# Popular (Overused) Names



## Arduinna (May 30, 2002)

ok, I hope no one will take this personally. I'm sure all the names are beautiful. But, I'm wondering if we all could share what names are used over and over again in your school, parenting group or family.

I know when I named dd I didn't have many friends with kids, so I didn't realize that her name was really popular. So, what are the popular (and overused) names now?


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## BathrobeGoddess (Nov 19, 2001)

Humm....

Let me see,
Ashley
Christopher
Kyle
Julia
Madison
Maggie
Rachel
Austin
Zach
Grace
Kate
Taylor
Lauren
Hannah
Ian
Ben
Simon


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## Elphaba (Nov 19, 2001)

i know about a dozen toddler and baby girls EACH named brianna and alexis. also makenna and kailey and all their variations are very popular.
tons of dylans.


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## Tigerchild (Dec 2, 2001)

I think this is extremely geographically/neighborhood dependant!









In my toddler classes, there were tons of kids/sibs named:

Griffin
Taylor (both sexes)
Riley (both sexes)
Jordan (both sexes)
Jaden (both sexes)
Zachary
Emma
Isabel
Siobhan (believe it or not)
Grace
Ben/jamin
Tyler
Emmet

Now, I know that Dylan is very popular elsewhere, but except for my son, I don't know any and there aren't any in either school I used to teach at! I don't think that Griffin or Siobhan are very popular in other parts of the country, but I know 4 Griffins and 5 Siobhans here. I've also heard that Fiona is very popular in certain parts of the US, and as common as Jennifer is here in certain parts of the UK, but once again we don't know any locals other than our girl.

I don't think that you can avoid 'popular' names anymore, to be honest. Maybe if you were isolated to your own community. But now that we're constantly in contact with people across the country and world, I think alot of our innocence about how 'original' we are when naming our kids has been stolen.









We just picked family names or Names of Significance for our kids. I figure that if they really really hate it, they can pay the $50 when they're 18 and change it, or ask us to call them by the nickname/middle name of their choice.

I tend to feel sorry for kids who have overly unusual spellings of their names than 'popular' names. Esp. if it's an weird spelling of an extremely popular name. ;>


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## Arduinna (May 30, 2002)

Thanks for the lists you guys, Sarah seems to be quite popular here, but these are kids around 10 I don't know many people with babies right now.

Anyone noticed alot of boys named Jack? Maybe it's just famous people but I seem to hear alot of that name.


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## USAmma (Nov 29, 2001)

some of the more unusual names are getting popular. I know at least 4 Annikas and a mom who wants to use that name on her future daughter.

Darshani (who has a very unusual name!)


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## PumpkinSeeds (Dec 19, 2001)

tons of Jacksons shortened to Jack.


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## boobykinmamma (Nov 28, 2001)

Our kids have Sanskrit names, and we aren't Indian, but I actually do know 2 other Leelas (spelled Lela, and Leyla), also not Indian. Apparently, Leela, spelled Lela, was popular in the US earlier in the 20th century. We found out after naming her that dh's great-grandma's name was Lela.

I've never met another Shankar in the US, but in India I'm sure we'd meet many.

Oops, I'm off topic. Let's see, popular names:

Jaden
Kayla/Kyla
Hannah
Dylan
Madison
Emma
Emily
Jackson
Peyton


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## GruppieGirl (Feb 19, 2002)

I agree that names can be regional. In the RI and MA area there are a few names that are always called on the playground...

Sam
Jack
Ryan
Nathan

Olivia
Sarah
Emily
Emma
Hannah

My poor little dd gets confused when it seems like all of her friends have the same names.







:


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## sillypants (May 16, 2003)

I have a Jack and it's RIDICULOUS. you go to the park and call Jack and 10 boys come running







!! I really wanted to name him Max but my DH won !!

