baby name re:SS list and popularity

[Niel]

my DH and I try really hard to pick names for our children that are both recognizable yet uncommon.

We don't know the sex yet, but as we've already had a boy name picked out from our last pregnancy so we've been trying to pick girl names.

We have one that we absolutely love. It is just about the ONLY one we can agree on, its matches our DD's name so well, as well as the middle name we've already picked out.

Problem is its like above 200's in popularity and growing. I really don't want a name thats popular because my husband and I have very common names. Biblical ones that every 6th person has.

Ive read read that the SS list isn't all that accurate and it only includes about 60% of girls born in that year. Also, as popular as I say it is, I don't know anyone young or old with that name.

I don't know. Should I care? do you worry about everyone having the same name as your kids? I usually don't let other people dictate what i choose in life, but what I want is a name I like but is also unique. And I am just finding it impossible to find another one. I blew them all on my daughters name i guess.

 

[junebug17]

Ok, won't lie, I am very curious as to what the name is!

If you and your husband really love the name, I don't think I'd worry too much about it rising in popularity Neil. There's really no predicting how common it will become; it sounds like the name checks all the boxes, so I think you should just go for it!

And congratulations on your pregnancy!!! Happy and excited for you!

 

[swingirl]

We named my daughter after my mother. Very old traditional name popular in the 1800s. I didn't know another soul with that name. 25 years latter it is quite popular. My son, on the other hand has a common name and there were 3 in his class. The boys went by their first name and last initial and in kindergarten my son thought his real name was "first name, last initial, last name".

So, pick the name you love and want to hear day in and day out. You can't predict future popularity.

 

[amc80]

The thing to remember is the distribution of names is so much bigger that it used to be. I read a popular baby name blog and it's often a concern of people who write in, particularly those who grew up in the 80s. I remember having something like 2 Tiffanys, 3 Sarahs, and a fee Michaels. In each class. If you look at today's popular names (even the #1), they are much less popular. I forget the statistic but if you do the math, it's something like one kid per three classrooms would have the #1 name.

Barrett was like #6 on the fasting rising names list , but still pretty low (I think it cracked into the 200s that year), the year he was born. I've never met another Barrett and have met maybe one person who knows of a kid with the same name.

 

[Niel]

Ok, won't lie, I am very curious as to what the name is!

If you and your husband really love the name, I don't think I'd worry too much about it rising in popularity Neil. There's really no predicting how common it will become; it sounds like the name checks all the boxes, so I think you should just go for it!

And congratulations on your pregnancy!!! Happy and excited for you!

Its Josephine.

Our daughters name is Mabel.




You guys are right I shouldn't be too concerned about it if I really loveit as much as I (we'll) do.

 

[missy]

Ok, won't lie, I am very curious as to what the name is!

If you and your husband really love the name, I don't think I'd worry too much about it rising in popularity Neil. There's really no predicting how common it will become; it sounds like the name checks all the boxes, so I think you should just go for it!

And congratulations on your pregnancy!!! Happy and excited for you!

Its Josephine.

Our daughters name is Mabel.




You guys are right I shouldn't be too concerned about it if I really loveit as much as I (we'll) do.

First of all I love both names. Beautiful.
Second of all I agree with the above. It doesn't really matter. There is no way to predict what is going to happen and in any case your little ones will have such unique (in a good way) personalities anyway that the name is just the name and doesn't make them who they are.

Best of luck to you and your growing family Niel!!!

 

[Laila619]

Nope, I don't care about popularity. If I like it, I like it.

My son and daughter both have pretty popular names (in the top 100). When the twins come, we've already picked out names for them that are in the top 100 too.

 

[Niel]

Nope, I don't care about popularity. If I like it, I like it.

My son and daughter both have pretty popular names (in the top 100). When the twins come, we've already picked out names for them that are in the top 100 too.

Do you try to have more popular names or did it just happen that way?

 

[Rosebloom]

Gorgeous, gorgeous names!!

