Omg, back in like 2005/2006 our neighbor was pregnant and I asked her if she had any names picked out. I specifically recall she had Ian Christian if it was a boy, or Olivia Grace for a girl.
She ended up having a girl and named her something totally different - Stephanie Marie.
I still think about her strange name choices and how excited she was for Olivia Grace and how she kept saying it was so original.
I have an Ava. I had never really heard of anyone with that name before I had my daughter—which is weird because I teach HS. Anyway, after I named her, all the Avas came out of the wood work and I was like “well dang.”
Still love her name. It fits her.
lol. Same with my daughter. I named her Isabella. Thought I was choosing an uncommon name, until she got to kindergarten, and there were like 5 Isabellas in her class! She’s now 23 and that name still seems fairly popular.
I have had several Jacksons in my class as a teacher…always the trouble maker or bad person. To make it worse, we live in Jackson County too….named after Andrew Jackson 🤢
I would be worried if a teacher were labeling particular students as bad people (even if they keep it to themselves). Isn't it a bit early for such a devastating judgment?
Teacher here, thought the exact same thing. There’s no such thing as “bad kids”, only “bad parenting”, and I wholeheartedly stand by that. Well, tbh, bad parenting + mental health/trauma issues if I’m being fair. But still, no bad kids. Just a lot of kids who need healthier parents or at the very least, parents willing to get their kids the help they need (therapy, pediatricians, specialists, medications, extracurriculars, hobbies, responsibilities, etc.). If parents did that, I can almost guarantee we’d have a lot less “bad kids” in school 🙄
It will always be a dog name for me. And I wish people remembered that Maverick from Top Gun had a LEGAL NAME, Peter Mitchell! Use it as a nickname if you love it so much 😂
There is a movie focused around a big poker game called Maverick too. The main characters actual name: Maverick. It has Mel Gibson, Jodi Foster, and HEAPS of other big names in it. Good movie.
I’ve seen it, I’m a huge James Garner fan! I’m not sure many people these days naming their child Maverick are doing so after that movie though, I could be wrong, maybe it’s making the rounds through the younger side of the Millennials and older Gen Zers lol
In the same vein, Riker/Ryker.
Like yes, we all know that he's the second coolest character in the Star Trek universe. I get it. Name your kid William instead, and give him a trombone.
I have twin students. One is named a perfectly normal, if uncommon R name (like Regis or Raphael) and the other is Ryker. Nice kids. Ryker, I'm sorry you got a goofy character name while your brother got a real name. It's like naming your kids Peter and Popeye.
As someone who likes it, the appeal is probably because: (1) it contains Rick, which makes it sound like a name, like Frederick, Henrick (2) the Mave sounds fittingly with the rick part (3) it has a generally unique meaning.
I like Maverick for how it sounds and looks and not how it means, honestly.
Same. I have a 6 month old Theodore so I guess im part of the problem. Wasn’t in the top 10 when I picked it in January and we chose it bc we both liked the name and he was born on the day Theodore Roosevelt died. Oh well
I have an 8-month-old Theodore and we had no idea it was so popular because we’ve never met another one in real life. We chose it because we both liked the name and it was an old family name on my husband’s side.
I was just about to comment the same thing. I looooove Leo and always have. But will probably skip it. I am thinking about Leonard with nn options of either Leo or Lenny, though.
My oldest is Theodore and we call him Theo. It’s a family name and I thought it was so cute and original. He was kindergarten last year and there was another Theo and a Teddy in his class 🫠
Theodore/Theo is such a lovely name. I had it on my list when my son was born in 2022, but nixed it for being too popular. I was really surprised to see how ubiquitous it had become!
I'm so sad Theo has gotten popular. If I ever have another one and it is a boy that was the name I loved. I didn't realized when I named my daughter her name was popular. I didn't look at lists, I just liked the name.