My daughter's name is Dagny which 6.5 years ago unheard of. I keep meeting more and more or people know a dagny, etc. I am pretty possesive of the name so I always get a little irked when I hear someone else with it ( ridiculous I know







)

OK, so overused name around me (sunny old Portland Oregon)

Boys

Spencer
Jack
Luke
Sam

Girls

Natalie
Madison
Hannah


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## applejuice (Oct 8, 2002)

Howz about-

Michael
Jason
NIcholas
Zachary
Jose
Jorge
David
Andrew

Jennifer
Nicole
Ashley
Taylor
Katrina
Madeleine
Sara
Andrea
Maria


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## padomi (Dec 28, 2002)

This was an issue for us, because dh wanted desperately to name our baby Dylan - regardless of the sex - because he is a freak about Bob Dylan (to use the word fan is to understate it by far). I thought for a girl it would be cute but a little overused for a boy. I thought it was so difficult to find any boy names that aren't overused - there just don't seem to be that many boy names available - we struggled with it. (Had a girl, so didn't matter in the end). Overused names in my neck of the woods:

Brianna
Madison
Madeline
Katelyn
Kate
Rachel

Connor
Sean
Benjamin (Ben)
Zachary (Zach)
Jackson (Jack)
Dylan


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## Susana (Feb 26, 2002)

Around my neck of the woods there are a lot of kids named---

Jacob
Rachel
Brittany
Ashley
Alex (boy and girl)
Hannah
Evan
Zack
and finally, I have heard Riley so many times it is crazy!


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## meg (Jan 6, 2003)

Here are a few from the central KY area:

Jacob
Taylor (boy or girl anymore)
Madison
MaKenzie
Cole
Jordan
Riley


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## beccaboo (Nov 30, 2001)

These are interesting to read!

Here's what occurs to me without much contemplation (north side of Chicago):

Jake
Jack (sorry, Kathleen!)
Josh
Sam
Max
Zack

Emma
Emily
Madeleine
Hannah
Anna
Grace

Looks like one-syllable boy names and old-fashioned girl names are the rage around here, eh?


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## chrissy (Jun 5, 2002)

Near me,

Jack
Max
Ben
Will

Anna
Olivia
Maggie
Maddie (Madison, Madeline)

My son is Noah and now that is seeming to get popular too, much to my dismay.

My mom and dad named me Christine, called me Chrissy, and said they knew no one named that but in my Kindergarten class there were 5. All my life I've known tons of other Chris variations and hated it.


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## famousmockngbrd (Feb 7, 2003)

The other day I was watching a Little League practice. It seemed like there were a couple of Kyles, at least one Dylan... one kid was named Mason. I thought it was interesting that nobody seemed to have a name like John or Jim... which were *very* common names when I was growing up in Boston in the 70s.


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## Friendlymama (Nov 13, 2002)

Around here...

Grace Grace Grace

And Sydney.


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## mcimom (Jun 8, 2002)

Olivia, Haley (Hailey, Hayley), Emma, Isabella

Alexander, Jacob, Jordan

Totally NOT popular, but heard at Gymboree the other day and just loved...

Daphne and Cordelia


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## its_our_family (Sep 8, 2002)

i've lived in the midwest and now I'm on the East Coast and it seems that Emma and Emily are running rampant! Both names i like but would never name my daughter them because there are so many!

Emma
Emily
Megan (which is my name and growing up there were very fwe os us..ts weird to here yelled "Megan do NOT put that in your mouth!"_
Sarah
Suvannah

Gavin
Taylor
Tyler
Nathan
Micheal

(None of the names we have chosen are on any of these lists...which makes me happy







)


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## abranger (Dec 15, 2001)

I know 2 new baby girls named cloe


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## Kundalini-Mama (Jul 15, 2002)

Aidan has become increasingly popular


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## remynyc (May 30, 2003)

boys:

sam
jack

girls:
anything that ends in "ella", e.g., stella, bella, ella, isabella . . .


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## menudo (May 21, 2002)

In Jerse yhere. Most of the above stated plus:

Carly/Kylie
Sice 9/11 Grace, Hope, etc.
Dylan
Taylor/Tyler
Not Toddler but over the past 10 years-Devante

I went blank...


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## eilonwy (Apr 3, 2003)

This is a huge issue for DH and I as he has an *EXTREMELY* common name (Michael) and loves it, while I have a name that (was) uncommon (Karynna).

We decided to give our kids a Hebrew name and an English name (I'm Jewish) so that they would have a name that's not terribly common around here, and a more common name that they could use if they wanted: Hence our son, Eliyahu Marshall.

