So, my favorite girl's name was ranked in the low-to-mid-600s in 2012. Great! But an alternative (apparently more popular) spelling is ranked in the low-to-mid-100s in 2012. Oh no!
Do you care how popular your name choice is? Did you reject any names because they were too popular, or not popular enough?
pomegranate / 3275 posts
We did reject names if they were too popular, but that is our preference. Obviously most people aren't like us, that is how the names got popular! I say if you love the name and can't find a better name, go for it! Ultimately you'll only love one LO with that name 
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
We wanted to avoid the top 10-20, but if we had fallen in love with something in that, we would have still considered it. I cared more if people within my circle (even like FB friends I don't see a lot) had the name. Our favorite names so far are in the 50-100 range which is comfortable for us.
In your specific situation, though, I'd be nervous that people would always misspell my baby's name (like, if you named your LO Bryan and people ALWAYS were spelling it Brian, I think that would be really annoying for him).
pear / 1823 posts
We tried to avoid the top 10 even though there are some great names there! I just didn't want him to be one of the kids in class who needs to be called by first name and last name initial. I have no idea why this bothers me...
pomegranate / 3231 posts
@Foodnerd81: That's what my husband said, but I really do not like the more popular spelling. And I typically HATE alternative spellings as a matter of principle. So, I am torn.
It's so strange to me that many of the names I like are quite popular because I don't really know too many little kids and I consume relatively little popular culture. So how is it that I still have relatively common preferences??
cantaloupe / 6869 posts
We're hoping to avoid Top 50 names but if we love it, we'll use it!
cantaloupe / 6791 posts
I have a very common name (Jennifer born in the late 80s) and we wanted to avoid him having a name that he would share with 3 other kids in the class. His name is #29, but closer to #50 in our state. We liked it enough to not care it was in the top 100, but we wouldn't have picked a top 10 name.
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
We wanted to stay out of the top 20 unless it was a name that we both absolutely adored.
pomegranate / 3113 posts
I just checked and our girl name was in the #480s last year, though it's only one letter different from a name in the top 10. Our boy name is nowhere to be found, but that's not surprising since its in DH's first language. I kind of wish our girl name wasn't so similar to a really popular name, but we'll still use it. It's kind of funny because my mom's name is unusual and she hated it, so my parents chose popular names for me and my brother, while I don't think I'd choose anything in the top 100 unless the baby was born and one of those names just felt right (as opposed to the name we were actually planning on).
coconut / 8305 posts
Has to be completely out of the top 100 (no similar spelling that's more popular). P's name was between 150-200 & after kk named her dd the same name it jumped up so now I want a name out of the top 500!
For boys somewhere 100+ is fine. (Of course G's name is well within the top 100. Lol)
pomegranate / 3231 posts
@runsyellowlites: Ha! Sorry to make you spell it out. I don't really pay attention to the Kardashians and would not be able to identify them in a lineup. But now I am going to google Kourtney's daughter's name!
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
@ElbieKay: Don't you just hate when you fall in love with a name that violates your name pet peeves?? I always said the name has to have one specific pronunciation... our favorite boy name has three if you count a Spanish pronunciation. Darn it!
pomegranate / 3231 posts
@runsyellowlites: Well crap that name was on our list too! I don't think it goes too well with our last name though, so it probably won't make the final cut.
I know I should wait til we learn the gender but I feel like obsessing about this now!
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts
We wanted out of the top 25. My husband really wanted Lily but I just didn't want her to be one of three Lily's in her kindergarten class.
honeydew / 7488 posts
Both of our names were top 10 so obviously it made no difference to us! We picked names from the Bible and those tend to stay popular...
GOLD / pomelo / 5737 posts
I don't think that's too popular. But seriously... the % of babies even with the number 1-20 or so names is tiny. Dd goes by a nickname shortening of her name and that is in the top 200 and of the 50 or so kids I know born in the last 5 years I don't know a single one with her name. In fact there isn't even an Olivia which is top 10, or a Jacob or an Aiden (although there is a variation!)
pineapple / 12053 posts
@ElbieKay: i know @runsyellowlites: dd's name, so i knew who kk was immediately. ha.
name popularity kinda came into play, but we basically made a list of names that we liked the most and only a couple were in the top 20 or so. harper only got kicked out because friends of ours named their daughter it 3 months before ours was born! but R's name is top 500 and that's fine by me!
pomelo / 5258 posts
I don't think that's too popular. We wanted to stay out of the top 100 but we have a very common last name. Everyone in DH's family has super common names and identity theft/mixup is a frequent issue for them.
pineapple / 12526 posts
Top 20 was too popular for me. Ideally, we would have been outside of the top 100.
However, we fell in love with a fairly popular name so we used it. I dont regret it because I still love it and it fits her to a T.
cantaloupe / 6610 posts
My daughter's name is definitely becoming more popular. It was on the SS website's top 20 for our state, but when I looked closer, it was barely 100 babies that got named that in the state.
pineapple / 12566 posts
Go with what you love. DS's name is very unpopular in the US, but it has been on the French top 10 list for the last few years (DS is half French).
pear / 1837 posts
DD's name isn't even in the top 1000! But I always thought we would shorten it to Ellie, which is super popular, so we haven't. If we have any future kids, I will avoid the top 50.
pear / 1992 posts
@LulaBee: Our LO's name isn't ranked (and none of the many alternative spellings are either) but her nickname is Ellie. Somehow it doesn't bother me that the nn is so popular right now even though we intentionally picked a 'unique' name.
And now I'm really curious what your daughter's name is!!
GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts
I would prefer for a name to be out of the top 50, but if I love a name then I'll go for it. It just so happens most of our names we like are in the 50-200 range. However due to Channing Tatum I have a feeling our next girl name could make a huge jump, which I'm fine with because I love the name.
coconut / 8472 posts
DS' name was #70 in our state last year. I feel like that's a good place to be. Good friends recently named their baby Jacob, which is a name I love, but I feel so bad for him because he'll probably always have tons of other Jacobs in his classes.
If we are lucky enough to have a girl next, the name we've picked out was #21 last year. So it's popular, but I'm ok with it because we love the name.
nectarine / 2053 posts
i love the unpopular, unique names! i don't like the weird spellings though! we like lilah for a girl and river for a boy. a friend of mine just named her daughter havilah. love that!
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