Thoughts about really popular baby names?

I am torn -- my husband and I both love the name Ava for our next
daughter. It goes really well with our last name and with our other
daughter's name (Stella). At least we think so

Thing is we just realized it is already very popular and seems to be
climbing the charts each year.

I have an aversion to super popular names, yet at the same time we
really love it. What are your thoughts on popular names? My sister
gave her daughter a name that exploded in popularity and doesn't
really mind -- in fact her five year old thinks it's awesome when she
meets another little girl with the same name, and that she can find
all kinds of personalized stuff. Despite the popularity of her name,
she is the only one with it in her kindergarten class too.

Should we just go for it? Our other choice is nice too (Ivy) but our
last name is Rossi so it doesn't sound as nice together.

Elle

I am torn -- my husband and I both love the name Ava for our next
daughter. It goes really well with our last name and with our other
daughter's name (Stella). At least we think so

How about Ada, not Ava? I'm biased as that's what our daughter is called,
but it sounds very similar, it's not infrequent that someone things her name
is Ava, and unlike Ava, Ada doesn't seem to be having a sudden increase in
popularity. Our last name as you can see begins with an Ro, so it matches,
just like it would for you!

Personally I don't tend to go for popular names, but not because I exclude a
name once I find out it's popular, if I liked a name and then found it was
climbing the charts, that wouldn't bother me. We couldn't decide on a name
for DD, I liked Ada and DH didn't and we had nothing decided on at the time
of the birth, we didn't know whether it was a girl or a boy, I had a stinky
labour and once we found out it was a girl, I said could we call her Ada and
DH didn't dare say anything but yes!

Anne

Elle wrote:


Should we just go for it? Our other choice is nice too (Ivy) but our
last name is Rossi so it doesn't sound as nice together.

Elle



I love Ava Rossi. It has a wonderful flow to it.

gloria p

On Feb 15, 9:04 pm, "Anne Rogers" wrote:
I am torn -- my husband and I both love the name Ava for our next
daughter. It goes really well with our last name and with our other
daughter's name (Stella). At least we think so

How about Ada, not Ava? I'm biased as that's what our daughter is called,
but it sounds very similar, it's not infrequent that someone things her name
is Ava, and unlike Ava, Ada doesn't seem to be having a sudden increase in
popularity. Our last name as you can see begins with an Ro, so it matches,
just like it would for you!

Personally I don't tend to go for popular names, but not because I exclude a
name once I find out it's popular, if I liked a name and then found it was
climbing the charts, that wouldn't bother me. We couldn't decide on a name
for DD, I liked Ada and DH didn't and we had nothing decided on at the time
of the birth, we didn't know whether it was a girl or a boy, I had a stinky
labour and once we found out it was a girl, I said could we call her Ada and
DH didn't dare say anything but yes!

Anne

I like Ada very much -- thing is we will most likely use Adelaide as a
middle name Maybe we should consider it for a first name, Ada or
Addie would make a nice short form.

Elle

"Elle" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am torn -- my husband and I both love the name Ava for our next
daughter. It goes really well with our last name and with our other
daughter's name (Stella). At least we think so

Thing is we just realized it is already very popular and seems to be
climbing the charts each year.

I have an aversion to super popular names, yet at the same time we
really love it. What are your thoughts on popular names?

When we were considering names for our DD, we were looking for something
unique. Then we saw a couple of reports that made us change our mind.
Bascially it was saying that people with familiar (not necessarily common)
names are happier and more successful in general. Say you are at a party and
you meet someone who has an unusual name. You might not catch it, or you
might, but later on you forget it, and you know it was something kind of
like "x" but you're not sure. So you might avoid them from embarrassment in
case you have to say their name and you can't. Now spread this over the
whole of a person's life - from teachers at daycare and school, to friends,
to coaches etc etc
The people with the more familiar names are people that get chosen, have
more friends and therefore mix better, expect people to be friendly, are
more confident and so on. Now this is just generalizing of course, and
familiar does not have to be flavour of the month common.
Another report was showing teachers grading papers, and they subconciously
marked kids with common names higher than unique names.