Most common names in Lancaster:

Boys:
Michael
David
Caleb
Jacob
Nate/Nathan/Nathaniel

Both:
Jordan
Tayler/Tyler

Girls:
Emma/Emily
Madison
Hannah
Savannah (I don't know why, since we live in the north!)
Sierra (spelled a variety of ways)
Elizabeth

There is a large Hispanic community in Lancaster, so there are also dozens of Marisols and Angels, as well as every variation you can think of for the names "Marie" and "Juan". I know a kid named Olijajuan, and one named Annamaria, for example.


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## dentente (Aug 14, 2002)

In The Bay Area Suburbs:

Girls:

Madison
Brianna
Makenna
Caitlyn, Katherine, Kate, Caity
Alexis
Lauren
Madeleine
Olivia

Boys:

Dylan/Dillon
Nicholas
Alexander
Ian
Drew
Bryce

Most bizarre name so far: Remmington (Remy for short) for a boy. BLEH!!!!

Denny


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## ComeOnLetsGo (Nov 19, 2001)

My ds has 15 boys in his kindergarten class - 4 of them (not mine) are named Jack! Ridiculous!

Also:

Ryan
Tyler
Michael
Jacob
Matthew
Luke/Lucas
Riley
Garrett
Griffin

Kaylie/Kylie/Kayla
Riley
Emma/Emily/Emmy
Megan/Meghan
Lily
Rachel/Rachael

We are in Maryland.


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## eilonwy (Apr 3, 2003)

I almost forgot.. one of the most popular boy's names around: Elijah. I think I block it out because when people mispronounce ds's name, they usually resort to Elijah.







:


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## crazy_eights (Nov 22, 2001)

Quote:

_Originally posted by Arduinna_
*Anyone noticed alot of boys named Jack? Maybe it's just famous people but I seem to hear alot of that name.*
Everyone I work with that has had a baby boy in the past few years has named them Jack!

Zoe (or Zoey)
Emma
Madileine or Madison
Grace
Riley
Kayla

Sam
Max
Jacob


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## crazy_eights (Nov 22, 2001)

BTW - when I went to high school outside Boston 1/2 the class younger than me was named Caitlyn. Coming from the midwest, I'd never known anyone named that before. However, now I here it a lot (back in the midwest) among babies/toddlers/gradeschool girls.


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## vein (Mar 7, 2003)

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I don't wanna hear that Gavin is becoming popular. I knew of 0 kids named Gavin, figured mine would probably be the only one, and now I keep seeing it pop up everywhere. I still bet mine is one of the very very few ones named after Gavin Friday. Hrmph.









Around here in Detroit, there seems to be a ton of kids named Olivia, Megan, Michael, and Devin.


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## mama_kass (Jan 11, 2003)

If you don't want to give your baby a popular name just check the list of the top 100 names and don't pick one from the list. I chose our first sons name Paxton







DH chose our second sons name Jayden. Jayden was in like the top 500 but now it is quickly becoming popular.

Also, I wouldn't worry to much about unique naming. Just pick what you like. If you pick an unusual name you will worry that your child won't like it and be teased for it. If you pick a common name you will worry that your child will be one of 5 in first grade with the same name.

I would discourage anyone from unusual spellings. Like my name. Kassi looks pretty is a pretty name but no one ever spells it right. It was a real pain in school.


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## Rebecca (Dec 4, 2002)

Quote:

_Originally posted by vein_
*GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I don't wanna hear that Gavin is becoming popular. I knew of 0 kids named Gavin, figured mine would probably be the only one, and now I keep seeing it pop up everywhere.*
I share this same sentiment! I still like Gavin or Evan for a boy and thought I was so unique!! When I was pregnant with Sean Finnegan, we had named him Jadon Michael... and changed it when i was in early labor when we realized how common it's becoming, misspelled, unisex... We tried to avoid any name that seemed trendy to us, which is harder than we thought!

Zillions of Jacks, Madison/Madeleine, Isabelles, Zacharys, Connor, Kyla/Kayla/Kylie/, Emma, Emily, Olivia, Matthew -really common.

And recently, Cooper.... This one I don't get... I can hear it now on the playground .. "Super duper pooper scooper Cooper" "Chicken Cooper"...


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## Anmarie (Jun 8, 2003)

Around here:

Sam/Sammy/Samantha
Isabella
Hannah
Connor


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## MelissaEvans (Jan 9, 2003)

Spencer's becoming pretty popular around here. *sigh* But it wasn't in the top 50...

