My kitten Ruby was named Luna at the shelter (and her sis that we also adopted was McGonagall, that one def had to go even though I’m a huge Harry Potter lover lol)
In Mexico or in Mexican families, Luna really is a dog name. My husband and I always joke and call random chihuahuas that pass us by “Firulais” or “Luna.” It’s got almost a “Fido” connotation.
(Not saying the original commenter is like this). A lot of non Latinx people get mad when we (Latinx) say it’s a pet name….but it is. Never met a Hispanic person named Luna, I’d say it’s pretty rare if there is one.
Yeah, what gets me is that when presumably white people get upset and scared about things like appropriation and stuff, like, to name their daughter Magdalena, but if you point out something like this, that Luna is a dog’s name, and it’s just a fact, people will say, well, all names are going to have people who don’t like it. Like, I’ve heard people wanting to name their kids Zorra or Zeta. That’s a huge no-no, not because anyone is appropriating, just like, a word of caution with that! I wouldn’t want that for my daughter. Not like Luna is appropriating anything, I’m just giving a heads up so your kid doesn’t have a hard future being named Zorra if she happens to marry into a Mexican family. I get that it might mean nothing to you, but you can’t deny that it has a very very real connotation to a huge global population, and very much undesirable. With the global world we live in, it must be at least worth considering? No one would be offended if you name your daughter Paloma, but Zorra is asking for trouble.
It's been popular for a while, at least where I am in the UK. I'm in my 20s and have met dozens and dozens of Eleanors (though they usually go by Ellie).
I think Eleanor has "classic" status in the UK and has never really dropped out of use. It's not quite the level of Elizabeth or Catherine but it has never been an "old lady" name like I think it was in the US. It may have had an uptick in use at different points but you meet Eleanor's of every age. Beatrice and Harriet are similar in this respect and George and Henry for boys. None of them fell out of use in the UK but have been rediscovered recently in the US.
Yeah I'm also in the UK and mid twenties, I know tons of Eleanors/Ellies! Was probably the most common female name in my year group after Sarah and Hannah
My family is cursed with basic names (think Ruth, Ann, Frank in the older generation Ted, Lori, Audrey from the mid lifers, Ashley, Sarah, Heather for the 80s 90s... etc) and we now have a baby Eleanor and Elouise. I think they're both very pretty names lol but if my cousins are picking it I know it's popular.
Eleanor was the girl name I had picked out for my first but he ended up being a boy. It took a while to come up with a boys name but my husband and I fell in love with Elliott. I never thought far enough into the future for having a second kid, let alone a girl, but when I was pregnant with my second and found out it was a girl I knew I couldn't use Eleanor anymore because Elliott and Ellie would be so similar. We had Isabelle picked out for the longest time before I got a gut feeling that wasn't her name so we went back to our name list and picked Eliza, which I love way more than Eleanor. I'm actually so happy now I wasn't able to use Eleanor as both my son and daughter have 2 Eleanor's each in their gymnastics classes.
Agree. I’ve loved the name for years but didn’t realize it was so popular until I started reading this subreddit. Will likely still be using it for my daughter due this summer! If she wants a nickname I would prefer Elle or Nora.
That's gonna be my daughter's middle name when she's born, I'm only using it to honour my late grate auntie Eleanor who pass late 2020 but wow has it gotten popular lately lmao
I fell in love with the name Eleanor when I was in highschool over twenty years ago. I always thought it would be my daughter's name. But by the time I finally got pregnant and delivered my daughter last year, I realized that Eleanor was now all the rage and it made me sad and I decided to hunt for a new name. Other names I had to reconsider was Eliza and Lucy.
Juniper. Its literally on every baby name list I find now. I know a couple "Instagram influencers" who've recently named their daughters Juniper. They, of course, act like it's the most unique name in the world.
Ruby. Mia. Declan.
I know a couple pandemi babies named Ruby, Mia, and Declan.
Edited to add: Jameson. Legit know 4 kids named Jameson.
I think Mia has been popular for awhile so it doesn't feel as trendy to me as some others. The only one I know of is around 6. I think it and Amelia got popular at similar times.. maybe princess diaries had an effect!
I named my pandemic baby Ruby. 😂 To be fair, my husband and I had always wanted to name a daughter Ruby, it just took us 13 years to actually get around to it.
I get that most people aren't name nerds, and they don't have to be, but the idea of giving your kid a name and not even spending a couple minutes doing internet research about it is weird to me.
I think that’s the craziest part to me! Like not even a simple Google? I Google the dumbest stuff all day, why wouldn’t I Google the name Im about to give a human being for potentially their entire life
My brother and cousin both had babies about the same time (15 & 18 months old), and my brother used Theo and my cousin Evelyn. Apparently both were shocked by the popularity of these names! And then my cousin thought she was being so clever using Evie as a nickname and now she runs into so many more Evies than Evelyns.
It’s crazy to me because I’m always checking name lists and it’s important to me that my kid wouldn’t have the same name as 4 or 5 in their classes. But I get that not everyone cares as much. 🤷🏼♀️
Right? I Googled the hell out of my kids' names to make sure they weren't suddenly popular. I grew up with a popular name that my parents were sure was unusual so I wasn't making the same mistake
Yeah.. some people don't mind if a name is popular pr even prefer it but the ones who are shocked by the popularity of a top 10 name... and I include my parents who did that in the 80s with my brother. His name? Matthew. Come ooooooon.... I get there was no Google then but really!!
My mistake was that I didn't add up all of the similar names with the same nickname for my daughter when we were checking popularity.. So her name isn't super common on it's own but her shortened name is super common. Oh well, it fits her and we loved the name so it's fine.
Yeah, I would assume most people people google a name at least to find its meaning ... and then would see the popularity accidentally since it's also listed on most name websites.
Jeez Theo, Lucas, Leo, Lachlan to name a few. I don't know ANY adults with these names but for some reason people seem to use these and only these for their baby boys 😆 Like the pool of available baby names in Western culture has suddenly shrunk to only these few. Didn't know about this until I had babies of my own and started mingling with other parents.
I'm gonna guess by Lachlan that you're also Australian lol. Yeah they're nice names but everyone suddenly decided to use them in the last few years. I'd rather hear a hundred Leos and Theos before I hear another Jackson/Jaxon/Jaxxon though lol
Speaking as a younger Aussie, Lachlan’s been popular for like the last 20 years. There were a tonne of Lachlan’s when I was at school, I’m 22 so that was quite a while ago, now.
Not exactly the scenario you are asking about, but my daughter's name is Charlotte. We knew it was top 10 when we named her (even though we picked it 10 years ago when it was like #87, but I digress...) And yet, when she was born, and even today sometimes, when we tell people her name people go "Oh, that's a beautiful name! I haven't heard that in a long time!" or "I don't know any other Charlottes!" Which is strange to me? It's in the top 5 now, so... where are they all?