The poster above is correct - a top 100 name today is way less common than a top 100 name 20 years ago. People are using a far wider selection of names. So I think there's less sorry about everyone having that name. I know of one Josephine out of thousands of people I've let through living various places. Seems beautiful and really uncommon to me!

 

[ladypirate]

I read that there is a much wider diversity of names than there used to be, so even if you're going with a name in the top ten, it still is not as common as a top ten name would have been 30 years ago. One of our girl names is a family name that didn't used to be common but is now in the top 10. Even though part of me is irritated about it, it doesn't mean I wouldn't use the name. I grew up with a very common but timeless name (Elizabeth) and have never minded it.

ETA: Rosebloom, I guess great minds think alike! :p

 

[Rosebloom]

Also if you do end up with a Josephine, you must recreate Josephine Bonaparte's totally amazing engagement ring. Baby bling anyone?

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/26/napoleon-and-josephines-engagement-ring-sold-at-auction-for-949000/

Eta pics

 

[Niel]

Also if you do end up with a Josephine, you must recreate Josephine Bonaparte's totally amazing engagement ring. Baby bling anyone?

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/26/napoleon-and-josephines-engagement-ring-sold-at-auction-for-949000/

Eta pics

Smart woman!
If only there was a Mabel ring.

You guys are right in sure. I was on a popular baby name forum and it said a little less than 2k girls were named that last year. And its popular in states I don't live in. So I guess that's something.

My luck it'll all be for naught and it'll be a boy.

 

[lambskin]

Like you, we agreed on boys names right away-Kevin and Brian. Could not agree on a girls name. Alas we had TWO girls. My husband wanted an Irish name so if the girls get married and change their last name then their Irish heritage would survive. We used grandmothers' names for middle names.

 

[Niel]

Like you, we agreed on boys names right away-Kevin and Brian. Could not agree on a girls name. Alas we had TWO girls. My husband wanted an Irish name so if the girls get married and change their last name then their Irish heritage would survive. We used grandmothers' names for middle names.

Ms middle name was easy as it was a name I was in love with but it was too close to my first name. DH didn't want people calling her the same nickname everyone calls me SK he wouldn't let me name her that. Well it worked well for her second name so we stuck it there.

Our second child regardless of sex will have a family unisex name.

But isn't that always the way. Its never the easy option.

 

[Tourmaline]

Our daughter has a name that is very common in boys and very uncommon in girls. Our three boys have uncommon but recognizable names. I remember my MIL wanting us to name each boy after my husband, and I was totally not into that. He wasn't either.

 

[packrat]

Josephine is so pretty, and if it's getting popular, it's not *here* that I know of. Not that that helps you of course. Mabel either! (I worked w/a Mabel when I was younger, and Mabel was the baby's name on Mad About You I think? Those are the only two I've ever heard of so I love that) When I worked for the Dr's office, I knew what all the popular names were, b/c almost every baby Dr delivered had one of those names. I like different/unique but not out there crazy names...like I'm not going to name my kid Aubergine Pumpernickle or something.

I've got London and Trapper. There is another London here now, a couple grades under my London. I'm not sure if it's spelled the same way or not..maybe it's Londan. Whatever, sounds the same, and even tho London was all smiles and excited that another girl had the same name, I wanted to pull my hair out. (So says Missi with an *I* not Missy with a *Y*-there was one other Missy in my class and two in my brother's class, one grade below me--and we had 30 kids per grade (about 20 girls per grade), so that's a LOT!)

I would say pick what you like, who cares how popular it is. Tho, I would lean toward having two names ready, just in case. We had two and both times it was just "Ohhh yeah, this one is the right one for sure" when the baby was born. JD wasn't even totally on board w/London, up until then-he saw her and said "Yep, you're right, she's London". There's a guy in town, my dad's age, and everyone gave him the nickname Trapper, b/c he traps. He ended up legally changing it b/c NOBODY called him his real name. When *our* Trapper was born, he was seriously over the moon about it, thinking we'd named our baby after him!

Besides, Josephine is Nikita's code name on La Femme Nikita and that's one of my all time favorite shows, so...

