Would you give a baby a "top five" name?

[Julie Smith]

I've never bothered to check the lists.

 

We base our name choices on what we like, and the meaning. We've vetoed names that we really liked b/c we didn't like the meaning of them.

 

Sorry to pick on you Imp.

But when you talk about your kids names I always look at your signature and think, "You think THOSE are popular names. Diva, Tazzie, Princess, and Tummy? Where do you live???"

 

Mind you I really like the name Tazzie. The Tazmania Devil was my favorite cartoon character.

[Iucounu]

Sorry to pick on you Imp.

But when you talk about your kids names I always look at your signature and think, "You think THOSE are popular names. Diva, Tazzie, Princess, and Tummy? Where do you live???"

 

Mind you I really like the name Tazzie. The Tazmania Devil was my favorite cartoon character.

You do realize those aren't the actual names of her children, don't you? What's the point of your post?

[silliness7]

I really like the name Emily. However, it's been #1 for a long time (although I think it's not number 1 currently). My son has a common name (top 10) and we've never run across another kid with his name. Would you give your kid a really popular name?

 

This conversation could be completely hypothetical given the fact that we don't know if it is a boy or girl. ;)

 

I give my kids names that *I* like (and dh :001_smile:) I don't look up popularity. I don't look up meanings in baby name books. I don't care if mil doesn't like it. But I'm a little rebellious that way. ;)

[YourFidgetyFriend]

My daughter had a top ten name that has since become the #1 name. I don't love her having the top name, but I try to remind myself of why we chose it (it's still a beautiful name and she was named after my grandmother). I've read that the top names are a smaller percentage of all names these days, so there is virtually no chance of having a handful of Isabellas today like in my day when there may have been 4 Jessicas and 3 Ashleys in one classroom.

[tabrizia]

We deliberately chose less popular names for our kids. DH was in the top 10 when he was named (still is) and my name was in the top 10 and number 1 for awhile. I always had a few other kids with my name in my grade, and in 7th grade there were 7 of us in my English class. I would not personally use a top 10 or even top 100 name. Though really I do believe you should use what you love, so if the name is in the top 10 they will be fine, especially since the number 1 name is far less popular now then it was even 10 years ago number wise.

[Bluegoat]

I think if I was considering a popular name, I would look at whether it was a name, like Thomas say, that had been around a long time, or whether it was a kind of fad name, like a soap opera character.

 

In the former case it might be there would be a lot of people with that name, but in the latter case I think there would also be a good chance the name would really "date".

 

I did consider how popular a name was. I really like Grace, but I know a ton of girls with that name now so we avoided it even though it is a family name.

 

Looking at the chart posted earlier, my eldest dd has a name that never was on the graph at all; my middle dd has a name that was popular from about 1910 to the 30's but now is in the 400s; and my ds has a name that was popular until 1920 and now is nowhere to be seen.

[Plucky]

I wouldn't, but 2 of my kids' names ended up popular anyway after I named them. My oldest ds gets annoyed sometimes that there are so many of him. I just apologize and tell him I never knew so many people would copy us! LOL

[mommaduck]

I don't worry about if a name is top anything. I base naming upon history, meaning, and what comes to me.

[heidip2p]

When I saw this thread I was going to say no. We have a very common last name so we try to be not so common for first names. However, we have had the name Emily picked out for 8 years. Then we had 5 boys in a row. When we had a little girl 9 months ago we named her Emily. :) Top 10 or not...she is our baby Em :)

[Impish]

Sorry to pick on you Imp.

But when you talk about your kids names I always look at your signature and think, "You think THOSE are popular names. Diva, Tazzie, Princess, and Tummy? Where do you live???"

 

Mind you I really like the name Tazzie. The Tazmania Devil was my favorite cartoon character.

Uh...Those are all nicknames. Tazzie after the cartoon character.

 

My name isn't really Imp, and Wolf isn't actually my dh's given name either (although it really is Tazzie's middle name).