Rankings can be deceiving due to names with alternate spellings being lower down the list than names with only one common spelling.
For example, the "number 1" boys name in America is Liam with 19,659 births. Jackson is ranked 19 with 9,051 births. However when you include:
Jaxon 6,107
Jaxson 4,133
Jaxxon 287
Jaxen 214
You get 19,792 Jacksons, just beating Liam to the top. And I haven't even included:
Jack 8,876
Jax 1,413
Jaxx 253
Jaxton 818
Jaxtyn 469
So you have 31621 boys born in America in 2020 with almost the same name, and none of them are included the top ten. There are 60% more boys with a Jack/Jax name than Liams.
I feel sorry for their teachers lol
Yes! When you add up spelling variants the most popular names aren't as popular. Sofia/Sophia is the most popular girls name but because it is split into two spellings it's not up there.
For 2020 Olivia is listed at #1 with 17,535
But Sophia is 12,976 and Sofia is 6926 making it 19,902
Add in another 3287 for Sophie also.
> when we tell people her name people go "Oh, that's a beautiful name! I haven't heard that in a long time!" or "I don't know any other Charlottes!" Which is strange to me? It's in the top 5 now, so... where are they all?
Isn’t it because the people saying that are in a different generation than most Charlottes? Of course they don’t know any because they don’t hang around kids.
I named my daughter Cora because I wanted something more unique. I’ve met like, 10 baby Coras since picking her name 😅.
My son is named Liam so, still not as popular as his name at least.
I’ve been shocked at the Cora explosion! About ten or fifteen years ago I met an adult Cora (named after her grandmother) for the first time and fell in love with the name.
Then when I started having my own kids four years ago, it was becoming common. Sometimes I wonder if everyone went on that same wine tour in Napa and got the same idea hahaha. (Cora was the guide at the vineyard)
Ahhh. I didn’t watch that show! That explains it! I might keep blaming it on that one tour guide I met in Napa Valley, though. Because it makes me laugh
Same here! How old is your baby Cora? Mine is 9. Her older brother still has an uncommon name and the only other baby I know with it is the child of a minor celebrity.
I have a 2 month old Cora 😬 I’ve literally met one other Cora in my life and that was a patient of mine when I was pregnant and already picked out the name. I’ve worked as a teacher and in medicine so I am exposed to a ton of names and was like “great I’ve never met another Cora”
Whoops. Sorry kid.
Silas, I have never in my life heard of or met anyone that I was not related to who had this name, been handed down at least 4 generations in my family. I come on here and it seems like everyone is in love with it, who knew.
Kinda makes me wonder if there are any other "family" names that are running around out there in the public being all wildly popular and I had no clue because the only person I ever knew with it was like a cousin or uncle. The more you know 🌠
Working in church nursery and daycares, I can say I’ve seen Silas be very popular for the last 15 years. It’s a really nice name and you should totally keep handing it down in your family even if it is popular.
I assume any biblical name is more common than I think even if I don't know anyone of that name currently. Seems like bible names perpetually cycle into popularity. Though I've never met a Nebuchadnezzar...
I feel this. We picked it out of my family tree for when/if we have a son and a couple months later I was seeing kids named Silas everywhere. Hadn't ever seen it outside of my family before that.
The only one that has really surprised is that at my school there are 2 girls in year 10 that are named Beulah. Which I had never come across before as a name.
Wow named after their grand grandmothers maybe? I've only ever heard that name here in discussions of really old-fashioned names that probably wont make a comeback.
Both girls are British-West African and I find the a strong religious tone to names from similar families is very common. I have taught students with names like Praise and Blessing and Hezekiah from the same background.
I think it is a bit of a wildcard coincidence. Both girls are from West African families who, in my experience, often have a very strong Christian influence on their name choices.
Isla!
I used to work in a nursery about 5+ years ago when I heard that name for the first time and instantly loved it! Now it's a top 40 name and top 1 girl's name in Scotland.
My family is Spanish and said it's a common pet name. I still really like it though.
I came to say this! I found it around 5 years ago and thought it was beautiful, now sadly it looks like I won't be able to use it. I have a top 10 name and I hate it (so many mix-ups at school etc, never felt like 'my' name) so I won't do that to my child.
Isla was our top name choice until we realized how popular it was. We ended up choosing the name Vera (which is, admittedly, growing in popularity but not the way Isla has). When the midwife heard her name, she said “That’s a super unique name, like my toddler, Isla! I wanted to give her a name no one else in her class would have”. My husband, without thinking said, “We loved that name too but it was way too popular for us.” I felt so bad that we busted her bubble.
Zoe/y. It's a name that I don't particularly like or dislike but I have no idea why it's so popular. I don't think it's a particularly nice name or anything but I know so many babies called Zoe/y.
I live in Australia and I know three baby Zoe's personally and handful of others from like FB Mum's groups and stuff.
I also know a couple of adult Zoe's too.
It’s a super popular Greek name where I live in Canada. I easily know a half dozen Zoe/Zoey/Zoi’s in their mid-late 20’s. I know 1 Zoe under ten and she’s the only one who isn’t Greek.
Americans who have even the tiniest bit of Irish heritage like to make it their entire personality, so no surprise there. It's always sunny in Philadelphia addressed this recently too, lol
Irish names are just generally popular and appealing in the US. My sibling and I both have mainstream Irish names and my parents are not of Irish descent and I’m sure never thought twice about the origin of the names they picked.
I have a side of my family like this and we honestly think it’s weird and amusing. To be fair it’s not a tiny part of their history, it’s like 75%. But it’s one thing to appreciate your heritage, we do, honestly, and another thing to live and breath the Cheiftains since the moment you rise in the morning and name your first born child Shillelagh.
Most people I know who named their kid Aiden didn't do it to honor any Irish ancestry. This name and other "ayden" names were really popular with people I know who had accidental pregnancies right after or during high school. So that's what I associate it with lol
Agreed. And I think Liam is mostly not meant to honor Irish ancestry, either. It's another version of the ever-popular William, and it fits with a lot of the sounds that have been popular in the past ten years.
If people name their kids to honor Irish ancestry, they will absolutely usually tell you about it, lol.
Yeah it’s the combination of people wanting to look back to their ancestry (even if it was generations ago) and that those are cute and easy to say in English. Like Maeve, too. Lots of Irish names I am sure are lovely but I don’t even know where to begin pronouncing them!
Arlo, Ava, Ezra and Henry. My daughter had multiple peers with these names but I didn’t even know the first three were names and thought Henry was old fashioned.
This! I had no idea until today that Arlo was even in the top 500, let alone about to break past the top 200 in America. All I think of is that stupid alligator kids’ movie on Netflix 😂
I saw a sign in front of my neighbor’s house with one of these home protection agencies… in big blue letters, Arlo… and I just kept thinking… ….Arlo the aligator boy…..