Here's a nifty site to look at popular names for the last 12 years. http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/

Good luck!


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## asherah (Nov 25, 2001)

I'm soo bummed Caleb is becomming popular!

Here in Atlanta..
Madeleine
Taylor
Jackson
Caitlin
Aidan


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## Teensy (Feb 22, 2002)

Hehe, I thought I had chosen very boring, but traditional names for my boys - but we don't know any other children their ages with the names John or James, so I guess they get to be the unusual names in their classes.


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## BohoMama (Jun 26, 2003)

Hope I don't piss anybody off here....but the naming fashion that irks me the most are the "dead presidents":

Tyler
Taylor
Madison
Reagan (almost dead)
Carter (not close to dead, but getting on in years)

The whole thing with naming a child after a surname in the family can be cute, but why are WASP-y surnames always chosen (Carter, Anderson, etc.)??? Could it be a backlash to multiculturalism?

When was the last time somebody told you "My daughter Goldfarb just joinedl the soccer team" or "My son Papadopoulous loves to paint" ???


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## maddysmommy (Mar 27, 2002)

My dd is Madeleine, and I knew it was a popular name when I chose it, but she is named after my grandmother. Growing up in Minnesota in the 70's I never knew another person named Madeleine and I always knew when I had a baby girl that would be her name. I like that it has lots of syllables (sp?) so that we can use different nicknames. We call her Madda a lot, and she calls herself Minnie which I think is really cute. We're also pretty weird about using the french pronuciation (ayne not eine). Not that anyone will care. At least the Madeline books are good!


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## TranscendentalMom (Jun 28, 2002)

I'm from NC and Aidan is the first one that comes to mind when I think of recently popular names. In fact, the ay-den sound seems to be very overused in general ex - Jaden, Hayden, Caden, Braden etc. Some other boy names that seem overused in babies right now: Ben, Matthew, Tyler, Riley & Caleb. And for the girls: Kayla, Mikayla, Lauren, Sarah, Makenzie, Isabella seem to be very popular these days.

I'm also sick of the WASPy surname thing. Porter, Connor, Cooper, Taylor, Hudson, Hunter, Harper, etc. Especially when they are on girls.


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## Worldshakerz (Jun 16, 2003)

We did want a few on this post said they hated --- spelled a popular name a little different....Jakob.

At first I balked at naming him this because I wanted something a little different, but I've come to really like the name, popular or not.

Popular names around here (at least in my circle of family and friends in Largo, Florida).

Max
Jake
Luke
John
Zack
Mark
Steven

Briana
Madison
Cloe
Hannah
Emma

If we had a girl, we were going to name her Briana, but have since changed our mind. We have another name picked out for when we have a girl, but I'm not telling yet! hehe


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## Nikki Christina (Mar 27, 2003)

funny thing is when we where naming our son I wanted a unique name.. wanted to name him Skyler call him Sky or the name Guy.. DH hated it & after many many fights I gave in & let him name him

he picked David & I was like whatever.. we'll Ive yet to *meet* anyone else under the age of 15 named David on the internet or IRL

now.. Kayden.. I thought I was being unique & Ive meet several of 1-3 year olds with the name








:

names Ive heard alot lately
Boy- Riley, Luke, Hunter, Tyler

girl- Emma , Chloe, Zoe, Madison


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## famousmockngbrd (Feb 7, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by BohoMama_
*When was the last time somebody told you "My daughter Goldfarb just joinedl the soccer team" or "My son Papadopoulous loves to paint" ???*
:LOL Too funny!









Cole's family name is Robert. That's his "real" first name. Then his second name is Coltrane. A last name, yes, but not a WASPy one! :LOL And then we don't even call him by either of those, but a borderline normal/weird name, Cole.

Has anyone ever heard of the concept of a "secret" name, one that is your true name, that only family and trusted friends know of? Then there is your workaday name, that everyone knows and calls you by. I always thought this was a cool idea so I have buried Cole's real name in the middle of his legal names, LOL. I only hope I don't have trouble with ignorant 1st grade teachers saying, "But your name is Robert, *not* Cole!"