[BigMamaBird]

No. One of our requirements for choosing a baby name is that it not be in the top 10 for the last few years. We like to choose names that are unique because they're classics and haven't been popular for a while. There's a reason that popular names are popular though, there's some really cute names in the top 10.

[silliness7]

My name was #14 the year I was born. I NEVER knew anyone with my name until college or even after. I take that back. My sister had a friend in grade school whose name was Becca Hupp.

 

Anyway, it bothered me. I had 2 friends who were Kathy and several Jenny's. I just thought they were cool because they got to be Kathy V. and Kathy R. To me, as a kid, *that* was cool. So maybe I have an inferiority complex.

 

My name wasn't in any of the shows or movies I watched, or any of the books I read. It was a thrill to hear Kenny Rogers sing my name in Coward of the County (NOT a great song for a young girl to fixate on :tongue_smilie:)I came across Becky Thatcher as a jr. in high school and thinking, "FINALLY!! Someone else thought my name was good enough to give it to a character."

 

All that to say, some kids don't like being different. And you really won't know which kind your kid is until long after she's named. Pick what you like.

[Ellie]

Yes. And I did. I knew when I named her that there would be a truckload of other girls with the same name, but it was such a pretty name (Sarah). And it was the perfect name for her. :001_smile:

 

Her middle name is not so common, and at her work she goes by that, although everyone knows she's also a Sarah.

 

Of course, Sarah is an *old* name, not a fad or trendy name. I would not have named her, say, after a LOTR character, or a soap opera character.

 

Emily is a beautimous name. And it wouldn't make people go :001_huh: when they heard it.

[abbeyej]

For a classic name (like Emily or Michael), sure. For a trendy name (like Madison), *no*. There will always be Emilys and Michaels, so it won't end up sounding horribly dated. But the really trendy names that peak and then will (inevitably) vanish off the charts? They will always belong to a single generation, so I would avoid them.

[silliness7]

My dd is Lucy after family. Funny enough, everyone we met had a dog named Lucy when she was born. The name wasn't even in the top 200. Now it's different - still lots of Lucy dogs around, but lots of babies too.

 

My name is the same. I didn't know a single person under the age of 70 with my name when I was a kid. Now, I meet a child with my name about every other day. Old fashioned names seem to really be coming back.

 

Use it if you like it!

 

My flower girl was a Lucy and then so is my mil's dog. :lol::lol:

I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you. A facebook friend of mine just got some hamsters or gerbils or something. She named them 2nd and 3rd dd's names. That made me. :lol: I had to tell her that at least I wasn't the only one who thought those 2 names sounded cute together. :D

[cin]

I have a Piper and Zoie. No, we don't go for popular names :D

[Julie Smith]

Uh...Those are all nicknames. Tazzie after the cartoon character.

 

My name isn't really Imp, and Wolf isn't actually my dh's given name either (although it really is Tazzie's middle name).

 

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. I figured that out. :p Just thought it was funny.

[vonfirmath]

A extended family member has a sister named Jen, and he ended up marrying a woman named Jen. So there was two Jen. (same last name) in the family.

 

We've got this in our extended family.

 

Since my SIL is unmarried, we have two Sarah (same middle name) (same last name)s in the family

 

It seems to be working out okay.

[Kertie]

No. But you'll notice below that, despite having combed popularity lists online prior to naming him, ds is named Aiden. :rolleyes: It was #1 either the year or the year after he was born...and of course THOSE lists were not available when we were checking. Not only have we run into a lot of Aidens of various spellings, but turns out there are a lot of Haydens, Caidens, Jaydens...you get the idea. ;) But, hey--at least people won't mess up his name constantly, I guess.

 

With our youngest, we had 5 possibilities for names, and 1 was in the top 3, and 1 in the top 10--both got eliminated based on that.

 

We thought Norah might get popular, but liked it and went with it. Sure enough, we hear it a lot now--even have 2 friends who named their daughters that. :lol:

 

So no, I wouldn't INTENTIONALLY give a child a wildly popular name--and you can see the good THAT plan did! :D

[SJ.]