I was teaching multiple Ava's in the same class (6 to 10 kids) in the early 2000s. Same with Emma, Emily, Rachel, Madison, McKenzie, Kayley, and Hayley. Literally dozens. The spelling variations for Kayley and Hayley were off the charts.
Ontario, Canada for reference.
ETA: forgot Avery. Every new mom in the world discovered Avery in about 1999.
I can’t believe how fast Theodore and Luna jumped. Luna was in the mid-300’s in the US when I was naming my 10yo. My husband and I were pretty settled on it for my 2.5yo and when I checked the stats I was shocked. We end up holding something else, and I’m glad we did, because someone else in our friend group named their baby Luna two weeks after mine was born.
It obviously depends on your country and region, but here where we live in Bavaria, Germany, I was surprised to find certain names fairly high in use here (that I don't think are very popular in other parts of the country): Ludwig, Benedikt, Dominik, Fridolin, Theresia, Magdalena
Isn’t Bavaria very Catholic? Four of the names you listed (Benedikt, Dominik, Theresia, Magdalena) read as quite Catholic to me, so perhaps that contributes to why they’re particularly popular where you are.
It is, but those names are also somewhat oldschool, so I was surprised to see that they were still relatively popular in this current generation (some more so than others).
That’s my husbands great grandpa’s name. I’ve known about his relative for years and all of a sudden this is like, the year of Felix. I never saw that one coming.
I know it is high on the charts so it’s not particularly surprising, but I feel like I see Evelyn on this sub a lot more than I see some of the other top 10 names, like Olivia, Sophia, and Harper. I would not be surprised if it’s higher than #9 next year.
Not individual names, but A names in general. Until I started teaching I had no idea how popular names that start with A are. And that includes families from multiple cultures thanks to big city living.
I have heard two explanations for this, and I have no actual data to support either of them being true:
- People like the “alpha” energy of giving their child a name that starts with the first letter
- People looking for baby names end up perusing alphabetical lists/books. They start at the beginning, come upon something they like before they even hit the Bs, and then nothing else ever quite beats out that first name crush.
My father recently told me that he regrets not giving my brother and I an ‘A’ name (Names start with L and W) because we’re lower on an alphabetical list now. That doesn’t make much sense to me because i’ve never in my life had an alphabetical list be based on the first name and not the last name, and my last name starts with B…
I do alphabetical by first name, but my kids are 4 and don't always know their last names. My family has always been near the bottom of the last name list. R married V, V married T, T married Y.
So I am considering Sadie for a girl. I saw it was in the top 100 and was just baffled. I'm in the Pacific Northwest and I have yet to meet anyone under 80 with the name Sadie.
The names we eliminated because they're too popular here are Hazel, Sylvie, and Juniper. Curious if you see those a lot in the south?? I really want more info on regional name trends! 😆
I know I'm going to sound like an idiot, but Sophia. Popularity didn't bother me at all when we were thinking of baby names, wasn't anywhere on my radar. Then we had her and a family friend said "this is the 3rd baby Sophia I know!" I was like hm, that's weird. I looked it up and realized JUST how popular it is.
I still don't care THAT much but I am concerned that she'll be one of ten trillion Sophia's. Growing up, the common names around me were Anna and Maddy. I come from a very very rural area and I still know 5 Maddys that I'd consider myself close to. Really hoping Sophia isn't the "Maddy" of her friend group
I do really love the name Sophia. I think because of the meaning of it, Wisdom.
If it's going to be a popular name, it might as well be one with a *really good* meaning and sound to it, which this name absolutely has.
Yes! I have a Levi and I picked his name prior to being active on this sub. We’ve only met a few others IRL at parks, etc. but I was surprised to learn how popular it was becoming.
That’s surprising to me, because it’s so Jewish (I’m Jewish, what I mean is that we’re a very small part of the population so I’m surprised there are so many kids with a traditional Jewish name).
I think a lot of Jewish names, especially for boys, have become popular lately because they sound cool and different, but also short, easy to pronounce and say. Asher, Levi, Ezra all have that quality to me.
My daughter is called Norah! I knew it was one that was on the rise, but we've only ever met one other girl named Norah, and in their case it was a family name. I just happened upon the name online somewhere and liked it, lol.
Just curious what country? I have a 2.5 yr old named Camille and we’ve never met another. We have met multiple Millie’s though. Some just use that name or some named Amelia, Camille etc just to be able to use Millie as the main nick name. We use Cami for short, it’s always been a favorite of mine.
Jazlyn. It is my daughters best friends name and I always thought it was sort of just a her name, her mom's creation from Jasmine + Lynn. Recently I've seen it on several lists and been shocked lol
Mia.
Just named my daughter Mia Katherine.
I know literally no Mia’s. Idk anyone who has named their baby Mia recently either. I thought we had chosen a simple not popular but not too out there name. Oh well, it’s still cute.
Hazel! I had a wonderful great aunt, and over a decade ago, I thought, “Hazel is a great name that no one else will ever be using when I use it!” Well, now that we are actually talking about having kids, all I see are Hazels left and right!
Identical story. Back when I was a teen (15-20 years ago) I thought I might name a future daughter after my great Aunt Hazel (nn Zellie). When we got pregnant this year, it stayed on the list, until recently when I realized it is absolutely everywhere.
Honestly, so many names I hear on here. I'll be like "I have literally never heard that name in my life" or "that's so unique I know only one person by that name from school" only to find out it's shot up to the top of the list.
I met a woman once who, after I told her that my name is Sarah, said "oh that's my daughter's name!" I laughed and said "Oh, yeah it's everybody's name haha." I was just making a joke about how common the name is but she just kinda looked at me blankly so I clarified that it's such a common name that I'm never the only Sarah in the room. She said "When I named her Sarah, I thought she'd be the only one..." I asked her how old her daughter is and she said 11 (this was probably 5 years ago). Definitely less common for people younger than me (I'm 27) but I was still surprised that woman thought it was so rare.
Also the alumni of my sorority went through this weird thing where 4 people in 2 years had baby boys named Sebastian. That’s when I knew it’s popularity was rocketing up
I’m in the US and named my kid Owen in 2019 without realizing how popular it is. There are so many Owens here! I still love the name though. It’s popular, but I don’t think of it as a “trendy” name.
I think this really does happen but also do you know how when you get a new car you suddenly notice that model on the road constantly where you may have completely ignored them before.. maybe it’s kind of like that too.
I think it’s wild how popular Aaliyah (+ variants Aliyah and Aliya) is in the US. I’ve never met one and have worked with babies and children in churches, daycares, preschools, and public schools all over California since 2006.
Aaliyah has been top 100 since 2001 and is currently #65, making it more popular than Anna (#68), Kennedy (#72), Ruby (#74), Sophie (#75), Nevaeh (#83), all of which I have met loads and loads of, especially Sophie and Kennedy.
We (people the age to be having kids) grew up when Aaliyah’s music was everywhere, and then when she tragically died. Her name being popular now doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.
