Popular or Unpopular?

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FullOfThought

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My husband has an extremely common name and it doesn’t really bother him. I have a old name but not common at all and I love that not many people have it.
When thinking about baby names we love the name Mason, but it is so popular now. I’m torn as to whether we should have a child named such a popular name (ranked 2 in USA)

Did you choose popular names? How do you feel about your own name and your children’s name now?

Any suggestions with the same feel as Mason?
 
Well, we’ve chosen a very popular name for our daughter, but it’s been both of our favorite “girl name” for a long time, much longer than it’s been popular! Also, it’s fairly old-fashioned. He didn’t really care that it is a popular name, though I did, but I like the name enough that I’d rather give it to our daughter than not just because a lot of other people have used it recently. Of course, that’s just our take on it. 🙂
 
When we named our daughter Ava, we had no idea that there was a rising tide of Avas a the time. Nonetheless, it’s perfect for her and she’s got enough self-confidence to make it her own.

Our other daughter has an very uncommon name (but not weird), although it’s been popping up recently. Nonetheless, she’s always a little disappointed that there aren’t any coffee mugs with her name on them.

My wife has a name that was popular when she was young. She’s not particularly happy with that, because she says now everyone knows how old she is.

I have an uncommon (but not weird) name. Once in a while I come across someone else with it. I actually like the uniqueness of it.

So, that’s an easy answer to your question. 😃
 
We chose family names for our children, both boys. However, if we’d had a girl, her name would have been Alyssa Anne (early 90s).

Apparently, ‘Christina’ or some form thereof was very popular when I was born, and some years after that, because I can’t go anywhere it seems without knowing at least one other 'Chris" there, and often meeting a couple more! (Male and female).

I personally like the name Mason, but that’s because it’s my cousin’s son’s name. He’s adorable. 🙂
 
I try not to let what’s popular dictate my tastes. That goes both ways as I don’t shy away from things just because a lot of other people like it too… Our DD has a popular name because it’s the only one hubs and I mutually liked enough at the time. I don’t care any more to be honest.

My own name is very timeless and classic. While it doesn’t make the Top Ten every year it’s never fallen out of fashion. My daughter may share her name with one or two classmates but as trends change it won’t last forever. If I’m not sharing the name with a classmate, it’s a co-worker or a relative or someone half my age or twice my age.
 
My name is very uncommon and I have had to spell it, pronounce it and explain it every day of my life. I don’t really mind, but at the same time…I might not go that far. I didn’t with my own kids. My older son is named Maximus, which is actually starting to become more used, though he was the first we’d known of. He’s 7. My younger is Simon. Every single person we introduce him to says, oh I love the name Simon! So, it’s similar to Mason, much less common, but very well known, and has a nice sound to it 🙂 and of course, nicely biblical!
 
I have a friend with a daughter named Mason, and another with son named Mason.

For myself, I like names that tell everyone of they are girls or boys.

My sister has a name that goes both ways, and she has had lots of problems with it.

Just my opinion.🤷
 
I heard a priest say once that you should always give your children biblical or saints names. (first or middle) So that saint will pray for them and be their Patron. We try to find lovely unique saint names for our children. This next one is going to be Xavier if it’s a boy and Zoe if it’s a girl. (Yes, there’s a saint Zoe)
 
savedbygrace71 said:
My name is very uncommon and I have had to spell it, pronounce it and explain it every day of my life. I don’t really mind, but at the same time…I might not go that far. I didn’t with my own kids. My older son is named Maximus, which is actually starting to become more used, though he was the first we’d known of. He’s 7. My younger is Simon. Every single person we introduce him to says, oh I love the name Simon! So, it’s similar to Mason, **much less common, but very well known, and has a nice sound to it **🙂 and of course, nicely biblical!
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That’s pretty much been mine and my wife’s approach to child naming. She has stricter standards than I do. She does not want a name that is commonplace, but she also does not want a name that is weird and/or unrecognizable. And of course it has to have Christian significance. To date, I have only met two other people in my entire life with my daughter’s name (my former roommate’s now-wife and a check-out girl at a gas station off the toll road). But if I told you what it was, you wouldn’t have to wonder how to pronounce it nor wonder whether it was a boy’s name or a girl’s name. And that’s pretty much exactly what we were going for. Our son’s name is more common, but not really that common.

My name is pretty common, though. 🙂 It’s not as popular now as it used to be, but it’s not old-fashioned either. I’ve always liked my name. I’ve never really felt slighted just because others are out there with the same name.
 
My son has a very common name (which is a family name). It’s also my husband’s, and my husband goes by Will. We always planned on calling my son “Anthony” but immediately after he was born, my husband said, “you’re our Tony! You’re our little RigaTony!” and the name has stuck ever since. 😃 My daughter and I both have names that are unique to the US, but they are common in Italy (my family is Italian). When I was growing up, I liked my name but I hated that every.single.person who WASN’T Italian mispronounced it. I even had one person try to tell me that I was saying it wrong! :rolleyes: I still get that as an adult, but it doesn’t bother me anymore.