I would and I did. :)

Bo's name has been consistently in the top 5 for many, many years and Bub's for quite a while as well. My name was in the top 5 for many years of my life and it never was a problem. I didn't even check when I named my boys, I wanted to give them names I loved.

 

SSN's top 5 names list:http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/top5names.html

[Pippen]

Never! Ever!

 

I have one of those top five names and there were years growing up when there were 4 girls with the same name in my class. Similarly I just returned to teaching and have so many Emily's that it took me weeks to sort them out. It's especially hard during the teen years when so many girls strive to be alike with hair and clothing styles.

[bbkaren]

I don't care for trendy names, even if they're recycled classic names...

 

For all my kids, we chose classic names that I really loved the sound of, or had some meaning to us.

 

But if a name was on the top 10 trendy list, we wouldn't have used it. I don't want my kid swimming around in a sea of others with the same name; I hate that.

[Wheres Toto]

My oldest definitely has a very common name - Stephanie. She always has multiple other people with her name wherever she is - dance, school, work.

 

My son's name is unusual - George, and my youngest I'm not sure about - Victoria.

 

I was the only Dorothy in my high school of over 1200 students. I very rarely meet another Dorothy who doesn't belong to my grandmothers generation.

[Violet Crown]

Sure. The popular names change so often. I have an Alex and an Austin. Alex has always been popular, but we rarely run into other Alex's. Austin was only popular one year. Holy smokes. A LOT of my Austin's friends are named Austin. In 7th grade, there were 6 on his football team. I think we figured about 20% of the kids on the team were named Austin. :lol:

Strangely, it's remained a popular name around here for a long time. :D So has "Travis," the name of the county. I wonder sometimes if the local naming choices ever confuse the post office.

 

When we picked Great Girl's name, it wasn't in the top 100, and struck us as a fresh and interesting choice. Within a few years, it had shot up into the top 10, and has lingered about in the top 5 for the last few years. She meets lots of little girls with her name, but nobody her own age.

 

Middle Girl's name turned out to be a rising star, too, but went from nowhere to around 500th most popular girl's name, so it's still fairly uncommon. Our priest didn't even recognize the name, and, taking his cue from her middle name (Patrick, after her grandfather), referred to her as "him" all through the baptism. Still, it was alarming to read on baby name blogs after she was born how sick and tired they all were of little girls named Emma, Ava, and [Middle Girl].

 

By the time Wee Girl came along, we were savvier and watched the trends at Baby Name Voyager. We carefully picked a name we loved, and which is a real name with a real and reasonable spelling (just like her sisters'), but which has never been in the top 1000. But we failed to account for community trends, and the lady in the parish office, when I turned in the baptism paperwork, chirped "Oh! She'll be the third little [Wee Girl] in the parish!" :glare:

[GingerPoppy]

Yup :) If I liked it! :) I love the name Emily... it's beautiful!! What's the middle? Emily Noelle?? ;) I love the name Noelle as a middle name.. :) but Emily either way is lovely.:)

 

Me, too. :D I gave my December-born daughter that middle name, I like it so much. Kind of works as Noel-Christmas at the same time.

[KrissiK]

I wouldn't. But, that's just me. I always hated in school being Kristen H. in school because there was another Kristen. I know you can't always avoid double names in a classroom, but keeping away from the most popular names helps. Also, I think that giving a kid a popular name really dates them.

[FaithManor]

I'd also like to add that I think it's easier when a really common name is followed by an unusual surname. But, the whole thing gets really confusing when a top 10 name is added to a top 10 surname. So something like "John Smith" back in the day when John was sooooo popular, is pretty tough on a kid because there may be eight or ten John Smiths in the county phone book.