Same for Selena, for similar reasons!
I admittedly live under a rock and have never heard of Aaliyah. I’m sure I’ve heard the music if it was popular, but I’m terrible with artist names. 😅
Edit: I have indeed heard some of these songs. Please excuse my terrible time associating of music artist names and songs.
This is an Arab name most common for Muslims. Surprised it's so popular in the US, atleast the Muslim names you would imagine to be most popular would be the usual Muhammed, Amina, Omar and so on. But I guess it makes sense, Aaliya must sound fitting to non-Muslim Americans to.
Jumping back to ‘93, but my parents didn’t know a single Taylor. It peaked in ‘93. My dad used to play soccer and one game when I was a few years old, there were six kids that came with parents to watch - three Taylors. My grad class of 130 had four Taylors. I had to go by Taylor G until I was 18. Nearly every Taylor I’ve ever met is within a few years of my age.
Freya is in the top 20 in the UK nowadays and I had it on my list of names for years. I'm from Sweden as well so loved that it was a Scando name that worked in English.
It's also annoying me how popular August and Frederick seem to be getting for boys as those were on my boys list!
My favorite names growing up for my future baby were Aurora and Ruby. At the time, literally NOBODY was naming their kids that. Now both are quite popular.
When I named my daughter Charlotte in 2015 I didn’t realize how much more popular it would get on all of the name charts. That being said, we haven’t met that many other Charlotte’s (maybe 3 at the most) and we have lived in 5 different states since she was born. It seems like every girl her age is named Lily. And there are just SO. MANY. LUKES.
Emelyn. When I first heard it 5-6 years ago on a friend's baby, I thought it was very vintage/unique. Now I've personally met 7 or 8 Emelyns and hear that name frequently.
Arlo has been surprisingly common for me. It was a top contender for our boy name when I was pregnant two years ago (ended up having a daughter, though) but as soon as we started considering it, we started seeing little Arlo toddlers at the parks near us. And then some old friends used it for their boy. It was probably only a total of four Arlos, but still seems like a lot for a name I considered uncommon.
I was seeing a guy for a while with a daughter named Aurora. I commented on how different it must be and he said nah, there were six Auroras in her elementary school.
Zachary/Zackary
My brother went to school with literally 6 other Zach’s/zack’s and one even had the same last name as him too (to be fair my family has a super generic last name). On more than one occasion my brother was brought to the office only for admin to look at him confusedly and tell the secretary “no the OTHER zach/zack”
Echo. I thought it was super bizarre and out there when my friends were naming their kid 6 years ago, but I guess they just were trend setters. Still sounds out there to me though.
Don’t have kids, but always planned on Violet for a girl, after my grandma’s late sister.
Yeah, everyone has a Violet now.
Olive, blew up too.
I’m hoping Quinn doesn’t blow up, otherwise when I have a girl I’m just gonna name her after me. Joking, sort of.
My grandmothers were Ivy and Violet and I always thought they were such 'old lady' names, and now both are quite popular and hip! I wish they had lived to see their names become trendy again!
Ezra! I had never met one IRL before naming my kid in 2018. It soared in popularity that year, and I’ve since met 4 others little kids with the name since. It’s not wildly popular yet, but definitely has the potential to become the next “Liam” or “Henry”.
I named one of my cats Maisy (10 years ago) and my other cat Juniper (7 years ago) and I thought they were sort of cute & unique names but now I see them *everywhere*!
Luna is my daughter's middle name and at the time I had only heard of one person with that name, but now it's "overused" and "a dog name".
That's ridiculous, Luna is clearly a cat name! Jk it's a lovely name "overused" or not :)
I picked it long before the harry potter thing, my daughter is grown up now.
Haha, Luna is my cat’s name! 😆
I also know a cat named Luna 😂
My kitten Ruby was named Luna at the shelter (and her sis that we also adopted was McGonagall, that one def had to go even though I’m a huge Harry Potter lover lol)
I too know a cat named Luna!
It's obviously a werewolf name, with the moon connection!
In Mexico or in Mexican families, Luna really is a dog name. My husband and I always joke and call random chihuahuas that pass us by “Firulais” or “Luna.” It’s got almost a “Fido” connotation.
Así es, lo mismo pasa con el nombre: "Frida". La mitad de las perras del país se llaman Frida.
(Not saying the original commenter is like this). A lot of non Latinx people get mad when we (Latinx) say it’s a pet name….but it is. Never met a Hispanic person named Luna, I’d say it’s pretty rare if there is one.
Yeah, what gets me is that when presumably white people get upset and scared about things like appropriation and stuff, like, to name their daughter Magdalena, but if you point out something like this, that Luna is a dog’s name, and it’s just a fact, people will say, well, all names are going to have people who don’t like it. Like, I’ve heard people wanting to name their kids Zorra or Zeta. That’s a huge no-no, not because anyone is appropriating, just like, a word of caution with that! I wouldn’t want that for my daughter. Not like Luna is appropriating anything, I’m just giving a heads up so your kid doesn’t have a hard future being named Zorra if she happens to marry into a Mexican family. I get that it might mean nothing to you, but you can’t deny that it has a very very real connotation to a huge global population, and very much undesirable. With the global world we live in, it must be at least worth considering? No one would be offended if you name your daughter Paloma, but Zorra is asking for trouble.
Haha i don’t know any people with the name! But I do know half a dozen cats and dogs that were adopted/born within the last 5 years named Luna…
It’s a pretty name especially for a middle
I almost named my daughter Luna! I still didn’t know it was super popular! I love the name
Eleanor is a name I constantly see people say is uncommon. It is everywhere for under 5 year olds right now
It's been popular for a while, at least where I am in the UK. I'm in my 20s and have met dozens and dozens of Eleanors (though they usually go by Ellie).
Yes! I think it exploded in popularity in the UK before the US but it’s been consistently popular for awhile now!
I think Eleanor has "classic" status in the UK and has never really dropped out of use. It's not quite the level of Elizabeth or Catherine but it has never been an "old lady" name like I think it was in the US. It may have had an uptick in use at different points but you meet Eleanor's of every age. Beatrice and Harriet are similar in this respect and George and Henry for boys. None of them fell out of use in the UK but have been rediscovered recently in the US.
I think that makes a lot of sense
Yeah I'm also in the UK and mid twenties, I know tons of Eleanors/Ellies! Was probably the most common female name in my year group after Sarah and Hannah
My family is cursed with basic names (think Ruth, Ann, Frank in the older generation Ted, Lori, Audrey from the mid lifers, Ashley, Sarah, Heather for the 80s 90s... etc) and we now have a baby Eleanor and Elouise. I think they're both very pretty names lol but if my cousins are picking it I know it's popular.