Just something to bear in mind - or totally ignore!

In the end, I think you have to listen to your heart. If you both like the
name, and it works with your last name and sibling name, then use it. Names
come in and out of cycles. It's not the end of the world to have a more
popular name.

I loved the name Taylor for a girl since I was very young. It's my mother's
middle name, and I decided a long long long time ago, that I wanted to use
it for a little girl. I was probably in high school (and I'm turning 41 in
March), so it was a REALLY long time ago! Taylor got really really popular
for a while, and I considered not using it, but then decided that I had
every right to use it as anyone else. And the fact that anyone else, or
lots of anyone elses, wanted to use it, shouldn't deter me, if I really
loved it. And when I mentioned it to my dh, he liked it as well, so there
you had it. We used it, and have never regretted it. It's a name. Your
uniqueness as a person doesn't come only from your name, it comes from who
you are. If you and dh agree, and you both love it, then use it. I doubt
that you'll regret it.
--

Jamie
Earth Angels:
Taylor Marlys -- 01/03/03
Addison Grace -- 09/30/04

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"Elle" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am torn -- my husband and I both love the name Ava for our next
daughter. It goes really well with our last name and with our other
daughter's name (Stella). At least we think so

Thing is we just realized it is already very popular and seems to be
climbing the charts each year.

I have an aversion to super popular names, yet at the same time we
really love it. What are your thoughts on popular names? My sister
gave her daughter a name that exploded in popularity and doesn't
really mind -- in fact her five year old thinks it's awesome when she
meets another little girl with the same name, and that she can find
all kinds of personalized stuff. Despite the popularity of her name,
she is the only one with it in her kindergarten class too.

Should we just go for it? Our other choice is nice too (Ivy) but our
last name is Rossi so it doesn't sound as nice together.

Elle

"Elle" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Feb 15, 9:04 pm, "Anne Rogers" wrote:
I am torn -- my husband and I both love the name Ava for our next
daughter. It goes really well with our last name and with our other
daughter's name (Stella). At least we think so

How about Ada, not Ava? I'm biased as that's what our daughter is called,
but it sounds very similar, it's not infrequent that someone things her
name
is Ava, and unlike Ava, Ada doesn't seem to be having a sudden increase
in
popularity. Our last name as you can see begins with an Ro, so it
matches,
just like it would for you!

Personally I don't tend to go for popular names, but not because I
exclude a
name once I find out it's popular, if I liked a name and then found it
was
climbing the charts, that wouldn't bother me. We couldn't decide on a
name
for DD, I liked Ada and DH didn't and we had nothing decided on at the
time
of the birth, we didn't know whether it was a girl or a boy, I had a
stinky
labour and once we found out it was a girl, I said could we call her Ada
and
DH didn't dare say anything but yes!

Anne

I like Ada very much -- thing is we will most likely use Adelaide as a
middle name Maybe we should consider it for a first name, Ada or
Addie would make a nice short form.

Elle


Ah, well Addie is a great name... : ) I have an Addison, who we call Addie,
and love love love it!
--

Jamie
Earth Angels:
Taylor Marlys -- 01/03/03
Addison Grace -- 09/30/04

Check out the family! -- www.MyFamily.com, User ID: Clarkguest1, Password:
Guest
Become a member for free - go to Add Member to set up your own User ID and
Password

Another report was showing teachers grading papers, and they subconciously
marked kids with common names higher than unique names.

for my age, I have an uncommon name, my sister has a much more common name
(Nicola), we got similar grades throughout school, does that mean I must
actually have been brighter to achieve the same ;-).

Though Anne at least falls into the familiar category, it's a common middle
name even in my age group. I'd thought Ada would be in the same category,
and it certainly was in the UK, we never had people mispronounce it from the
written, there might be a spelling query, particularly from people who do
cross stitch, is it Ada, or Aida, and very commonly we'd hear "oh, my
grandma was called Ada". Here, in the US, we get very little recognition of
it, I suspect that is because of the wide variety of nationalities people
grandmas are likely to be and Ada is a very English name and when people see
it written it is frequently misprounounced as "Adder". Surprisingly, Anne is
also commonly mispronounced, as Annie, emphasising the final e, though when
people are writing the name down, being asked whether there is an e or not
occurs about as commonly as it did back in the UK.