 

My brother was named after my uncle whose name was just plain TOOOOOOOO popular that year. Our surname was very common in our county as we descended from one of the families who initially settled the area. At any given time there were 5-9 _____'s living in the area and at least three would be in the same phone number region. UGH....he constantly received phone calls for other people and when he was in elementary school there were two other _____'s besides him so the teacher started calling them all by their middle names - my brother hated his middle name such that it made him cringe to hear it - to keep them all separate. In high school, he was consistently mixed up when quarterly grades came out because of four other boys with his same first and last name. The secretary only kept track of middle initials and that is a MAJOR problem when two of the boys have the same middle initial. Sheesh....it was always a mess to straighten out until the principal forced the issue of tracking by full middle names instead of just initials.

 

Mostly, I'm all for choosing whatever you like that won't get the kid endlessly teased. But, on the other hand, I am against giving a really common first name with an already really common last name. That just gets really confusing.

 

Oh, and my brother's bank accounts were once frozen because a _____ in the community died...it was one of the guys with the same middle initial. They both banked at the same place. UGH! That took three days to fix and included my brother needing sworn statements from his doctor that he was not in fact, deceased in addition to paperwork from the social security administration.

 

Be kind to your children. :D Do not name your children John Smith and Hannah Petzold! (Okay, so Petzold probably sounds unusual to you...but, that family back in the 1850's settled in this area, they and all of their remote relatives, and now there are approximately 35 Petzold families in the county, of which, four Hannah's were in my choir. :001_huh:)

 

Faith

[FairProspects]

Never! Ever!

 

I have one of those top five names and there were years growing up when there were 4 girls with the same name in my class. Similarly I just returned to teaching and have so many Emily's that it took me weeks to sort them out. It's especially hard during the teen years when so many girls strive to be alike with hair and clothing styles.

 

 

 

 

:iagree:I have a top 5 name and I really wish I didn't. It caused problems with multiple kids every year growing up, I've had to change my library status because I had the exact same name as several people in the system, and I've even gotten medical bills for other people with the same name. There are enough good names out there, that I would keep looking for something else and not do that to my kids.

[FairProspects]

I'd also like to add that I think it's easier when a really common name is followed by an unusual surname. But, the whole thing gets really confusing when a top 10 name is added to a top 10 surname. So something like "John Smith" back in the day when John was sooooo popular, is pretty tough on a kid because there may be eight or ten John Smiths in the county phone book.

 

My brother was named after my uncle whose name was just plain TOOOOOOOO popular that year. Our surname was very common in our county as we descended from one of the families who initially settled the area. At any given time there were 5-9 _____'s living in the area and at least three would be in the same phone number region. UGH....he constantly received phone calls for other people and when he was in elementary school there were two other _____'s besides him so the teacher started calling them all by their middle names - my brother hated his middle name such that it made him cringe to hear it - to keep them all separate. In high school, he was consistently mixed up when quarterly grades came out because of four other boys with his same first and last name. The secretary only kept track of middle initials and that is a MAJOR problem when two of the boys have the same middle initial. Sheesh....it was always a mess to straighten out until the principal forced the issue of tracking by full middle names instead of just initials.

 

Mostly, I'm all for choosing whatever you like that won't get the kid endlessly teased. But, on the other hand, I am against giving a really common first name with an already really common last name. That just gets really confusing.

 

 

Faith

 

Yup, this. But with a girl you never know what last name they will marry into, so I would avoid a top 10 name altogether. My parents have a very unique last name, so they thought a popular name would be fine. I married a common last name though, and that has magnified the issue even more. I say just don't do it.

[BamaTanya]

And I was one with the opposite problem -- a name so unusual I never could find any personalized hair barrettes or bike license plates with my name. :glare:

 

Dh had the most common first name ever and started going by his middle name after there were several boys who shared it in the first grade.

 

We have a relatively common last name (dh isn't the only one with his first/last name in our city phone book), so we selected less common names for the first names. I used other favorites that were on my "too common" lists for the dc's middle names.

 

I LOVE Emily. I didn't use it because my cousin's dd was named first. (In our family we avoid repetitions.) I looked and looked for something that was like Emily in syllables and femininity and style but wasn't Emily. A baby name book that was popular at the time, Beyond Jennifer and Jason, helped me create lists of lovely names. And we found several that were similar enough. I made my short list and dh picked his favorite.