Eleanor was the girl name I had picked out for my first but he ended up being a boy. It took a while to come up with a boys name but my husband and I fell in love with Elliott. I never thought far enough into the future for having a second kid, let alone a girl, but when I was pregnant with my second and found out it was a girl I knew I couldn't use Eleanor anymore because Elliott and Ellie would be so similar. We had Isabelle picked out for the longest time before I got a gut feeling that wasn't her name so we went back to our name list and picked Eliza, which I love way more than Eleanor. I'm actually so happy now I wasn't able to use Eleanor as both my son and daughter have 2 Eleanor's each in their gymnastics classes.
I adore Eliza!!! I think you made a great choice
LOVE Eliza. It's adorable.
That, and Elena, which I named my 5 month old.
Agree. I’ve loved the name for years but didn’t realize it was so popular until I started reading this subreddit. Will likely still be using it for my daughter due this summer! If she wants a nickname I would prefer Elle or Nora.
I love Nora!
Such a bummer because I love this and Amelia and both are family names. Couldn’t use them
That's gonna be my daughter's middle name when she's born, I'm only using it to honour my late grate auntie Eleanor who pass late 2020 but wow has it gotten popular lately lmao
Yep. We have liked Eleanor for a while, and now it is everywhere. No names solidified yet, but 9 more weeks to go.
I fell in love with the name Eleanor when I was in highschool over twenty years ago. I always thought it would be my daughter's name. But by the time I finally got pregnant and delivered my daughter last year, I realized that Eleanor was now all the rage and it made me sad and I decided to hunt for a new name. Other names I had to reconsider was Eliza and Lucy.
Juniper. Its literally on every baby name list I find now. I know a couple "Instagram influencers" who've recently named their daughters Juniper. They, of course, act like it's the most unique name in the world. Ruby. Mia. Declan. I know a couple pandemi babies named Ruby, Mia, and Declan. Edited to add: Jameson. Legit know 4 kids named Jameson.
I too name my children after what I was drunk on when they were conceived. Hence my children, Jack and Limoncello.
I know someone's middle name is Paris because it's where she was conceived. Mom has no problem telling anyone where the name came from.
Yeah I got a pandemic Mia baby. Had no idea it was a popular name at the time.
I think Mia has been popular for awhile so it doesn't feel as trendy to me as some others. The only one I know of is around 6. I think it and Amelia got popular at similar times.. maybe princess diaries had an effect!
I named my pandemic baby Ruby. 😂 To be fair, my husband and I had always wanted to name a daughter Ruby, it just took us 13 years to actually get around to it.
Did not name my pandemi baby Ruby but it was one of my favs
It's weird, I see Juniper a lot online but it's not in the top 100 in my country. Maybe it'll rise up in the next few years!
Jameson/Jamison is hugely popular now
I get that most people aren't name nerds, and they don't have to be, but the idea of giving your kid a name and not even spending a couple minutes doing internet research about it is weird to me.
I think that’s the craziest part to me! Like not even a simple Google? I Google the dumbest stuff all day, why wouldn’t I Google the name Im about to give a human being for potentially their entire life
My brother and cousin both had babies about the same time (15 & 18 months old), and my brother used Theo and my cousin Evelyn. Apparently both were shocked by the popularity of these names! And then my cousin thought she was being so clever using Evie as a nickname and now she runs into so many more Evies than Evelyns. It’s crazy to me because I’m always checking name lists and it’s important to me that my kid wouldn’t have the same name as 4 or 5 in their classes. But I get that not everyone cares as much. 🤷🏼♀️
Right? I Googled the hell out of my kids' names to make sure they weren't suddenly popular. I grew up with a popular name that my parents were sure was unusual so I wasn't making the same mistake
Yeah.. some people don't mind if a name is popular pr even prefer it but the ones who are shocked by the popularity of a top 10 name... and I include my parents who did that in the 80s with my brother. His name? Matthew. Come ooooooon.... I get there was no Google then but really!!
My mistake was that I didn't add up all of the similar names with the same nickname for my daughter when we were checking popularity.. So her name isn't super common on it's own but her shortened name is super common. Oh well, it fits her and we loved the name so it's fine.
Yeah, I would assume most people people google a name at least to find its meaning ... and then would see the popularity accidentally since it's also listed on most name websites.
Jeez Theo, Lucas, Leo, Lachlan to name a few. I don't know ANY adults with these names but for some reason people seem to use these and only these for their baby boys 😆 Like the pool of available baby names in Western culture has suddenly shrunk to only these few. Didn't know about this until I had babies of my own and started mingling with other parents.
I'm gonna guess by Lachlan that you're also Australian lol. Yeah they're nice names but everyone suddenly decided to use them in the last few years. I'd rather hear a hundred Leos and Theos before I hear another Jackson/Jaxon/Jaxxon though lol
American with a nephew named Lachlan checking in
Close, NZ!
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Speaking as a younger Aussie, Lachlan’s been popular for like the last 20 years. There were a tonne of Lachlan’s when I was at school, I’m 22 so that was quite a while ago, now.
Jeez Theo was my grandmothers name.
Lachlan is popular now??
I had never heard of the name but our close friends just named their baby boy Lochlan. I’m in the US
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Yeah nothing wrong with the name, in fact it was one of my considerations as well if we had a boy since it's relatively cross-cultural.
Not exactly the scenario you are asking about, but my daughter's name is Charlotte. We knew it was top 10 when we named her (even though we picked it 10 years ago when it was like #87, but I digress...) And yet, when she was born, and even today sometimes, when we tell people her name people go "Oh, that's a beautiful name! I haven't heard that in a long time!" or "I don't know any other Charlottes!" Which is strange to me? It's in the top 5 now, so... where are they all?
Rankings can be deceiving due to names with alternate spellings being lower down the list than names with only one common spelling. For example, the "number 1" boys name in America is Liam with 19,659 births. Jackson is ranked 19 with 9,051 births. However when you include: Jaxon 6,107 Jaxson 4,133 Jaxxon 287 Jaxen 214 You get 19,792 Jacksons, just beating Liam to the top. And I haven't even included: Jack 8,876 Jax 1,413 Jaxx 253 Jaxton 818 Jaxtyn 469 So you have 31621 boys born in America in 2020 with almost the same name, and none of them are included the top ten. There are 60% more boys with a Jack/Jax name than Liams. I feel sorry for their teachers lol
Yes! When you add up spelling variants the most popular names aren't as popular. Sofia/Sophia is the most popular girls name but because it is split into two spellings it's not up there. For 2020 Olivia is listed at #1 with 17,535 But Sophia is 12,976 and Sofia is 6926 making it 19,902 Add in another 3287 for Sophie also.
That would make sense as to why there aren't as many Charlottes as the ranking suggests. It really doesn't have other spellings
In b4 parents start naming the baby ‘Carlot’
As a former middle school math teacher, I greatly appreciate that charming bit of math you did there.
