.

 

The second choice is Olivia, which I suspect will be the new name.

 

Emma was on the list.

Naomi, Hadassah, Lydia, and Michaiah were all mine that DH will not consider. His thought - why would you purposefully choose an 'odd' name? BECAUSE it's different. :) We have different takes on names. His favorites? Samantha, Alyssa, etc. Names that are not only popular, but very reminiscent of the early '90s? We have very different name choices. :lol:

 

I hated Rebecca, but LOVE it now. I wasn't wild about Abigail. Elizabeth was a given because she was named after our Hannah. Ana (Briana) was the ONLY name we could agree on at all. But of all the names I wasn't crazy about - at least they were biblical.

 

We both LOVE Rachel. Unfortunately the rest of the kids have these deep, meaningful names, and well, Rachel means ewe. Sigh. Why ewe? I can just see the discussion now, "Well, we named you THIS because it was beautiful. And we named you THIS because it means A Father's Joy and we named you, and on and on down TEN names until we got to Rachel. And her name will mean female sheep. :001_huh: If only we had by-passed meaning all along. Then we'd be free to use Leah too, another favorite we both REALLY like.

 

Frankly, my choice is Lydia.

His is Isabella.

We're neither getting our first choices. ;)

 

I suspect we'll compromise on Olivia.

 

 

 

HEY! I think you might have just figured out WHY Isabelle bothers me so much! It isn't JUST that it's popular. It has the same meaning as Elizabeth. :( I don't like that very much.

 

I LOVE Lydia! I was soooooo close to convincing dh to name dd3 Lydia. I don't think it's odd at all.

 

Dd10's middle name is Isabella. We know another Isabel and her nickname is Izzy. You could go that route.

[BlsdMama]

I hate to burst your bubble, but most of those names are super-popular right now. Especially Genevieve, Violet, Claire, Dominic, and Henry.

 

Yup. Hurts doesn't it?

[SnowWhite]

Why not Katherine Serenity? I love the name Katherine. Katherine Joy is my never to be used daughter name.

[Parrothead]

If I survived being named Jennifer in the 70s when every third girl was named that :tongue_smilie:I think you will be fine. There were times growing up that I wanted to try different variations of my name (Jenny, Jenna, Jennifer, Jennie) but over all, I would rather have a common name than a super uncommon one.

I have to agree with the part I bolded. I have a very uncommon name. I was never able to have things with my name on them as a kid and now it is just an embarrassing name. Believe me, Chuck or Chucki is way better than either my first or middle name.

 

Err on the side of either popular or old fashioned. I don't remember the last time I saw a Vinnie, Sam, Bruce, Linda, Carol or Barbara.

Edited April 17, 2011 by Parrothead

[vonfirmath]

Growing up, my sister was Rachel and I was Sarah--I always felt sorry her name had no great meaning like mine did

 

For our little girl, she is Ruth Abigail--the middle name being Abigail on purpose partly cause of popularity. There is some blowback on the name making us considering Lydia Ruth instead

[Jenny in Florida]

I have never heard that expression.

 

Judging from the ages of your kids, you may be younger than I am by (more than) a few years.

[Jenny in Florida]

LOL. And therein lies the problem. Now try to do it TEN times.

 

We could have named girls almost unendingly. I still have a girl's name "left over" from when we didn't know our son's gender. And there are lots more waiting in the wings.

 

Boys are harder to name, we found, because the options are more narrow. Take a look at a baby name book. (Yes, my kids are old enough that we got their names out of books.) The section for girl names is about twice as long as the one for boy names. Then, once you take out all of the potential boy names that aren't actual possibilities (Poindexter was, I swear, listed in the name book we used.), the pickings get kind of slim.

 

My favorite boy name, the one I always assumed we'd use if I ever had a boy, is Kieran. It's the name of a character in a book I love, and I'd never met anyone with the name, ever.

 

So, with each of the pregnancies, we went into the whole naming thing assuming we had a boy name already and focused on choosing options for girls. Then, while I was pregnant with our son, the actor Kieran Culkin started getting talked about more, and I panicked, thinking the name was going to explode in popularity. So, we went back to the name book and came up with a back-up name.

 

My mother-in-law told me, by the way, that the name we ended up choosing was one she loved, in part because it was the name of her first boyfriend. (Shhh. I may not have mentioned that to my husband.)

 

Right up until the day he was born, we were waffling. But my husband looked down at me and said he thought our son looked like the not-Kieran name. I agreed.

