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I'm still deciding on names for my twins. I have some strong contenders, but I've got two more months to go...that is, if they don't decide to arrive early! I tend to like unusual baby names, but I'm noticing that some of the names I consider unusual are actually popular.
As far as CafeMom members go, the top five most popular names for boys are Aiden, Jacob, Logan, Noah, and Ethan. For girls it's Isabella, Emma, Olivia, Madison, and Ava.
As a first time mom who doesn't have a lot of friends with kids (before I joined CafeMom, of course), these names don't feel popular to me. I know a lot of Jennifers, Micheles (or Michelles), Michaels, and Davids. But those are people around my age.
And while some people say that an unusual name means other kids will make fun of the name let's consider my name, Michele, which was once so very popular. I got teased a lot on the playground with "Michele you smell" -- kids find a way to tease if they really want to.
Currently, the kids in my friend and family circle have the names Tennessee, Jillian, Juliette, Drea, Angelina, Sophia, Joseph, Cole, Summer, Katie, Adeline, and Zoe.
My sister, Jennifer, was going to name her daughter, who was born in 2007, Sophia. But late in her pregnancy (after the baby shower that featured many items with Sophia on them) she learned that Sophia was a popular name. She named her Tennessee instead. I love both names, but now that T is two, she is definitely not a Sophia -- Tennessee suits her perfectly. She's pregnant again and if it's a boy she was considering Logan...but maybe she won't anymore.
I really like all these names -- the so-called popular names as well as the uncommon ones. What it really comes down to is what name feels like the best fit.
When naming your baby, are you concerned about its popularity or is it a non-issue?
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Comments (23)
Popularity didn't really play into my choices when I named my kids. Actually when I named my oldest I really didn't have internet access so I had no clue what was popular or not. Her name is Meagan and looking through the SS website I see that Megan (spelled without the extra A) was like #15 the year my dd was born. If you add together all the ways to spell the name it probably would have made the top 10.
Still she's never met another kid her age named Meagan (her name was going to be Kiley until a week before she was born and in her 1st grade class was another girl named Kylie).
My son's name is Owen and that was going to be our first son's name no matter when he was born. Our middle daughter's name is Brenna. Up until days before she was born I was going to name her Caitlin. Luckily I changed my mind because it was one of the most popular names that year (we know lots of girls with that name in various incarnations). Her middle name is now Caitlen (with an E instead of an I or Y). I didn't change my mind because it was popular, though. I just fell in love with the name Brenna.
And my youngest daughter is named Nora Glenn after family (my mom was Glenna and my aunt is Nora). I know her name is becoming more popular, so is Owen. Don't care. My choices for the baby I miscarried were Sarah, Allison, Kelly, Logan, Collin and Kyler.
YES. Since I went by "Chrissy" in elementary school, I almost always had to go by Chrissy H. or such, since I was NEVER the only person even in a 20-kid class to have my name. Same with my sister, who went by Jenny.
There are a MILLION names out there... I think kids deserve one that isn't going to be called by every mom at the playground.
I LIKE Aiden, Emma... but couldn't use them because they were just waaaay too popular.
I don't like using the last name initial either! I am CafeMicheleZ on here because there was another CafeMichele!!!! It still haunts me to this day!
In first grade, there were TWO Chrissy H's in my class, so we had to go by MIDDLE initial. Ugh.
Yes and no... I tend to be more attracted to unusual names as it is, so the names I like usually don't fall into the popular catagory. The one acception was the name "Jayden"... I really liked the name for our 2nd son, but I thought it was too popular. It turned out not to matter anyway because my husband vetoed it right away!
With my first I looked at the popular names of the last, um, probably 10 years lol, to make sure her name wasn't on any list (Aiyana wasn't, and I know Stza wasn't, her middle name). With this one I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with a name for a boy and one for a girl that would go with Aiyana (won't know what I'm having till he or she decides to show their pretty face!). It definitely won't be a popular US name, I don't want my kid to sit in a classroom and have 5 other kids with his or her same name, like my 2 nieces deal with (Kaitlyn and Courtney) everyday.
Hey, mamas -- I haven't posted in a while, but I'm always checking in to see what y'all are "buzzing" about! I'm with RanaAurora -- YES, popularity was an issue for me in choosing baby names. I was always one of at least 2 or 3 Melissas in school -- mine was spelled with one "s," which set me apart a little. But, still. I pretty much hated it and always wanted something more unusual.
I wanted names for my babies (Jasper and Magnolia) that weren't super-common or popular, but not virtually unheard of, either. I wanted them to sound nice together and to sound a little southern, too.
Can't wait to hear what you go with for your twins, Cafe MicheleZ! I'll be checking in to see. :)
My husband and me pretty much knew if it was a boy, he would be Ethan. I am not a fan of top rated baby names but Ethan was just the name I had to have for him. Hubby agreed. After he was born we saw that his name is like number 2 or something for that year. Hubby was a little annoyed when he saw that because he was a top rated name for our age group and in school there was a lot of boys with his name. Next time I think we might go a little more creative with the name. I have only met about 5 people with my name, so I like unusual names :).
We did consider common names. I really don't want him to be the third ______ in the class. But, I think what really affected our choice was knowing somebody else with that name that annoyed us. As a teacher, I knocked out lots of names of students that seemed to get under my skin. We have decided on Ian. It's not popular around here and a little different.
Yes I like unique names.