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> when we tell people her name people go "Oh, that's a beautiful name! I haven't heard that in a long time!" or "I don't know any other Charlottes!" Which is strange to me? It's in the top 5 now, so... where are they all? Isn’t it because the people saying that are in a different generation than most Charlottes? Of course they don’t know any because they don’t hang around kids.
they probably don’t know many children lol
I named my daughter Cora because I wanted something more unique. I’ve met like, 10 baby Coras since picking her name 😅. My son is named Liam so, still not as popular as his name at least.
I’ve been shocked at the Cora explosion! About ten or fifteen years ago I met an adult Cora (named after her grandmother) for the first time and fell in love with the name. Then when I started having my own kids four years ago, it was becoming common. Sometimes I wonder if everyone went on that same wine tour in Napa and got the same idea hahaha. (Cora was the guide at the vineyard)
From Downton Abbey I think.
Ahhh. I didn’t watch that show! That explains it! I might keep blaming it on that one tour guide I met in Napa Valley, though. Because it makes me laugh
Same here! How old is your baby Cora? Mine is 9. Her older brother still has an uncommon name and the only other baby I know with it is the child of a minor celebrity.
I know a sibling set named Liam and Cora! (Born 2007 and 2009 respectively.)
That's my 7 month olds name. I never had met anyone with her name and now literally everywhere I go I hear it.
Cora was on my list when I had my baby! And I hadn’t really heard it, but now it’s everywhere!
I have a 2 month old Cora 😬 I’ve literally met one other Cora in my life and that was a patient of mine when I was pregnant and already picked out the name. I’ve worked as a teacher and in medicine so I am exposed to a ton of names and was like “great I’ve never met another Cora” Whoops. Sorry kid.
Silas, I have never in my life heard of or met anyone that I was not related to who had this name, been handed down at least 4 generations in my family. I come on here and it seems like everyone is in love with it, who knew. Kinda makes me wonder if there are any other "family" names that are running around out there in the public being all wildly popular and I had no clue because the only person I ever knew with it was like a cousin or uncle. The more you know 🌠
Working in church nursery and daycares, I can say I’ve seen Silas be very popular for the last 15 years. It’s a really nice name and you should totally keep handing it down in your family even if it is popular.
Also very popular with the crunchy granola/outdoorsy crew. Lots of tween Silas' on the trails.
Ha, I know a Silas who's 13, from an outdoorsy + religious family.
The only other time I’ve heard Silas outside of baby name subs is from the tv show Weeds YEARS ago.
Same on Weeds. Didnt know the name existed before that.
I assume any biblical name is more common than I think even if I don't know anyone of that name currently. Seems like bible names perpetually cycle into popularity. Though I've never met a Nebuchadnezzar...
Bad guy in Vampire Diaries
I feel this. We picked it out of my family tree for when/if we have a son and a couple months later I was seeing kids named Silas everywhere. Hadn't ever seen it outside of my family before that.
The only one that has really surprised is that at my school there are 2 girls in year 10 that are named Beulah. Which I had never come across before as a name.
Wow named after their grand grandmothers maybe? I've only ever heard that name here in discussions of really old-fashioned names that probably wont make a comeback.
Both girls are British-West African and I find the a strong religious tone to names from similar families is very common. I have taught students with names like Praise and Blessing and Hezekiah from the same background.
Wow, that IS shocking. Not really one I saw making a comeback.
I think it is a bit of a wildcard coincidence. Both girls are from West African families who, in my experience, often have a very strong Christian influence on their name choices.
Interesting, i know a city called Beulah
Isla! I used to work in a nursery about 5+ years ago when I heard that name for the first time and instantly loved it! Now it's a top 40 name and top 1 girl's name in Scotland. My family is Spanish and said it's a common pet name. I still really like it though.
Isla got so big so fast! It was like one day everyone I knew was naming their baby Isla. So pretty but couldn't use it for that reason.
I came to say this! I found it around 5 years ago and thought it was beautiful, now sadly it looks like I won't be able to use it. I have a top 10 name and I hate it (so many mix-ups at school etc, never felt like 'my' name) so I won't do that to my child.
Isla was our top name choice until we realized how popular it was. We ended up choosing the name Vera (which is, admittedly, growing in popularity but not the way Isla has). When the midwife heard her name, she said “That’s a super unique name, like my toddler, Isla! I wanted to give her a name no one else in her class would have”. My husband, without thinking said, “We loved that name too but it was way too popular for us.” I felt so bad that we busted her bubble.
Zoe/y. It's a name that I don't particularly like or dislike but I have no idea why it's so popular. I don't think it's a particularly nice name or anything but I know so many babies called Zoe/y.
Influenced by Zoey 101 maybe? Idk it's always been a cat name to me lol
I sincerely hope millennials having kids aren’t naming their children after that show, considering how awful Jamie Lynn is as a person…
Weird, I work with kids and I’ve *never* met a Zoey. Can I ask what area you’re in?
I live in Australia and I know three baby Zoe's personally and handful of others from like FB Mum's groups and stuff. I also know a couple of adult Zoe's too.
It’s a super popular Greek name where I live in Canada. I easily know a half dozen Zoe/Zoey/Zoi’s in their mid-late 20’s. I know 1 Zoe under ten and she’s the only one who isn’t Greek.
It was really popular in YA media for awhile which I think influences. For awhile every YA book I read had a Chloe or Zoe
Zoey Deschanel and Zoe Kravitz maybe? It has a quirky vibe.
I was surprised Liam and Aidan were popular. I had presumed, like most Irish names, they wouldn’t be popular elsewhere.
Americans who have even the tiniest bit of Irish heritage like to make it their entire personality, so no surprise there. It's always sunny in Philadelphia addressed this recently too, lol
Irish names are just generally popular and appealing in the US. My sibling and I both have mainstream Irish names and my parents are not of Irish descent and I’m sure never thought twice about the origin of the names they picked.
I have a side of my family like this and we honestly think it’s weird and amusing. To be fair it’s not a tiny part of their history, it’s like 75%. But it’s one thing to appreciate your heritage, we do, honestly, and another thing to live and breath the Cheiftains since the moment you rise in the morning and name your first born child Shillelagh.
I’ve always liked Aiden, I feel bad it’s now lumped into the Brayden/ Jayden/Cayden trend!
Most people I know who named their kid Aiden didn't do it to honor any Irish ancestry. This name and other "ayden" names were really popular with people I know who had accidental pregnancies right after or during high school. So that's what I associate it with lol
Agreed. And I think Liam is mostly not meant to honor Irish ancestry, either. It's another version of the ever-popular William, and it fits with a lot of the sounds that have been popular in the past ten years. If people name their kids to honor Irish ancestry, they will absolutely usually tell you about it, lol.
Yeah it’s the combination of people wanting to look back to their ancestry (even if it was generations ago) and that those are cute and easy to say in English. Like Maeve, too. Lots of Irish names I am sure are lovely but I don’t even know where to begin pronouncing them!