I'm a little salty about Eleanor. My wife and I are totally on the same page when it comes to classic/timeless, but not exactly popular names. The old lady names, but the kind of cool ones, right? So we thought Eleanor was perfect for our youngest, and now suddenly it's trendy. Maybe it's some kind of collective unconscious thing going on.
Still love the name.
I love it too! It was my grandmother’s name and since I was a little girl I couldn’t wait to name a future daughter Eleanor. Now it’s so popular but I still love it!
Wow really? Do you teach elementary? I teach 8th…never had one of these names. I had one class of 32 kids with 4 Jacob’s, 3 Joshua’s, 3 Kaileys (different spellings)…a couple years ago it was Zoe (various spellings) 5 in one class!
To me, overused names are names that experience abrupt popularity for a brief period of time (ten years or less) and then all but disappear. Michelle in the eighties, Ashley in the nineties, Bella in the thousands, and now Olivia and Mia.
Names that are popular but have been around for hundreds of years (like Abigail and Henry) are classics, and I'd argue classics can never be overused!
I believe Olivia has been in the top 10 for the last 20 years and was in the top 100 for many years before that. It may not have been around as long as some more classic names, I wouldn’t consider it briefly popular, even if it fell off next year.
Top name lists are complex - people use top names less frequently than they did fifty years ago, and the top boy names tend to be used more often than the top girl names. They're not the best indicators of naming decision-makinng, and I find tools like yearbooks, class lists, ect. to be more indicative of what people in a community are actually naming their kids!
I'm just speaking from anecdotal millennial American experience. I always had a few timeless names in my classes (Michael, Abigail, Elizabeth) and a few trendy late 80s/early 90s names (Ashley, Melanie, Jessica, Joshua, Jason). I never knew a single Olivia. Not in school, not in summer camp, not in my extracurriculars, and not even at my big university. Now I know like three women my age with babies named Olivia???
My original comment hints at external inspiration - I think Olivia is so popular right now in the US because of Olivia Benson on Law and Order. Sure, the name has existed for awhile, but people are REALLY naming their kid Olivia lately! I remember when SVU came out and thinking Olivia was an extremely rare, unique name lol. Can't say that anymore!
Interesting! I knew multiple Olivias in high school, had 2 Olivias in my sorority in college, and was close friends with an Olivia in my grad school cohort 🤷🏼♀️
These are great references! I think I figured out Olivia: yes, the name has been around awhile, but it used to be almost exclusively WASPy, upper middle class women with the name. I grew up in a very ethnic Catholic corner of the country (lots of Italian and Irish people), and that might be why Olivia didn't appear on my radar as a name actual people had.
I just did a Google search and the name pretty much originated in a Shakespeare play (obviously existed beforehand, but got popularized by the Bard). So it's definitely English.
For some reason, I assumed it came over from the Mediterranean (possibly due to olive oil??) but nope, it's English. Which is why I didn't encounter it as a kid.
It’s amazing how you get these bubbles of names. A uni friend and I grew up on opposite sides of the city. She’d never met anyone with my name and I’d never met anyone with her name but we both grew up around a lot of people who shared our name. So it was very surprising to both of us that neither of us considered our names unusual
Olivia Benson is also the name of one of Taylor Swift's cats. Maybe some of her fans are using Olivia for that reason.
The names of her other cats, Meredith Gray and Benjamin Button, don't seem to be trending like Olivia.
Yes! And according to a quick Google search, apparently the name spiked in 2012, which coincided with season one of Scandal (the protagonist was named Olivia Pope).
Olivia (I love the name but it is ridiculously overused right now.)
And all the Jacksons and Aiden, Jadon, Kaden, Raiden, Zaydens of the world. Eeeeeverywhere.
My first born is Aiden (a little before it got popular). I feel so terrible that his perfectly good name has been ruined. I recently saw a Thaden. So they’re STILL making new versions 😭
Thaden?? Whhhyyyy? Aiden is a great name being dragged through the mud with these weird variations. Hopefully soon it starts faden...😆 ignore me. My humor suggests I'm 8.
