Who knew choosing names would be so difficult!!
Every name I come up with, DH has vetoed. But every name DH has suggested is really popular at the moment....
I don't want our child to have a super popular name - like top 100 - but I fear we will never agree on a name if I don't let up a little bit. I kinda like one of his girls name suggestions (Evelyn) - but it's number 40 in the UK top 100 from 2012......
Did the popularity of potential names put you off? How popular is too popular?
coconut / 8483 posts
No LOs yet, but popularity puts me off, big time. Maybe if you look in the 100-200 range you will find some that your DH will like?
Personally, I will try to stay out of the top 100 for sure. The name we like isn't in the top 500 for a boy so I think we are good there!
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
Anything over 200 was a non-negotiable for me. Our first daughter's name just squeaked in at the 240s 
Evelyn is a great name, but it is increasingly popular
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
I won't lie, yes it did. But I love the really popular names and if DH would have let me have Sophia I would have jumped on it
. That said, I don't know anyone with A's name and I love that.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
We definitely consider popularity, but we are only looking for outside of the top 20. DH had one of those top 5 names for boys in the 80s and always had to go by his last name so we want to avoid that, but we aren't too crazy about it (I think!).
It is hard to choose though. We have a girl name we are set on (not even in the top 100!) but can't figure out a boy name. Should have one obvious way to pronounce and spell it, not be in the top 20. That's all our specifications and can't come up with any.
squash / 13764 posts
Yup. I didn't want LO to be "Baby V." in his classroom. So we steered clear of anything that was super popular when I was pregnant (anything in the top 25). But you never know, I now know three other kids around his age (so they'll probably be in the same school/grade) with his name!
eggplant / 11716 posts
I reallllly dislike the names that are most popular now, but DH is super attached to a boy name that is probably in the top 25. It's not a Caden/Hayden/Hudson/Braisley/Paisley type "new" name, but still.....
(sigh)
pineapple / 12793 posts
We avoided the top 200. I grew up with an uncommon name and liked not being identified with an initial. My 5th grade glass of 25 had three Bens and four Katies.
coconut / 8430 posts
Yes, there are a few names in the top 10 that I loved but did not want to use.
We picked one near the bottom of the top 100 though... I figured that might be safe.
GOLD / watermelon / 14076 posts
We haven't settled on a name yet, but popularity only plays into our decision to a small extent. My name was the #1 name the year I was born, and it never really bothered me. I guess it was a little annoying to have 1-2 other girls in my class that had the same name, but now I don't have any close friends with my name. We'll probably stay out of the top 10, but we'd actually prefer a name in the top 100. I love that my name is easy to spell and easy to pronounce, so I'd rather have this name than a really "out-there" name that no one has ever heard of. Names that are trendy put us off more than names that are popular (though I know a lot of names are both trendy and popular)--I'd choose a classic, popular name over a trendy name any day.
cantaloupe / 6730 posts
I've vetoed the top 10 names, so Emily among others got nixed much to DH's chagrin.
blogger / pomegranate / 3300 posts
Nope, I didn't even look them up until recently. We named our kids after family members. I think all three boys are in the top 100 and my daughter is in the low 200s
papaya / 10570 posts
I only wish DH would come round to Lois. I love it so much and it's not super popular! Darn you Stewie from Family Guy!
GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts
@Cherrybee: What about a slight change to Evelyn? MY DH suggested that one too so instead we compromised on Everly or Everleigh, which isn't as popular! (this was our runner up name!)
We tried to stay out of top 50, but figured even "unique" names are becoming trendy enough that it could happen so we went with a name we love.
honeydew / 7589 posts
Yes, I love Isla but I'm not happy with it's current popularity. Isabelle and Sofia are also beautiful but consistently top of the list.
papaya / 10570 posts
@jessiejo17: I think that was a great suggestion! DH on the other hand dismissed Everleigh as soon as I suggested it (just now). He says it's not an "actual" name. He has vetoed a few of mine for being "not actual names". Sigh.
papaya / 10473 posts
Yes, definitely! I was really sad to see the popularity of Charlotte at an all time high this year because if we had a girl it was my favorite name. Luckily we're having a boy and his name is in the 500-600 range and I'm hoping it doesn't catch on
pomegranate / 3890 posts
yup i wouldnt use a popular name even though i like a lot of them. my son's name isnt in the top 1000 and i really like that. i hope it doesnt catch on.
pomegranate / 3398 posts
Yep popularity was a factor for sure.