"


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## alexa07 (Mar 27, 2003)

here:

Girls:
Dylann
Jordan
Emily
Madison
Sara

Boys
Max
Jack
Joe
Zach/ary

As for most unsual:

Boys
Remington
Landon
Jett
Gray

Girls
Tilly
Sadie
Paris
Lola


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## alexa07 (Mar 27, 2003)

here:

Girls:
Dylann
Jordan
Emily
Madison
Sara

Boys
Max
Jack
Joe
Zach/ary

As for most unsual:

Boys
Remington
Landon
Jett
Gray

Girls
Tilly
Sadie
Paris
Lola


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## Nikki Christina (Mar 27, 2003)

1


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## sunbaby (Sep 30, 2002)

whe had never heard of anyone named haley when we named our daughter, but now, it seems like i cant leave the house w/o hearing another mom calling my girl's name. it bugs me. our distant cousin even named their new baby haley, and a freind of dh's....how can they do this when they know our daughter's name? we live in the north bay, by the way. anyway, it shouldnt bug me so much- i know tons of super cool and unique


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## anythingelse (Nov 26, 2001)




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## Katana (Nov 16, 2002)

Dylan/Michael/Luke/Jacob are out of control by me. I also hear a lot of Jack and Max.

Emily/Sarah/Olivia/Hannah/Hailey are as well. And Grace, along with Kayla or Kaylee or some variation of it.

I thought I was being so unique with Charis, my dd, but I've heard of 5 others since her birth in 2000, and now that Catherine Zeta-Jones named her daughter that, it will probably be even more popular.

Oh well...


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## DebraBaker (Jan 9, 2002)

My first child is Jessica and my second Jennifer.

I didn't have a clue how popular those names were (like duh!!)

So I decided to name my other children less than common names.

So the rest are Joanna, Jonathan, Jeanette, Joshua (I know it's popular as well) Joseph, and Julianna.

There are sort of made up names here like Brittaney, Brianna, McKensey(sp) sort of names that seem popular for no logical reason.

DB


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## Evergreen (Nov 6, 2002)

In my area

Jordan
Taylor
Ava (which I Love)
Kaitlyn
Ethan
Sophia/Sophie
Kayla/Kaylie
Noah
Madison


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## teachma (Dec 20, 2002)

Mackenzie
Makayla
McKenna

...and the K names like Kylie, Kayla, Kyle, Kendra, Kellan, Kielan
...and Riley and Aidan (which was my 1st choice for ds)
Also newly popular is my own son's name, Avery, but for a girl. I saw that one coming but chose it for ds anyway.


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## Peppermint (Feb 12, 2003)

Isabella
Morgan
Madison
Madeline
Zoey

Jack
Benjamin
Aiden
Dylan

There are lots, most that were mentioned on here already.

Interestingly, we named our dd Mary which was the most popular girls name for like 3 or 4 decades, now, she's the only one we know









Our son is Daniel, which is always relatively popular, but not in a trendy way I don't think. And I'm glad to see neither Brigid nor Brendan on the list(I'm preg.), although I know Brendan is gaining in popularity, at least it's not annoyingly popular-yet!


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## lilyka (Nov 20, 2001)

Gee, we got totally sucked into popular names while thinking we were doing somehting original.

madeline - well thats obvious
Lilyka which is completely unpopular but then she goes by Lily so often which is super duper popular
and Ava - who knew. there are little Ava's running aorund every where.

Our other choices for Ava were Natalie and megan. Apparently equally as popular.

Also around here Chloe, zoe, olivia, sophie, max, jordan jayden (I know 3 families that have children named jordan and jayden in them), cole, parker, carter, jack, issac (not sure if I spelled it right but everyone I know who has had a boy in the last 3 years has named thier son this - it is insane) claire, and taylor. anyway, people around seem to lack creativity in nameing thier children. But maybe everyone else just got sucked into it as easily as I did.


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## sohj (Jan 14, 2003)

hear a lot of the irish gaelic names.


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## eilonwy (Apr 3, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by Nikki Christina_
*he picked David & I was like whatever.. we'll Ive yet to *meet* anyone else under the age of 15 named David on the internet or*
There's a little boy next door named David.. He's 2 and a half. There are tons of them around here! :LOL

My older niece is named "Janasha". My sister had never encountered another one, until she went to daycare. There she found a little girl just a few hours younger than my niece. Her mother said "Oh, I heard someone in the hospital say they were naming their baby Janasha and I thought it was pretty so I did too!" :LOL

I've also noticed that if a particular child is very pretty or popular or striking in some way that a lot of people will give their child a similar or identical name, particularly younger mothers. Does that happen anywhere else?