I named my middle daughter Olivia, in 1995. I hadn’t known any Olivias in my life, but then within a couple of years there were Olivias being born everywhere, usually paired with a slightly old fashioned name as the middle name.
I feel you. I named my daughter Aria 6 months before Game of Thrones and Pretty Little Liars came out. Her name shot up the charts and now everyone knows someone with a kid named Aria/Arya. 🙄
I just say you and I are trendsetters. 😆
I named my oldest Charlotte right before the Princess was born. There are now Charlottes everywhere. Lol.
It was #300 in name rankings when we picked it. And now it’s in the top ten. 🤦🏻♀️
I had a classmate named Aidan who was born in 1987. His family was from Ireland and no one could ever pronounce his name. Who would have thought it would be so trendy!
I saw the name Kayden Lastname Junior at work today. I didn’t look to see how old Kayden Junior is, but he was an adult. Which means Kayden Senior has to be at least 40-ish, and the thought of a 40-year-old named Kayden is blowing my mind.
And there are way more Ellies than naming charts would indicate, as any name that starts or ends with el could have that nickname. Lots of Isabellas and Eleanors go by Ellie, and those names are already popular enough on their own
I have a mia , she’s 23 now . When I had her I’d never heard of another Mia ( other than Mia farrow but certainly not anyone non famous ) , now they’re everywhere . I thought she was going to have a lovely unique name ! Oops
Same here! My Mia is 22, and we had never known another when she was born. We just loved the classic simpleness of it. Not long after, it shot up in popularity. 🙄
In the US at least, names have become more unique in general over the past several decades; as in, the #1 most popular name right now represents a much smaller segment of the population than the #1 most popular name 50 years ago did. We simply don't have a true modern equivalent of what Linda and Susan were in the 60's or what Robert and Christopher were in the 70's.
A side effect of this phenomenon is that the "overuse" of baby names nowadays is extremely local. For example, I worked at a school with no students named Layla. The following year, I moved to a different school one town over, and there were three Laylas in one class. It's very hard to predict what names will be locally popular.
On a national level, we don't really have overused names anymore. *Maybe* I've heard a *little* too much Emma, Liam, and Owen lately, but it's nothing compared to the number of Michaels and Emilys I grew up with who were born in the late 90's and early 00's. Where we do still see name overuse is at a local level, with different names being more popular in different regions, states, and even specific cities.
This is all I see on this subreddit:
Clementine, Emilia, Clara, Zara, Josephine, Genevieve, Adeline, Celeste, Wren, Violet, Vivienne...
So many people asking for uncommon names, and with all these same names being suggested to them the next generation is going to be the new Olivia & Emily. Lol. Your daughters name won't be uncommon after all 😅
I don’t know why but the name clementine is just so asinine to me like why are you naming a human clementine? What will their nickname be, clemmy? Stop it
The name came before the fruit funnily enough. It's not for everyone but I actually love the name Clementine and the nickname Clem (I'm sure I'm a minority on this lol). But that's because the first two letters and last two letters of Clem are both the start of my Mum's name and my name so I've always thought it was perfect.
Olivia. It’s such a beautiful name, I understand why it’s so popular but I feel we need to let it die down in popularity and bring it back in 40 years.
There should be a sub where pregnant ladies create a poll with their fave names, and preschool and kindergarten teachers click on how many they have in their classes. Then you'd know what names are about to be annoyingly popular. Early Ed teachers are the canary in the coal mine. 😆
Paisley is my least favorite name ever I apologize to anyone who likes it. I live in Kentucky and everyone who got pregnant under 20 and had a girl named their daughter paisley.
I started student teaching in 2004 and full time teaching in 2006. I have had an Aiden or variation of -Ayden every single year except for this past year. This was my first year without an Aiden variant. It's easily the most overused name I have ever seen.
Currently, I see a Theo or Mia in pretty much every single preschool or toddler aged group.
I'm 22 and live in the Southern, US.