 

Nymbler.com does that online. Even though I believe I'm past the stage of baby naming, I LOVE that site. :D

 

hth

[dirty ethel rackham]

I probably wouldn't unless I had a strong family connection to that name. Fortunately for us, when we were naming our kids, everyone was going for some of the more modern names and we wanted traditional names. For my boys, we don't know any kids with their names. Dh wanted a "guy's name" - that could be shortened to one syllable, that wasn't gender ambiguous, one that you would want for a guy friend. LOL - he cracked me up. For dd, her name has special meaning in our family. Part of me did not want that name because it was fairly popular. But, by the time we had her, it had dropped on popularity so we don't know many people with her name. Even so, we would have chosen it anyway because it had important family significance.

 

ETA: I just wanted to say that I love the name Emily and don't know many girls with that name. It was on my short list at one time, but my mom weighed in that she really didn't want me to name a girl after her aunt, someone who she found difficult. I learned a lesson after that to not share name choices with the family beforehand;).

[Jenny in Florida]

I grew up never being the only one with my name in any group, and I disliked it. My husband also has a common name and didn't like it. So, we tried hard to give our kids names that are real, with a sense of history, not too weird, but also not names you hear all the time.

 

I think they are happier with theirs than we are with ours. I have no regrets.

[pfamilygal]

My Austin has also been in school (except for the years he was homeschooled) with another boy named Austin who ALSO has almost exactly our same last name who also has played almost every season of athletics with my kid. That has caused MUCH confusion. Last year, the coach SAID the wrong last name when giving a coach's award. Very embarrassing.

 

Thanks. Now that song "I bet Amy's back in Austin..." is stuck in my head.

[Happy2BaMom]

I specifically ruled out names that were in the top 50. I wanted my children's names to be special, not something we ran into every day of the week. And they are not so unique or unusual as to be difficult for anyone to spell or pronounce.

 

I'm really glad that I did that, however...to each his/her own. There are plenty of people who aren't bothered by sharing the same name as lots of other kids.

[Spy Car]

After hundreds of years in the top 5 "William" is now number thirteen.

 

Funny thing is all the "Williams" I know these days (including my own son) are called "William." Not a "Billy" or a "Bill" in the bunch. Times change.

 

Bill

[dangermom]

I have an Emily. I didn't know it was the #1 name when we named her, but she was obviously an Emily anyway. And we actually know hardly any other Emilys--there are more Mias and Emmas and Olivias.

 

So I say, if you like the name, use it.

[Veritaserum]

No. I tried to stay out of the top 100. I hated being called by my full name in school because I was one of several Lauras in my class. One of them had a last name that started with the same letter as mine, so we both got called Laura Lastname.

 

Dh has a name that has been in the top ten for probably the last several centuries. He likes it fine.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

My oldest was named Elizabeth at a time when that name was in the top five. It had been my favorite name since I was a kid and I really wanted to use it. I have a few other names that I like that are quite popular and will probably NOT use them because they are so popular. So I guess it depends on how much you like the name. If you absolutely love it, go ahead. Otherwise, I might consider something else.

[PeacefulChaos]

I really like the name Emily. However, it's been #1 for a long time (although I think it's not number 1 currently). My son has a common name (top 10) and we've never run across another kid with his name. Would you give your kid a really popular name?

 

This conversation could be completely hypothetical given the fact that we don't know if it is a boy or girl. ;)

 

Nope. I don't think it is a bad thing if people do, though. In general, common names just aren't my preference.

[Susan in TN]

For 5 of my 6 children, I chose names that were not in the top 100. For one, though, dh was set on a name that I think was #10 or so, and we went with it. She's now in a girl's club in which 5 of the 15 girls share her name. It's quite funny.

[Susan in TN]

I grew up never being the only one with my name in any group, and I disliked it.