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## girlzmommy00 (May 15, 2003)

We're in coastal Nj and the big names are:

Girls:
Emily
Emma
Sara/h
Katelyn/Kylie/Kaylin/Kayla
Makenna/Makenzie
Madeline
and the biggest...Madison

Boys:
Ryan (can't tell you how many Ryan's I know of)
Colin (and I know as many Colin's as well)
Dylan
Jack
Aidan

Alyssa and Lauren are up there on the Social Security top 100 (top 20 names I think) but aren't as popular around here. And in these parts, Lily is considered pretty uncommon.
If I was a boy, my first name would have been Townsend, but my dad's family was big on their English family names. My dad's name was Warner and Townsend was his dad's name.


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## TrinitysMama (Mar 13, 2002)

Quote:

The whole thing with naming a child after a surname in the family can be cute, but why are WASP-y surnames always chosen (Carter, Anderson, etc.)??? Could it be a backlash to multiculturalism?
My sister has a little girl in her class named Emmerson. I think it's kind of strange.

I really hate that the name Lily is so popular. Both dh and I had great-grandmothers named Lily. At least we gave her a Gaelic middle name, so the chances of her finding anyone else with the same name are pretty slim. She can always go by that one.

For some reason, all of the "M" names make my skin crawl - McKenna, Mackenzie, MADISON (oh god do I hate that one!), Michaela, etc.

I know a lot of little Ians now. Riley seems to be overused as well.


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## Charles Baudelaire (Apr 14, 2003)

.


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## Charles Baudelaire (Apr 14, 2003)

.


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## ladylee (Nov 20, 2001)

Instead of... Try instead
1. Brittany.... Normandy!
2. Brandy....... Tequila
3. Dakota, Montana....... Utah, Idaho
4. Brooklyn........ Staten Island, Bronx
5. Jaden ........ Jaded
6. Mckenna........ McKinley (an undeservedly forgotten Pres!)
7. Dylan ......... Zimmerman (if you get this, you're over 30)

:LOL :LOL :LOL

Yes, by me there is an overabundance of Dakotas, Cheyennes, Codys, anything western sounding.

Fortunately we named our daughter Isabel just before it became a little too common again-at least there might not be any Isabels in her class.


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## JesseMomme (Apr 6, 2002)

Quote:

7. Dylan ......... Zimmerman (if you get this, you're over 30)
I get it, and I"m only 24








:LOL


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## mom2mygirls (Nov 10, 2002)

I thought Kimberly was a popular name when My DH named her but when I went to the hospital to have her one of the nurses said I havent heard that name in a while that made me feel good. I havent been around many people who name is Kimberly.

Christina


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## mamapixie (May 30, 2002)

Well, when we picked Hailey as a girl's name, it wasn't popular(7+ years ago) and while we haven't had a girl to give that name too, if we have a girl in the future, she will be Hailey(it's been my Dh's favorite girl's name for over 10 years)

For my first son, Benjamin wasn't an overly popular name at the time, but now it is. We did want to choose a classic name, but not something really out there. Dh's name is very non-conformist, and he hates it, so he wanted to name the boys normal names. Of course, then he goes and mis-spells Jonathen's name, so his is a bit more out of the ordinary.


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## jempd (Feb 27, 2002)

I have never heard of a Jaden before.

My name is Sarah, and there are so many Sarahs everywhere of every age group that I always automatically add my last name when I'm telling someone my name. And I've heard it called so many times in public, that I don't always react when someone is calling me since I hear it all the time. But it means princess, and I still like it a lot.

There are about 5 Maxes in the playgrounds around where I live. I like it and wanted to name our son that but the popularity of it swayed me away from it (we wound up naming him Russell).

What's with Madison? My husband says it's because of the Daryll Hannah mermaid movie. Now Hannah, that's a nice name . . .

Ruby is popular around where I live. I know because when I had a dog named Ruby I'd call her and a few times a little girl would look at me, puzzled, obviously wondering why I'd just called her name.