Honestly, I’d say if you and your husband are really drawn to a particular name, go for it! The only actual advice I have is this (and it’s coming from my mom, who was an elementary school teacher for 30+ years): don’t give your child a relatively common name, and then butcher it with a crazy spelling. She’s seen far too many Kammryns, Madysons, Britnyes, and Austyns, and while the parents might think they’re being super cre8tive and youneeeek, it’s really just causing a massive headache for everyone.
 
When I was a kid, I had one class of 28 people in which there were FOUR Jennifers (including myself). Oh, and three Michaels. Despite this, because of the “strange spelling phenomenon” mentioned earlier, I sometimes still have to spell my first name for people (even though it is spelled the normal way).

Don’t go too popular, it’s annoying for a lot of years. Plus it can be kind of dating, too. (Not so much for Michael though, because it was the most popular boys’ name for 37 consecutive years (1961-1998). Wow!)

Plus you get tired of thinking people are calling your name, only to find out they meant the other Jen, a complete stranger standing 4 feet from you. 🙂

–Jen
 
I don’t think it should matter if a name is popular or not. There’s a lot of popular names out there that I think are quite ugly, especially for little girls. There’s also a lot of people who have given their kids completely bizzare, made-up names or spellings, trying to be unique. Just pick a name that is meaningful to you and your husband and don’t worry what other people think is cool at this moment. We named our daughter after my grandmother who recently passed away. If we have another daughter, we’ll name her Maria Kathryn, after the BVM. If we have a son, we’ll name him after his grandfather and great-grandfather. I personally like to choose a name that either means something important to me, or is the name of someone important to me like a saint or a loved one.
 
That’s good advice. You can drive yourself crazy worrying too much about what everyone else is doing. One of my niece’s has one of the most common girl’s names. But my brother had been wanting to use that name ever since we were kids and no one was using it. He stuck with it even though it was now hugely popular.
 
FullOfThought said:
My husband has an extremely common name and it doesn’t really bother him. I have a old name but not common at all and I love that not many people have it.
When thinking about baby names we love the name Mason, but it is so popular now. I’m torn as to whether we should have a child named such a popular name (ranked 2 in USA)

Did you choose popular names? How do you feel about your own name and your children’s name now?

Any suggestions with the same feel as Mason?
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It’s really difficult to judge, as the names which are popular changed through the years. My SIL thought she was choosing unique names for her boys only to come across several boys with those names.

Would I choose my name for my child - no but that’s not to say I dislike, I’ve only ever had this name so its what I’m used to 🙂
 
If you’re looking for something similar to Mason, you can always try nymbler.com. You put in up to six names you like, either gender, and it will spit out a long list of names that have a similar feel.
 
I have never given much thought to names being popular or unpopular. In my particular case I was expected to die at birth, as well as my mother. My father was here in the US and Mom and I in Canada where I was born 2 months prematurely. The hospital called my dad in the States and asked him what he wanted to name me. They explained they needed to do so quickly as they told him: “This baby will probably die.”

My father knew the name he wanted and told them. The phone connection was bad, and there was some linguistic issues as well. I got a name different than the one he requested.
When my mom and I had both recovered and were able to return to the States she came home and placed me on the sofa bed, telling my father: "Here is your daughter (My Name).

He replied: “Who?” She retorted: "Your daughter (NAME). This happened twice before my mom got really, really annoyed and yelled my name at him. He finally got it and realized that I had been “misnamed”. My parents decided to keep that name for me. I always figured it was God’s way of naming me.

If you keep feeling unsure of a name try sticking to Biblical names for women if a girl, and men if a boy. Trust in God to give you a name.
 
Joe_5859 said:
That’s pretty much been mine and my wife’s approach to child naming. She has stricter standards than I do. She does not want a name that is commonplace, but she also does not want a name that is weird and/or unrecognizable. And of course it has to have Christian significance. To date, I have only met two other people in my entire life with my daughter’s name (my former roommate’s now-wife and a check-out girl at a gas station off the toll road). But if I told you what it was, you wouldn’t have to wonder how to pronounce it nor wonder whether it was a boy’s name or a girl’s name. And that’s pretty much exactly what we were going for. Our son’s name is more common, but not really that common.

My name is pretty common, though. 🙂 It’s not as popular now as it used to be, but it’s not old-fashioned either. I’ve always liked my name. I’ve never really felt slighted just because others are out there with the same name.
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This is basically what we do, although people do ask us all of the time how to pronounce our boys’ names…but my husband and I never had any questions or disagreements as to the pronunciations.

I have a highly unusual name and I like it, even though I have to spell it and explain it to everyone. But it’s not the kind of thing I would name my own children.
 
FullOfThought said:
My husband has an extremely common name and it doesn’t really bother him. I have a old name but not common at all and I love that not many people have it.
When thinking about baby names we love the name Mason, but it is so popular now. I’m torn as to whether we should have a child named such a popular name (ranked 2 in USA)

Did you choose popular names? How do you feel about your own name and your children’s name now?

Any suggestions with the same feel as Mason?
Click to expand...
First thing we thought about names was to make sure they were Catholic names, that was very important to us. My dd is Daniella after Saint Daniel, also after her mommy, which my middle name is Danielle.

My sons name is Luke and we all know Saint Luke as we hear his gospel at church often 🙂

I know Daniella is not that popular and Luke is…it didn’t matter to us and the names fit our children!
 
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