OMG seriously, no more caffeine this late at night. Dang.

 

[junebug17]

Thanks for putting up with my nosiness

It's a beautiful name!

Even if it does get to be more common, it will still be special and unique because she'll be your Josephine!

 

[amc80]

My all time favorite boy name is Matthew. I love it and I love Matty as a nickname. But, my married name is fairly common, and DH's cousin is Matthew, so there would be two Matthew C. in the family. As it turns out, we went with a non top-200 name- Barrett was 375 in 2012. Our next boy name, Tucker, was 180 this year. Our girl name, Mackenzie, is around 60-70. I would be just as happy with a name in the top 10. I figure if a name is popular, it is probably because it's a good name, right? Not to mention that DH and I agree on so few names. If we were to cut out top 100, we'd really be stuck, especially for girl names.

 

[Niel]

Thanks for putting up with my nosiness

It's a beautiful name!

Even if it does get to be more common, it will still be special and unique because she'll be your Josephine!

Haha you're fine
I get concerned if it is popular that it will not mesh well with out DD. seems weird to have one super popular name and one super unpopular one. BUT if they sound like they are from the same era I guess that's what matters.

AMC to your point, we have another one we both like. Juniper. But like I said I'd like it to mesh well with our ds, and I feel like people (who were trying to find something they didn't like) could say ones and old lady name and ones a hippie name.

But we DO have another one.

 

[SMC]

We have names sort of picked out. Since I know at least 6 people having babies around the same time as me, my biggest worry is that they'll "steal" one of our names. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

 

[monarch64]

We agreed on a name right away that had both a masculine and feminine form and can be shortened to an ambiguous form: Alexandra. We call her Alex. Someday when she's sending out resumes she can go by Alex if she likes and maybe avoid some sexism. We didn't really think about what if other kids have her name...they do, because it is a popular name for girls and boys (well, Alexander for boys obv.) There are 3 women in my family with the same first name, actually. People name their boys after the father all the time so we figured why can't women do that as well?

 

[baby monster]

I don't know anyone with those names and we live in densely populated area. Lovely choices, Neil.

I wanted to use a family name for DS but DH also wanted to use a name in top 100. He has an unusual name and kids always picked on him in school because of it. So he actually wanted a fairly common name. It turned out that one of his great grandfathers' names has been rising in popularity over the past 10 years and finally cracked 100. So it fit both categories. I guess everyone else is going back to grandpa and grandma names.

 

[SMC]

Forgot to mention that if you love the name (and Josephine is such a great name - she's my favorite character in 'Little Women'), I wouldn't let popularity discourage you!

 

[Niel]

I don't know anyone with those names and we live in densely populated area. Lovely choices, Neil.

I wanted to use a family name for DS but DH also wanted to use a name in top 100. He has an unusual name and kids always picked on him in school because of it. So he actually wanted a fairly common name. It turned out that one of his great grandfathers' names has been rising in popularity over the past 10 years and finally cracked 100. So it fit both categories. I guess everyone else is going back to grandpa and grandma names.

I'm trying to remember the rule but it's like 3rd generation or every 100 years names cycle from popular to old fashioned

 

[Clairitek]

I'm sort of a bit sore over the predicted popular baby name list that was all over the internet last week. The name we chose for our son was over 100 in popularity last year, over 200 the year before. Now it's predicted to be top 10. Totally bummed out because we did not want a common name at all. I am really hoping my son will be the only one with his name in his class growing up. We aren't going to change it because we love it and in our circle it's still uncommon and a lot of people had never even heard it before. It also goes well with mine and DH's first names and the baby's surname. Oh well! Fingers crossed that damn list is incorrect!

Interesting to see that my first name was in the baby girl top 10. First time in my lifetime by a long shot but old fashioned names are becoming trendy so I guess I am not that surprised in the long run.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

DH and I have always liked "classic" names because we wanted to steer away from anything trendy. And now classic names are trendy. The name for our first DD was easy--we chose a name that was classic, but not necessarily trendy (Catherine--we call her Katie for now). We had a tougher time with our second DD, staying classic, but trying to stay away from trendy.