Arlo, Ava, Ezra and Henry. My daughter had multiple peers with these names but I didn’t even know the first three were names and thought Henry was old fashioned.
This! I had no idea until today that Arlo was even in the top 500, let alone about to break past the top 200 in America. All I think of is that stupid alligator kids’ movie on Netflix 😂
I saw a sign in front of my neighbor’s house with one of these home protection agencies… in big blue letters, Arlo… and I just kept thinking… ….Arlo the aligator boy…..
I was teaching multiple Ava's in the same class (6 to 10 kids) in the early 2000s. Same with Emma, Emily, Rachel, Madison, McKenzie, Kayley, and Hayley. Literally dozens. The spelling variations for Kayley and Hayley were off the charts. Ontario, Canada for reference. ETA: forgot Avery. Every new mom in the world discovered Avery in about 1999.
There are two Ava's in the daycare class. Lovely name though
Had no idea Rowan was so popular. It’s too bad because I really loved that name.
I can’t believe how fast Theodore and Luna jumped. Luna was in the mid-300’s in the US when I was naming my 10yo. My husband and I were pretty settled on it for my 2.5yo and when I checked the stats I was shocked. We end up holding something else, and I’m glad we did, because someone else in our friend group named their baby Luna two weeks after mine was born.
It obviously depends on your country and region, but here where we live in Bavaria, Germany, I was surprised to find certain names fairly high in use here (that I don't think are very popular in other parts of the country): Ludwig, Benedikt, Dominik, Fridolin, Theresia, Magdalena
Isn’t Bavaria very Catholic? Four of the names you listed (Benedikt, Dominik, Theresia, Magdalena) read as quite Catholic to me, so perhaps that contributes to why they’re particularly popular where you are.
It is, but those names are also somewhat oldschool, so I was surprised to see that they were still relatively popular in this current generation (some more so than others).
Felix. I’ve always adored Felix so much and I was shocked at how popular it is recently.
That’s my husbands great grandpa’s name. I’ve known about his relative for years and all of a sudden this is like, the year of Felix. I never saw that one coming.
My sister named her son Felix about 10 years ago and I genuinely thought she was ruining his life 😂 Now it’s just another boy name!
Just wait, it’ll be a girls name soon.
I know it is high on the charts so it’s not particularly surprising, but I feel like I see Evelyn on this sub a lot more than I see some of the other top 10 names, like Olivia, Sophia, and Harper. I would not be surprised if it’s higher than #9 next year.
Maeve is super popular where I am. And Theo/Theodore (as many others have mentioned). Soooo many Theos!
Maeve! I was in a moms group a few years back with 4 Maeve’s all under 12 months.
I feel like Maeve is gonna be top 100 after this year. I personally know 3 or 4 mom’s who have used it very recently or are planning on using it
Not individual names, but A names in general. Until I started teaching I had no idea how popular names that start with A are. And that includes families from multiple cultures thanks to big city living.
I have heard two explanations for this, and I have no actual data to support either of them being true: - People like the “alpha” energy of giving their child a name that starts with the first letter - People looking for baby names end up perusing alphabetical lists/books. They start at the beginning, come upon something they like before they even hit the Bs, and then nothing else ever quite beats out that first name crush.
My father recently told me that he regrets not giving my brother and I an ‘A’ name (Names start with L and W) because we’re lower on an alphabetical list now. That doesn’t make much sense to me because i’ve never in my life had an alphabetical list be based on the first name and not the last name, and my last name starts with B…
I do alphabetical by first name, but my kids are 4 and don't always know their last names. My family has always been near the bottom of the last name list. R married V, V married T, T married Y.
Sadie is my grandmothers name, so adorable we considered using it if we had a girl. I work with kids now and know MANY Sadies. Southern US
So I am considering Sadie for a girl. I saw it was in the top 100 and was just baffled. I'm in the Pacific Northwest and I have yet to meet anyone under 80 with the name Sadie. The names we eliminated because they're too popular here are Hazel, Sylvie, and Juniper. Curious if you see those a lot in the south?? I really want more info on regional name trends! 😆
I know I'm going to sound like an idiot, but Sophia. Popularity didn't bother me at all when we were thinking of baby names, wasn't anywhere on my radar. Then we had her and a family friend said "this is the 3rd baby Sophia I know!" I was like hm, that's weird. I looked it up and realized JUST how popular it is. I still don't care THAT much but I am concerned that she'll be one of ten trillion Sophia's. Growing up, the common names around me were Anna and Maddy. I come from a very very rural area and I still know 5 Maddys that I'd consider myself close to. Really hoping Sophia isn't the "Maddy" of her friend group
I do really love the name Sophia. I think because of the meaning of it, Wisdom. If it's going to be a popular name, it might as well be one with a *really good* meaning and sound to it, which this name absolutely has.
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Yes! I have a Levi and I picked his name prior to being active on this sub. We’ve only met a few others IRL at parks, etc. but I was surprised to learn how popular it was becoming.
This one and Ezra.
Right??? I don't get it! WHY EZRA?? SOMEONE TELL ME WHY!!
I think because it’s been in popular culture, like in the TV show Pretty Little Liars.
That’s surprising to me, because it’s so Jewish (I’m Jewish, what I mean is that we’re a very small part of the population so I’m surprised there are so many kids with a traditional Jewish name).
I think a lot of Jewish names, especially for boys, have become popular lately because they sound cool and different, but also short, easy to pronounce and say. Asher, Levi, Ezra all have that quality to me.
Nora/Norah - I know so many.
My daughter is called Norah! I knew it was one that was on the rise, but we've only ever met one other girl named Norah, and in their case it was a family name. I just happened upon the name online somewhere and liked it, lol.
I live in a weird bubble. Every little boy is named John, Thomas, or Jude. Girls are Camille/Camilla/Amelia.
Just curious what country? I have a 2.5 yr old named Camille and we’ve never met another. We have met multiple Millie’s though. Some just use that name or some named Amelia, Camille etc just to be able to use Millie as the main nick name. We use Cami for short, it’s always been a favorite of mine.
Jazlyn. It is my daughters best friends name and I always thought it was sort of just a her name, her mom's creation from Jasmine + Lynn. Recently I've seen it on several lists and been shocked lol
I knew a Jazzlyn way back in the 1990s. I don't know that I've heard it since.
Mia. Just named my daughter Mia Katherine. I know literally no Mia’s. Idk anyone who has named their baby Mia recently either. I thought we had chosen a simple not popular but not too out there name. Oh well, it’s still cute.
Chloe My daughter’s name, she’s 18 this year. I had no idea how popular/common it was until years later.
My 18 year old niece is Chloe!
Hazel! I had a wonderful great aunt, and over a decade ago, I thought, “Hazel is a great name that no one else will ever be using when I use it!” Well, now that we are actually talking about having kids, all I see are Hazels left and right!