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## ainsleyx (Apr 3, 2003)

Well, my DD(10) is Phoebe. She was born before the show "Friends", and we still haven't met any others. My DS(5), is Liam and I have met 2 others recently.


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## dharmama (Dec 29, 2002)

Some names I really like but could never use because they are WAY popular around here...

Zoe
Chloe
Emily
Emma
Phoebe
Any form of Kate (Katherine, Katie, Kathy etc.)
Lily
Sarah
Ella
Sage is becoming really popular. Bummer. I like it a lot.

Dylan
Ethan
Aidan
Jack (







my DH's name is John and I always wanted to name our son John, but have him be called Jack)
Jacob
Gabriel
Liam (Sorry ainsleyx - I've met two recently too)

That's all I can think of for now...

~Erin


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## GruppieGirl (Feb 19, 2002)

T

What's wrong with WASPy names? I enjoy the idea of honoring my ancestors. I fell no special connection with names from a very different culture from mine. How many Ugandans are really naming their kids Madison?

Ok...maybe I'm just a little hot and testy today.


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## LunaMom (Aug 8, 2002)

I can't add anything that hasn't already been listed...but I'm pleased that my dd's name has not been mentioned! Funny, when we chose it, it was on the top ten list but we have only once met another child with her name.

What's up with girls taking over a lot of boys' names? There are girls named Dylan now, for example. I also don't get the state and city names like Dakota, Madison, etc. I'm not saying I dislike them, I just find the trend a little weird.

I always find myself thinking about nursing homes 80 years from now, though:

"Brianna, what a lovely afghan you've knitted for your lap!"
"Dakota, would you like to join me and Makayla for bingo in the sunroom?"

Sorry, that's how my sense of humor works...:LOL


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## katt (Nov 29, 2001)

an alternative to JACK would be JAX or JACKS
still sounds like Jack but with a twist. (would probably work well with Jaxon/Jackson, but maybe as a nn for John, although I've always wondered Why it is a nn for John, it isn't as if there is more then 1 letter that is the same with the 2 names)


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## kofduke (Dec 24, 2002)

Jacob has to be the most overused name around here...I know four under 6 months.

To my surprise, we have met other Aarons, but it still doesn't seem to be all that common.

My favorite name forever has been Emma, but I was deterred by its popularity even if he had been a girl! Our girl's name was Natalie, which isn't that common here. My favorite "M" girl's name is Miriam - totally untrendy!


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## jen and her girls (May 22, 2003)

We thought we were being kind of different when we chose this name 4.5 years ago. Clearly, we were wrong. I hate that it is such a popular name. Growing up as one of a zillion Jennifers I was determined not to give my girls super-popular names. Shoot me now!


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## nikirj (Oct 1, 2002)

Some of the over-used names here in Hawaii are never used elsewhere - like Kimo and Pua, so I'll not really list those ;-)

We've also got way to many of these:

Elias
Madison
Elijah
Emily
Taylor
Devon
I'm sure there are a lot more, but those are just the ones I hear a lot when I volunteer at the Sunday School.

I like my daughter Rebecca's name so much that we were willing to use it despite it being on the top-10 for practically forever - I think that it is just barely not common enough that it's OK - she hasn't shared a classroom with another Rebecca or anything. But an aunt of DH's had a baby right after we had Becca, and she named her child Rebecca also. Not to mention her other daughter's name is Elizabeth (my DD is Rebecca Elizabeth). To her credit, we had no contact for a couple of years until we both came to a family thing with same-named kids when they were a couple of months old - so even if she WAS 'stealing' our names, she didn't do it on purpose :-D

I have also heard about not using your given name. A couple of friends of mine in high school and college did that (although one of them I'm not entirely certain it wasn't just a nickname kind of thing). It was kind of a shame that their real names appear in the directory, you know?


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## becoming (Apr 11, 2003)

Around here, the new trend is Aidan and Landon for boys (two of my favorites, sadly) and Madison for girls.


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## Mariposa (Nov 12, 2002)

I looked all over for Abigail/Abby and no one listed it. It was the only girl name that me and DH could totally agree on. Then, I saw it was on the top 10 for 2002 and was so bummed. I love the name though, so she will probably just be one of several Abby's in her class. Her middle name is a little unique though so she could always go by Iliana if she doesn't like Abby. Or she could be called Gail, but I hope she doesn't choose that...