 

As it turned out, although there was a little bump in popularity, Kieran never did get crazy popular like I was afraid it would.

 

But I love my son's name now. It's perfect. Every now and then, I look at him and try our Kieran, but it doesn't work.

 

So, I guess we got it right, anyway.

 

But, yes, I'd be happy to name girls for years to come. Fortunately, my daughter loves names as much as I do and is already compiling a list of potential names for the children she might never get around to having. My left-over girl name is on the list. So, I might get a grandchild with that name . . .

[Molly]

It's interesting the whole naming business.

 

We really struggled with our second son. I ended up with a list of about 10 names that I liked. I wanted something unusual but not outrageous. My husband wanted Jack. On the way to the hospital, I said, right I will compromise with you, we'll name it Elias Jack if it is a boy, Eli for short. It worked. So he was born and is an Eli through and through.

 

Our oldest is Shakayla. It is something we had made up according to us, but I have heard of others (not many with the same spelling). DH wanted Michaela if it was a girl but with our surname I didn't like it. Too many M's. So decided to test out other sounds that would make a name. We came up with that.

 

Our next daughter is Bethany, a name I had always loved and DH had vetoed with the first one.

 

Our older son is James. He is named after DH's grandfather who died before he was born but was a rather big part of our lives as he lived in the same town as us.

 

I too think it doesn't matter what you name them. There will always be those who don't like their names. I am a Michelle and I remember four Michelle's in science class. It didn't matter.

[LibraryLover]

I simply do not understand the whole drive for unique names.

 

Why are classic names bad?

 

Seems kind of a wimpy thing to whine about.

[KidsHappen]

My oldest (the boy) is named Michael. I knew it would be extremely popular. It always is and always has been but he was named after my favorite brother so it really didn't matter.

 

With the girls I tried to go with very original and unique names because I had a totally borning and ordinary name growing up. I think I hit gold with the first two. Their names are incredibly beautiful but also very rare as in most people have only ever heard of one or two other people with the name and while these people are older than my children (or are stars, or both) they were never heard of until my children were grown. I literally made up both of these names as names by taking from geography and mythology. The first one did increase in popularity after my dd was born. The other did not show up in search results at all although there is now a star that shares that name (I don't think it is her given name) but she spells differently.

 

With the third child, our original choice was Raven but I wasn't sure she would have dark hair and I didn't want a white (haired) Raven. So we consulted our handy, dandy Riverside Shakespeare and came up with Miranda from the Tempest. Well, turns out so did everyone else for at least a generation. It started trending up in the 1960s and hit a peak in the 1990s when my dd was born. Of course, we had never really heard the name before I guess because it hadn't really entered our conciousness and so we weren't paying attention to it. Now she has one of the most widly popular names of her age group but she is happy because she is ony slightly younger than Raven Simone' and she didn't want to compete with a one name wonder.

 

The third child was another winner, very original, unique and beautiful and fits her better than a name has ever fit a person. Honestly, it is as if this name was made solely for her. Her name is also so incredibly rare that most people have never heard of another person of the same name and people always want to hear the story of how she got her name.

 

The final girl ended up with a name that was more than twice as popular as Miranda. Once again I was totally out of touch with what was going on in popular culture. This name started trending up in the 1970s and hit it's peak in the 1990s as well but I had never heard it used for a girl before which was the appeal for me. The only Kelsey I had ever heard of was Kelsey Grammer. My hubby was adamently opposed to the name because it was a boys name. Well, apparently America did not get the message because there are little Kelseys everywhere. The contenders here were Whitney, Sydney, maybe Shelby or Courtney. Good thing they didn't win out though because those name definitely would not have fit her. Kelsey fit her perfectly and she is the kind of child that is very content to have a popular name.

 

I gave all of my girls normal, somewhat older fahioned, straigher laced middle names in case they ever went into business and wanted a somewhat more professional name to use. The unusual names are: Asia, Rhianna and Stormy, so in age order A, R, M, S & K.

Edited April 18, 2011 by KidsHappen

[Violet Crown]

I hate to burst your bubble, but most of those names are super-popular right now. Especially Genevieve, Violet, Claire, Dominic, and Henry.

This is the fun thing about the Name Voyager: it lets you see that, for instance, "Genevieve" doesn't look very popular if you just look at its ranking; but Voyager shows you that it's on a sharp upward swing, and you can see that it's on track to crack the top 100.

 

If it had been available in the late '60's, my parents would have been able to see that the name they picked had peaked twenty years before, was now regarded as badly overused, and had already plunged into unpopularity. Hmph.