However, without knowing it, the name we've chosen is number 23 for this year so oh well lol
clementine / 880 posts
I grew up with a name that was in the top 10 when my parents were born, so not many people my age had my name - but a ton of their mothers did!
My maiden last name was super unique, but my new last name is one of the top 10 most common last names in the U.S. so it's really important to me to pick an uncommon first name so my child doesn't have someone with their exact same name (first and last) in their class. My SIL (with my new last name) is named Emily and there were 4 Emily LastName's in the same grade as her in her school!
pomelo / 5820 posts
Nah, we didn't care very much. The name we settled on is in the top 200 by chance. My name is fairly common (I think I graduated with 3-4 people with the same name), but it never bothered me.
I am more put off by names that I associate with people I dislike, to be honest! Haha.
coconut / 8305 posts
YES!!!!!
My name is VERY unique so having a not popular name for our daughters is super important to me. Needless to say I was very put off when KK named her daughter the same name shortly after P's birth.
ARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!
eggplant / 11287 posts
Absolutely.
I wouldn't pick a name that was ranked lower than 250.
coconut / 8483 posts
@berdine: I had a very common last name and first name, and there were SO many people I met with the same name as me! Good job for thinking ahead 
haha
pear / 1769 posts
Yes, I did not want her name to be in the top ten for sure and the furter down the list, the better. I liked a lot of popular names, but quickly nixed them. Audra fit all our requirements and wasn't even in the ssa top 1000 for 2011.
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
I'm ok with popular, but top 10 was too popular for me. Our favorite boy name is in the top 5 so for our next lo we'll be coming up with a new boy name.
grapefruit / 4136 posts
@Cherrybee: It didn't change our minds, I didn't even think to check the popularity until I saw a thread on HB and saw that Jacob was #1 in our state last year and #3 this year, but it has special meaning to us and that was all that mattered. I say if you can both find a name you agree on and love, that's the most important thing
nectarine / 2127 posts
Not really. We picked classic names and knew that there'd be other kids with those names. But neither name was top 10 or anything. But when you go with Thomas or William or Sarah, (not our actual names) that's just inherent... They wouldn't be classic if they weren't popular!
cantaloupe / 6885 posts
Our girl's name (Charlotte) is climbing in popularity - BUT I have loved the name since I was 12 (and it was nowhere near the top 100) and I'm a 2nd grade teacher and have never taught a Charlotte. In fact, I don't even know one. So for our region, it's not a popular name and we will go with it.
Our boy's name, Laughlin (Lock-lin) is a family name and is totally not popular, but we love it so that's what we're going with.
cantaloupe / 6687 posts
Like others said, I'm more turned off by trendy and popular. I'm ok with popular...especially if it's a classic name. I love Olivia, Sophia, and Ava for girls but they are in the top 5 and we know people who used those names so they were out for us...I still love those names soooo much though.
grapefruit / 4819 posts
I don't really care about popular, I just didn't want anything trendy. We went with Emily, which is a popular name, and is probably always going to be a somewhat popular name as it's classic, normal, and doesn't have any weird connotations linked to it. I was perfectly fine with that. I just didn't want something that was going to scream out "I'm a name from the 2010s!", nor did I want anything too out there or anything with a unique spelling. For boys, we tend to like less popular names, but still top 100.
I have the #2 most popular name from the year I was born and it never bothered me. I never even had to go by my last initial, I knew when people were talking to or about me and that was fine. Now my sister on the other hand had the #1 most popular name for her year and she hated it. To each their own I guess.
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
I picked my girl name about 10 years ago, she is named after my maternal Grandmother. I though it was super unique, but alas, as we all know now, Evelyn made a huge jump this year!!! I didn't really want a super popular name but I wouldn't change it for the world. It meant so much to me to use a family name.
grapefruit / 4800 posts
We did consider it but other things were more important. Two of the names we were considering were pretty similar to top 10 names - my husband's favorite name for a girl was Sophie and I liked it as well but since Sophia was #1, we nixxed it, if it was #50 we'd probably be fine, I'm not sure that we had a # cut off.
I like Evelyn a lot.
What other names are you considering?
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
Absolutely. We had a hard time coming up wiht names and while on a Food Tour saw the name Sophia on a school bus, we both loved it. Upon further research I found it was top 5 so we immediately nixed it!
hostess / watermelon / 14932 posts
Kinda - but we ended up going with the name we agreed on which happened to be #6..oh well. We only know 1 other with her name, and that girl is in HS!
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