 

When I was growing up, there was a girl in my grade (who also lived up the street from me) who had the same first AND last name as me. And our middle names rhymed. Only caused a real problem when I managed to fail 11th grade French when I wasn't even taking French. :D

[In2why]

It is funny you said Emily. My Great Grandmother was named Emily and all of our children's names have meaning. I only have one girl and for a long time I said if I have another she will be Emily. This was 20+ years ago with my olders. Then we decided to add to the family and it killed me because Emily made such a comeback. I guess it is lucky thing our littles are all boys. I wouldn't have wanted my daughter to have the same name as 10 other of her peers, but I don't know.

[In2why]

I had a top 5 name. Always had 3-4 other girls with the same name in the same school (2,000 or less students). One of my best friends during high school had the same name :c). Haven't considered changing it. My DH has a popular name... my DD has the name Emily... :c) Guess I don't check the charts that often and you never know what name will be popular from one year to the next... so pick the name you like/feels the best for your new little one!

 

 

 

I remember when my son's were at the dating age, and they are mid-twenties now, the joke was which of the Megan, Brittney, or Heathers is it? The worst part is that it was usually true. It seemed like almost every girl in their high school had one of those 3 names.

 

I actually went to school with a girl with the same first and last name as mine. And my name is Stacy so it wasn't common lol. Being a military brat it was only a couple of years, but still it was strange to be called Stacy "middlename" by everyone. I kept looking around for my angry Mom since that was the only time she used my middle name. :D

[Dolphin]

After hundreds of years in the top 5 "William" is now number thirteen.

 

Funny thing is all the "Williams" I know these days (including my own son) are called "William." Not a "Billy" or a "Bill" in the bunch. Times change.

 

Bill

 

or even Liam.

My boy is William, but he goes by his middle name

[Sparkle]

I never would. It's just my personal preference to use names that are more unusual. I remember I liked the name Emma a lot when I was pregnant with dd8, but it was getting really popular, so we nixed it.

[LMD]

I personally wouldn't. My childrens names don't show a mention on our state's 100 list for the last few decades. The boy's name's don't show up on the top 100 list for as far back as they keep the records, DD's drops off completely after the 1950's. :D

 

I was also always one of numerous girls with the same first name in my year level, and it was a little bit annoying.

 

Buy my main reason is that I generally have known someone with that name, so it just doesn't sound right for my child. Meeting children around the place is usually an exercise in reading the top 10 list, and while the names are lovely (they're top 10 for a reason!) they are in my mind already associated with someone else.

 

It is also the main reason why some top 50-100 names we love are out. Elizabeth, Bethany, Grace, Joel etc...

[indigomama]

I swore I never would......my 7 week old is Emma:tongue_smilie:.

 

In the long run, who cares, if you and your DH like it.

[SnowWhite]

Yes, 2 out of 3 of our boys' names are consistently top 5, and the third has a name that is SUPER common in our area, though not top 5. As a Jennifer born in the 70s married to a guy named John, it hasn't really registered on our radar that names ought not to be common. ;)

[higginszoo]

My boys have names in the top 10. My litmus test is this ... ok, we know that there are a likely to be a bunch of kids in that age group with that name. But is it a name that will definitely label a child as being born in the _0s? Or is it one of those names that is always/often popular? I don't think I'd want to do a trendy popular name (one that has short-term popularity), but a classic name (one with long time popularity, even if it's in spurts) I'd probably go for it. To me, Emily is more classic than trendy. Definitely in the comes and goes category, but this is far from Emily's first appearance near the top of the charts. (I see more Emmas than Emilys right now, anyway.)

[higginszoo]

After hundreds of years in the top 5 "William" is now number thirteen.

 

Funny thing is all the "Williams" I know these days (including my own son) are called "William." Not a "Billy" or a "Bill" in the bunch. Times change.

 

Bill

 

My William is solidly a Will ... so is the boy 2 doors down. They managed to talk a boy in the homeschool teen group who goes by Will at home to be William, and my ds and the neighbor go by their locally accepted descriptors of "Big Will" and "Little Will" Big Will is 14, looks like he's ready for college football. "Little Will" is 13, looks like he's ready for fifth grade, so the descriptors work.