Does popularity affect your babynaming? - Page 6

[Sagesgirl]

Originally Posted by cicely_m

Does anyone else get a little lump of upsetness in your belly whenever you hear someone say that they've picked out the name you chose?

Nope. My oldest shares a name (phonetically, at least), with her slightly-older cousin, and the mama of that Bobby is about to have a son she plans on naming David, which will make him the third one in this generation of the family (my Bobbie was the fourth in the family at the time, as Becky's XSO was named Bobby as well, & that's the name my husband is still often called by). Becky's nephew David, the first in this generation to have the name, thinks it's the neatest thing imaginable that they'll share a name (likewise Bobbie is tickled by having a same-named cousin). No one has ever complained about the coincidence, and with the added fact that the kids in question aren't bothered...It's a nonissue for me.

My not-weird name streak might be undone this time though. DH wants this baby to be named Ophelia.

While I'd personally not use a name most famous for a suicide, I don't think you can call anything Shakespearean weird. :

That said, there are some names that are totally misunderstood these days, like Portia & Mercedes. I've actually argued with people who think the name Mercedes is from the car, when in actuality it's a reference to the Virgin Mary. (The car was named for Karl Benz's daughter.) And Portia, though a wonderful character in The Merchant of Venice also sounds a bit too much like a car (though, to be fair, it seems almost no Americans pronounce the final E on Porsche like they should).

[gratefulmum]

Originally Posted by MajorGroover

MamaScout, I'm dealing with the exact same issue. Do I choose a name I've always loved (and always thought was unusual) even though it's now popular? Or do I choose something I love less just because it's not popular? It's a tough call and I don't really have any advice but I sympathize with your dilemma.

One thing to think about - I was born in the 70's when every girl was named Jennifer (3.5% of the female population). After combing through the Social Security database I realized that NO girl's name is anywhere close to that popular nowadays. Even the seemingly ubiquitous Emily is 1/3 as popular now (1.2%) as Jennifer was in the 70's, or about as popular as Heather was during the 70's. It seems like there are more names now, so even the popular ones aren't as common as they used to be.

I second this. The top twenty are nowhere near as ubiquitous now as they were thirty years ago. I was apprehensive about settling on the name we have for our son for a while...especially after the new s.s. list came out and it had moved up several places. Meanwhile, only 0.74% of the population nationwide has this name, and much less in our state as the name is 13 spots lower here.
Name rankings just aren't as indicative of mass popularity the way that they used to be. The options are just so wide-open now.