I have seen lots of Isabel/la's lately. That has been one of my favorite names forever. If we have another girl it will be Sofia.


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## queen620 (Jun 9, 2002)

So I went to the website for stats on names and found for my two sons three of their four names were on the top 50 for the year they were born







:

I choose my sons names because the meaning reflected a trait we wanted them to have or a meaning we wanted them to live with. KWIM
As Christians we really wanted to pass along our beliefs, and so we picked Joshua b/c it means Jehovah is salvation.
For Noah we were going through a time of major upheveal in our lives(they are 14mo apart!) and we liked that Noah meant peace...we really need some PEACE in our lives!









I don't remember the meaning of their middle names but as it turned out we inadvertently pick New Testament middle names for both of our sons. Totally unplanned we just like the comination/and or sound.

I personally like WASPy first names, at least sometimes. If we have another con I want to name him Davis as a way to honor my grandparents...they had no son to care on the name.

Is it just me or do most of you see a resurgance of "solid" names....I think of Jack, Jacob, Luke, Emily, Emma, Rachel, Hannah, Grace, and etc. to be "solid" names that will stand the test of time. (although right now they are way to popular!)

Regina


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## Justice2 (Mar 18, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by Tigerchild_
*I tend to feel sorry for kids who have overly unusual spellings of their names than 'popular' names. Esp. if it's an weird spelling of an extremely popular name. ;>*
:LOL My son's name is Kaeleb....hubby's idea!

I second the "Brianna" also, Kaitland and Megan is also becoming very popular in our area.

Male names: John, Chris and Mike. If someone ever calls my son Junior (his first name is Boue after his father) I may make the paper the next day


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## QueeTheBean (Aug 6, 2002)

Claire is becoming very popular here.

My mom's name is Clare, and I like it spelled that way (Irish) better than Claire (French).

My Denny is the only Denny I know of, but I hear lots of people tell me their fathers were called Denny--maybe it is an old thing??

Am hearing Colin a lot more these days.









I like Jack even if it is used a lot--just sounds so cool.


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## dentente (Aug 14, 2002)

Okay. Obviously Madison is THE name that must be outlawed. There were three Madisons on the playground today and they did not know each other. Their moms were Maddying and Madisoning all over the place causing hilarious confusion. I just had to laugh.

Okay? So moratorium. Madison is out. Sorry to any Madisons on the board.

Denny (Who has always loved being a Denny by self-determination if not by birth).


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## sohj (Jan 14, 2003)

whoops! double post.


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## sohj (Jan 14, 2003)

The only Madisons I know here are dogs.







:

I haven't yet heard it at the playground, only in the dog run.

I like the idea of naming people for others in the family and/or historical/mythical figures. It really doesn't matter how common the name is, most people end up with a nickname anyhow, one that may or may not have anything to do with their name. (Like Spud for Spalding...yup.)


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## mirthfulmum (Mar 3, 2003)

Quote:

_Originally posted by Charles Baudelaire_
*Instead of... Try instead*
7. Dylan ......... Zimmerman (if you get this, you're over 30)
:LOL :LOL :LOL :LOL

My emensely huge Dylan fan husband wanted to name our son after Bob Dylan but we didn't want to go the traditional Dylan route. We actually joked about naming him Zimmy. We instead named ds Alias after the character Dylan played in "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid". And the biography about him called "A man named Alias".

As for here in Vancouver the name that really sticks out for me as the extremly popular name is Ethan. Every play group, every story time, every where we go there is always an Ethan!


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## HomeBirthMommy (Mar 15, 2003)

ARGH!!!!! I named my dd Madeline thinking it was soooo original and everywhere I go, I hear "Maddie". We're trying really hard *not* to say Maddie, but to say Madeline, so at least she's a little different! There must be a gazillion Madisons, who are all called Maddie, too. I feel so bad. We were going to name her Meredith, but our last name is Luth, so Meredith Luth was just asking for teasing (or a lisp







: ).

Popular here (Metro Atlanta, Gwinnett)
Abigail
Caitlyn
Ashley
Sara
MADISON
Emily

Ethan
Avery
Jacob
Dylan
Collin

Our next will be either Robert or Clara (someday...)


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