[RoundAbout]

I had a very popular name, and hated it. Even worse is that it peaked in the mid-70s when I was born so it feels very dated to me. My dad wanted to name me Winifred (unusual) or Elizabeth (classic) but mom wouldn't go for either so I got something trendy. I think I would much prefer dad's choices!

[Dobela]

I didn't know anyone with my son's name so we chose it. That year it was in the top 10, p from somewhere deep in the top 250 the year before. I guess we all had the same idea.

 

I had never heard my dd's name before (her birth mother named her) so we saw it as unusual and lovely. We really liked it and decided to keep it with a change in spelling. Everywhere we went we kept meeting more and more girls who had the same first name (in pronunciation). For the last several months I have been tracking names in the birth announcements in the newspaper. Almost every single week there is yet another girl with the same name. None spelled like we spell it now, but the same as before we changed the spelling. Go figure. No matter what we do, our kids are one of many everywhere we go with the same name.

[stephanier.1765]

This is the fun thing about the Name Voyager: it lets you see that, for instance, "Genevieve" doesn't look very popular if you just look at its ranking; but Voyager shows you that it's on a sharp upward swing, and you can see that it's on track to crack the top 100.

 

If it had been available in the late '60's, my parents would have been able to see that the name they picked had peaked twenty years before, was now regarded as badly overused, and had already plunged into unpopularity. Hmph.

 

What's really funny about this is that I wanted to name my daughter, if I had had one, Genevieve after my great grandmother and after clicking on your link I discovered that it was hugely popular in the year she was born. I never knew that. So cool!

[OrganicAnn]

Our DD name was the most popular name for decades and decades, now not so much. But it is a classic name and we like it. Everyone knows how to spell it and pronounce it.

 

It is Mary.

Edited April 18, 2011 by OrganicAnn

[kokotg]

This is the fun thing about the Name Voyager: it lets you see that, for instance, "Genevieve" doesn't look very popular if you just look at its ranking; but Voyager shows you that it's on a sharp upward swing, and you can see that it's on track to crack the top 100.

 

 

 

I love Name Voyager! Those charts are fascinating. My two oldest both have giant steep peeks starting, like, the year after we named them, but are still only in the 400s and 500s. And #3 has a gentle upward rise over the past few years, but is still clearly predominantly an old man name :).

 

Probably this has been mentioned, but I think there's a big difference between trendy names that will inevitably sound dated eventually and classic names that are always or at least often popular. Names that stick around for 100 years usually do so because they're undeniably appealing names. I'd kind of love a Will or an Owen, but I'm not sure I could do it for fear it wouldn't "go" with my older kids' much less popular names (also, DH is committed to keeping me from naming anything but imaginary babies from now on, so it's probably a moot point).

[amy g.]

My parent's named me Genevieve in 1966. I never would have thought it would become popular.

[MorganClassicalPrep]

I think we should institute a new rule on these name threads:

 

If your signature doesn't have your children's names, you should have to reveal them in your response!! :tongue_smilie:

 

Totally kidding!! I know many of you don't reveal them out of privacy concerns (and definitely a fine way to go), but every time I open this thread there is another response that has me curious. The story behind the name just isn't complete without the name. I bet there are some wonderfully named children on this board. :D

[Splash]

Dh and I chose names that we're not very popular since neither of us loved sharing our names with others. The boys are more mainstream being Chase, Spencer and Wyatt. The girls we had a harder time agreeing on they are Mattea and Eliya. Mattea I heard and just loved, it took me four years to convince dh to use it, fortunately the boys were first or I'd have a Madeleine and Olivia. Eliya was Livia for awhile but I hated sharing it with all the Olivia's we knew so I changed it. I thought I love Olivia/Livia enough it wouldn't bother me but I was wrong.

 

I could go on naming for a long time, there are so many great names out there. Choosing different just to be different isn't it, but really none of the names you've listed are that different and I think would work with your family. We had Lydia on our list as well, I think it is very pretty and ladylike. Lucy and Mary would work with your family as well.

 

Kimberly

[BarbecueMom]

Our older son is named after DH's video game character pseudonym, which is a variation on his own name. We had decided before we even married that our first son would have this name. I thought we were making it up.

 

The year he was born, there were THREE variations of that name on the top 100 boy names list, none of them spelled like our son's name. In our former church, there were six kids that were nursery age. Our son and two other boys had the same name, all spelled differently!

 

Our younger son has a more traditional name. He got one of those plastic mugs with his name on it for Christmas. Older DS just got one with trains.