Anne

"Anne Rogers" wrote in message
...
Another report was showing teachers grading papers, and they
subconciously marked kids with common names higher than unique names.

for my age, I have an uncommon name, my sister has a much more common name
(Nicola), we got similar grades throughout school, does that mean I must
actually have been brighter to achieve the same ;-).

I don't think I would say that Anne/Ann is an uncommon name, but at least
perhaps not a popular name for your age group. At least it's not "uncommon"
in terms of unusuall or unfamiliar. I guess it's uncommon in terms of "not
very common" for your age group, but I would hazard a guess that everyone
knows the name and the two common ways of spelling it. Do you see what I
mean?

To me then, in that regard, you and your sister would both have been graded
favorably (if that did in fact occur), because both of you had known names.

Though Anne at least falls into the familiar category, it's a common
middle name even in my age group. I'd thought Ada would be in the same
category, and it certainly was in the UK, we never had people mispronounce
it from the written, there might be a spelling query, particularly from
people who do cross stitch, is it Ada, or Aida, and very commonly we'd
hear "oh, my grandma was called Ada". Here, in the US, we get very little
recognition of it, I suspect that is because of the wide variety of
nationalities people grandmas are likely to be and Ada is a very English
name and when people see it written it is frequently misprounounced as
"Adder". Surprisingly, Anne is also commonly mispronounced, as Annie,
emphasising the final e, though when people are writing the name down,
being asked whether there is an e or not occurs about as commonly as it
did back in the UK.

Anne

I could be wrong, but I would assume that the majority of people know that
Anne is the same as Ann, but perhaps they misread it, and think that there
is an "i" in there? I guess I like to give people the benefit of the
doubt... I'd hate to think that there were that many people in the US who
didn't know that Anne was pronounced the same as Ann. Yikes! : )
--

Jamie
Earth Angels:
Taylor Marlys -- 01/03/03
Addison Grace -- 09/30/04

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In article .com,
says...
I am torn -- my husband and I both love the name Ava for our next
daughter. It goes really well with our last name and with our other
daughter's name (Stella). At least we think so

Thing is we just realized it is already very popular and seems to be
climbing the charts each year.

I have an aversion to super popular names, yet at the same time we
really love it. What are your thoughts on popular names? My sister
gave her daughter a name that exploded in popularity and doesn't
really mind -- in fact her five year old thinks it's awesome when she
meets another little girl with the same name, and that she can find
all kinds of personalized stuff. Despite the popularity of her name,
she is the only one with it in her kindergarten class too.

Should we just go for it? Our other choice is nice too (Ivy) but our
last name is Rossi so it doesn't sound as nice together.

Elle


I don't usually post on baby name threads, but I am going to break my
own rule just this once. First, the reason I don't post is that I
don't see a good reason to choose one name over another except for
personal reasons, and often think the parents know a lot more about
what to choose, and that other peoples' help is, at most, minimal.

That said...

I think there are two ways I like to use in choosing names. The first
is to pick the name of a beloved ancestor with a pretty name. Rememember
that wonderful great-grandmother who had such a pretty name, or so.
The other is a traditional ethnic name. The can be challenging when
so many families are mixed background, but in that case, a first and
middle name from each background is often pretty, and always
interesting.

For a few examples, Clara's name servers a dual purpose. It is both
my wife's grandmother, and it is the name of the lady who lived with
my family and cared for me when I was a child. Niel is an adaptation
of my father's mother's last name. My older son Sean has a traditional
Irish name, since he has Irish heritage from both sides of his family.

I think "meaningful" name which carry on some family tradition are
often better than just "pretty" names, or even "common" or "unique"
ones.

JMHO,
Larry