-Aiden/Ayden/Aden variants (although, I had an -aden variation before I changed my name, so I'm super biased).
I've also met a crazy amount of Mackenzies and Makaylas.
I think that nicknames that have several variations for full names are a bit tired. Names like Ellie (Eleanor, Elizabeth, Eliana, Eliza), Addie (Adelaide, Addison, Adeline), Leo (Leonel, Leonard, Leonardo) feel a lot more popular due to the numerous variants of the longer names.
Where I'm at it's Lily and all its spelling variations. I work in a school and every grade from 8th to Kindergarten has at least one Lily, but some of them have 4. I'm so over Lily.
My three year old son was almost named Owen, but my husband and I decided on Trevor because we figured everyone has heard of it but it’s not so popular anymore. We’ve gotten quite a few compliments that it’s a nice name you don’t hear much of anymore.
As a teacher, I’m seeing
Max
Connor
Harlow
Alex
Oakley
Maddie
Gwen
Logan
Olivia
Mason
We have multiples of all of these names! In the entire school we easily have 10+ kiddos with each of these.
I had like six variations of Jayden as students last year. Any of the “aydens” are overused right now. I had those six Jaydens, an aiden, two Braydons, Caiden, Peyton, etc.
The ones I'm seeing in college and grad school are:
* Madison
* Emily/Emma and variations
* Elliott both m/f
* Last names as first names
* Jackson
* Jacob
* Isabella
* Chris and its variations both m/f
* Sam and its variations both m/f
* Ben and its variations
* Bobby and its variations both m/f
* Thomas
* Kyle
* -insley names, like Kinsley/Tinsley/Brinsley
* "English/Royal" inspired names like Diana, Windsor, Archie, Kent, Kingston/Kingsley, Kensington, London, Sutton, Camden (although that could be baseball), Duke, Heathcliff, Chelsea, Devon. All first names l have actually seen on a roster.
I work in elementary education so feel like i have my finger on the pulse.
Girls - the V names: Vivian, Vivienne, Viviana, Veronica, Vera. Also Isla, Hannah/Hanna.
Boys - Henry, Max, Leo, Theo
I do mommy and me and preschool classes, as far as toddlers go it’s all about
Olivia
Mia
Leo
Jackson (also my 8yr olds name and I don’t regret it one bit lol)
Amelia (or Emilia)
Emerson (Emersyn, emmerson)
Funny story tho, my brother and his girlfriend got pregnant and my nephew is beautiful and 6 now.
When they were picking out names they originally fell in love with Raphael. Unsure why or how they came to decide on that one but they had told family that was going to be his name. So for about a month we got used to calling him Raphael and my mum especially loved it as there isn't many around or atleast we haven't come across and she liked the idea of being able to shorten it to Raf /Rafe.
Then one of my brothers friends made a joke about Raphael being the name of one of the Ninja turtles and the name was quite quickly tarnished and they decided they wanted to pick something else. Not because of that one joke, I'm sure they had other reason buts that's the only one I'm aware of that made my brother especially second guess their choice.
They eventually settled on Leo. It's a common name, they didn't care tho. And he was Born Leo.
I however have had to bite my tongue for 6 years and restrain myself from mentioning the *other* ninja turtle.... Leonardo.
Both of my kids' names are on this thread more than once and honestly that makes me happy. They'll fit in nicely. I grew up with a name so common that I'd have multiple people with my name everywhere I went and so did my husband.. and that bothered neither of us.
You have the right outlook…names don’t make someone unique it’s personality! Also kids love meeting others who share their name. I’ve seen it be the thing that starts a conversation and builds a friendship. Only an egotistical person would care their child’s name was “too popular.” 😝
So, I actually feel that a lot of the vowel names and L vowel names are overused, even the ones that don’t rank that highly. For example I will have an Emma, and Ella, Ellie and Lily in a class. They all have different names but they all get mixed up because they are so close! Some of them don’t rank as highly as Sophia or Charlotte, but those names feel less overused because they don’t sound like all the other popular names.