I love the name Josephine. I also love that it lend itself to several nicknames. I found the book "The Baby Name Wizard" to be really helpful when we chose a name. I like that it tells you when the name was most popular. Not sure if you have it, but this is what it says about Josephine:

Peak Year: 1916 (#21 in popularity)
Popularity Today: #182 (This edition was published in 2013)
Styles: Antique charm, Saints
Nicknames: Jo, Josie, Joey, Josette, Fifi, Jody, Posy
Variants: Josephina, Josefina
Sisters: Charlotte, Genevieve, Eleanor, Violet, Helena, Evangeline
Brothers: Theodore, Jasper, Frederick, Everett, Oliver, August
Description: How many names can be all this for you: elegant as an empress, familiar as an old friend, and ready to kick back with fun little nick-names? The answer is exactly three: Victoria, Catherine, and Josephine. The first two are perennially popular, but the third still manages to sound creative.
In the world: Entertainer Josephine Baker, Josephine, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte

I like the description because (like Catherine), Josephine sounds elegant, but can be fun with a nick-name. And in my mind, it's still not really popular. I have done a lot of classes with Katie and have met other kids with classic, popular names that I love (Charlotte, Nora, Olivia, Sophia, Isabella, Emma, Madison, Chloe, etc.), but I've never met a Josephine! Good luck, I remember feeling a ton of pressure choosing a name!

 

[amc80]

NEL, I love the Baby Name Wizard. I think it's the best book out there.

 

[stephbolt]

I'm sort of a bit sore over the predicted popular baby name list that was all over the internet last week. The name we chose for our son was over 100 in popularity last year, over 200 the year before. Now it's predicted to be top 10. Totally bummed out because we did not want a common name at all. I am really hoping my son will be the only one with his name in his class growing up. We aren't going to change it because we love it and in our circle it's still uncommon and a lot of people had never even heard it before. It also goes well with mine and DH's first names and the baby's surname. Oh well! Fingers crossed that damn list is incorrect!

Interesting to see that my first name was in the baby girl top 10. First time in my lifetime by a long shot but old fashioned names are becoming trendy so I guess I am not that surprised in the long run.

Ctek, that list is based on the number of people searching for the name on a website and not on actual babies named that name. So I think it can be representative of names people are considering but definitely doesn't align with actual names chosen. Khaleesi from game of thrones is in the top 20 and there's no way it will actually come to fruition that it is that common. Hope that eases your concerns a bit, I love the name you have picked out for your little guy!

 

[JGator]

Hi, Niel, I like Josephine and I have not met any in real life - other than my mom's cousin! My 20-month old's favorite song from her Music Together class is Jumpin' Josie right now! Love it!

 

[Clairitek]

I'm sort of a bit sore over the predicted popular baby name list that was all over the internet last week. The name we chose for our son was over 100 in popularity last year, over 200 the year before. Now it's predicted to be top 10. Totally bummed out because we did not want a common name at all. I am really hoping my son will be the only one with his name in his class growing up. We aren't going to change it because we love it and in our circle it's still uncommon and a lot of people had never even heard it before. It also goes well with mine and DH's first names and the baby's surname. Oh well! Fingers crossed that damn list is incorrect!

Interesting to see that my first name was in the baby girl top 10. First time in my lifetime by a long shot but old fashioned names are becoming trendy so I guess I am not that surprised in the long run.

Ctek, that list is based on the number of people searching for the name on a website and not on actual babies named that name. So I think it can be representative of names people are considering but definitely doesn't align with actual names chosen. Khaleesi from game of thrones is in the top 20 and there's no way it will actually come to fruition that it is that common. Hope that eases your concerns a bit, I love the name you have picked out for your little guy!

I saw that it was from searches but still had that, "Oh good grief!" moment over and over again as people who know our choice were ribbing me about it. Good point about Khaleesi, though! I hadn't thought about it that way. I'm hoping that my name was popular for the same reason. Though I'm pretty sure that the name will break the top 100, which is totally OK with me.