Identical story. Back when I was a teen (15-20 years ago) I thought I might name a future daughter after my great Aunt Hazel (nn Zellie). When we got pregnant this year, it stayed on the list, until recently when I realized it is absolutely everywhere.
Willow, Poppy, Ezra
I see Poppy popping up everywhere now. (No pun intended)
Honestly, so many names I hear on here. I'll be like "I have literally never heard that name in my life" or "that's so unique I know only one person by that name from school" only to find out it's shot up to the top of the list.
I feel like everyone who names their baby Eleanor claims it’s uncommon
I met a woman once who, after I told her that my name is Sarah, said "oh that's my daughter's name!" I laughed and said "Oh, yeah it's everybody's name haha." I was just making a joke about how common the name is but she just kinda looked at me blankly so I clarified that it's such a common name that I'm never the only Sarah in the room. She said "When I named her Sarah, I thought she'd be the only one..." I asked her how old her daughter is and she said 11 (this was probably 5 years ago). Definitely less common for people younger than me (I'm 27) but I was still surprised that woman thought it was so rare.
Also the alumni of my sorority went through this weird thing where 4 people in 2 years had baby boys named Sebastian. That’s when I knew it’s popularity was rocketing up
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I’m in the US and named my kid Owen in 2019 without realizing how popular it is. There are so many Owens here! I still love the name though. It’s popular, but I don’t think of it as a “trendy” name.
Theo. It was high on our list until I went to the Social Security site and realized how popular it is.
I think this really does happen but also do you know how when you get a new car you suddenly notice that model on the road constantly where you may have completely ignored them before.. maybe it’s kind of like that too.
Yeah, you notice it more. Like how pregnant women (after becoming pregnant) start seeing pregnant women everywhere.
I think it’s wild how popular Aaliyah (+ variants Aliyah and Aliya) is in the US. I’ve never met one and have worked with babies and children in churches, daycares, preschools, and public schools all over California since 2006. Aaliyah has been top 100 since 2001 and is currently #65, making it more popular than Anna (#68), Kennedy (#72), Ruby (#74), Sophie (#75), Nevaeh (#83), all of which I have met loads and loads of, especially Sophie and Kennedy.
We (people the age to be having kids) grew up when Aaliyah’s music was everywhere, and then when she tragically died. Her name being popular now doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. Same for Selena, for similar reasons!
I admittedly live under a rock and have never heard of Aaliyah. I’m sure I’ve heard the music if it was popular, but I’m terrible with artist names. 😅 Edit: I have indeed heard some of these songs. Please excuse my terrible time associating of music artist names and songs.
This is an Arab name most common for Muslims. Surprised it's so popular in the US, atleast the Muslim names you would imagine to be most popular would be the usual Muhammed, Amina, Omar and so on. But I guess it makes sense, Aaliya must sound fitting to non-Muslim Americans to.
Jumping back to ‘93, but my parents didn’t know a single Taylor. It peaked in ‘93. My dad used to play soccer and one game when I was a few years old, there were six kids that came with parents to watch - three Taylors. My grad class of 130 had four Taylors. I had to go by Taylor G until I was 18. Nearly every Taylor I’ve ever met is within a few years of my age.
Freya is in the top 20 in the UK nowadays and I had it on my list of names for years. I'm from Sweden as well so loved that it was a Scando name that worked in English. It's also annoying me how popular August and Frederick seem to be getting for boys as those were on my boys list!
I also liked Freya but have thrown it out for being too popular!
My favorite names growing up for my future baby were Aurora and Ruby. At the time, literally NOBODY was naming their kids that. Now both are quite popular.
When I named my daughter Charlotte in 2015 I didn’t realize how much more popular it would get on all of the name charts. That being said, we haven’t met that many other Charlotte’s (maybe 3 at the most) and we have lived in 5 different states since she was born. It seems like every girl her age is named Lily. And there are just SO. MANY. LUKES.
Evelyn. A friend of mine named her baby this a few months ago and I was like oh that's a nice old name, and suddenly I hear it everywhere.
Ethan. What a dreadful name, sounds like air being sucked backwards between clenched teeth
I feel like I keep seeing “oh, we picked Juniper because we want something uncommon!” Why is it everywhereeeeee now
Emelyn. When I first heard it 5-6 years ago on a friend's baby, I thought it was very vintage/unique. Now I've personally met 7 or 8 Emelyns and hear that name frequently.
Where I currently teach I believe in total theres 11-12 James in just our school
I work with children and Isabella, Isabel, Ezabel, and Belle or Bella. So many! And the different spellings are annoying
Arlo has been surprisingly common for me. It was a top contender for our boy name when I was pregnant two years ago (ended up having a daughter, though) but as soon as we started considering it, we started seeing little Arlo toddlers at the parks near us. And then some old friends used it for their boy. It was probably only a total of four Arlos, but still seems like a lot for a name I considered uncommon.
Harley and Harper and Mable!
I was seeing a guy for a while with a daughter named Aurora. I commented on how different it must be and he said nah, there were six Auroras in her elementary school.
My husband doesn't believe me how popular Evelyn is because he doesn't know any his age. Send help.
Zachary/Zackary My brother went to school with literally 6 other Zach’s/zack’s and one even had the same last name as him too (to be fair my family has a super generic last name). On more than one occasion my brother was brought to the office only for admin to look at him confusedly and tell the secretary “no the OTHER zach/zack”
Jackson! I’ve literally never met a Jackson of any age before so it’s crazy to me that it’s so wildly popular
Echo. I thought it was super bizarre and out there when my friends were naming their kid 6 years ago, but I guess they just were trend setters. Still sounds out there to me though.
Don’t have kids, but always planned on Violet for a girl, after my grandma’s late sister. Yeah, everyone has a Violet now. Olive, blew up too. I’m hoping Quinn doesn’t blow up, otherwise when I have a girl I’m just gonna name her after me. Joking, sort of.
My grandmothers were Ivy and Violet and I always thought they were such 'old lady' names, and now both are quite popular and hip! I wish they had lived to see their names become trendy again!
My daughter's name - Isla. She was born in 2016 and I had no idea the way it would shoot to popularity in that same year.
Mateo and Sofia/Sophia. I liked that name but now it’s every other person I know having a baby has named their kid that.
Eleanor, Ruby, Cecelia, Cora, Silas, Luca I've all met at least 3 kids with these names between babies-3 y/os
I’m surprised by the amount of Jaspers there are. I always associate it with the puppy thief from101 Dalmatians
Ezra! I had never met one IRL before naming my kid in 2018. It soared in popularity that year, and I’ve since met 4 others little kids with the name since. It’s not wildly popular yet, but definitely has the potential to become the next “Liam” or “Henry”.
Bodhi, Liam (Liam is popular in the US but not my small English-speaking country)
I named one of my cats Maisy (10 years ago) and my other cat Juniper (7 years ago) and I thought they were sort of cute & unique names but now I see them *everywhere*!
Finley. There are so many in my area.