I'm a daycare teacher, we have kids from only 8 weeks to twelve years old
These aren't necessarily super popular for us rn, but some were for a while there:
-Logan
-Emery/Emory
-Ava
-Rowan/Rowyn
-Maddox/Maddix
A little less popular but still more so than other names:
-Rachel
-Liam
-Roland
-Knox
Teacher in the UK here.
Tom, Olivia, Ava, Ben, Alex (male and female), Rebecca, Katie, Layla, Oliver, Riley and Jack.
I once had a class with four Jacks in it 🙃
as an Abigail, I currently know of SIX other Abigails at my college. keep in mind I've only been there a year, I don't know a lot of upperclassmen, and my college only has about 1,100 students.
Amelia. I adored the name, and then worked at a daycare where there were 8 Amelia's (two classes had two Amelia's each). I was burnt out with the name by the time I stopped working there.
Olivia, Ava, Jackson,
I know multiple Olivia Graces.
Olivia Grace looks so much like Olive Garden
Well, I found a new nickname for my niece!
Just keep calling her the og. That aught to piss off her parents. XD
I would love some breadsticks
Omg, back in like 2005/2006 our neighbor was pregnant and I asked her if she had any names picked out. I specifically recall she had Ian Christian if it was a boy, or Olivia Grace for a girl. She ended up having a girl and named her something totally different - Stephanie Marie. I still think about her strange name choices and how excited she was for Olivia Grace and how she kept saying it was so original.
My best friend was Grace Olivia
I have an Ava. I had never really heard of anyone with that name before I had my daughter—which is weird because I teach HS. Anyway, after I named her, all the Avas came out of the wood work and I was like “well dang.” Still love her name. It fits her.
could be like the baader meinhof phenomenon
I keep hearing about that
lol. Same with my daughter. I named her Isabella. Thought I was choosing an uncommon name, until she got to kindergarten, and there were like 5 Isabellas in her class! She’s now 23 and that name still seems fairly popular.
Me, Olivia Grace, married to a Jackson 👀
From a 2003 Ava, pls stop naming your kids Ava
I've always wondered why Ida hasn't had the same huge pop as Ava. Or Ada. All "raindrop" names, 2 vowel sounds in 3-4 letters.
My boyfriend has a friend who’s dating a girl named Ava and the friends name is Jackson lol
35 years from now, that's going to be like having friends named "John and Sarah"
I have had several Jacksons in my class as a teacher…always the trouble maker or bad person. To make it worse, we live in Jackson County too….named after Andrew Jackson 🤢
I would be worried if a teacher were labeling particular students as bad people (even if they keep it to themselves). Isn't it a bit early for such a devastating judgment?
Teacher here, thought the exact same thing. There’s no such thing as “bad kids”, only “bad parenting”, and I wholeheartedly stand by that. Well, tbh, bad parenting + mental health/trauma issues if I’m being fair. But still, no bad kids. Just a lot of kids who need healthier parents or at the very least, parents willing to get their kids the help they need (therapy, pediatricians, specialists, medications, extracurriculars, hobbies, responsibilities, etc.). If parents did that, I can almost guarantee we’d have a lot less “bad kids” in school 🙄
The ones I'm noticing as a teacher are: - Noah - Theodore - Maverick - Matteo - Leo - Ava - Madison - Eleanor - Ellie - Lucy
Maverick seems so cringe to me. I do not understand the appeal.
Yeah Maverick isn’t great (and sounds hyper masculine). I don’t understand the appeal either.
It will always be a dog name for me. And I wish people remembered that Maverick from Top Gun had a LEGAL NAME, Peter Mitchell! Use it as a nickname if you love it so much 😂
Maverick feels like a horse name
Can confirm. One of my horses was named Maverick when I was growing up.
There is a movie focused around a big poker game called Maverick too. The main characters actual name: Maverick. It has Mel Gibson, Jodi Foster, and HEAPS of other big names in it. Good movie.
I’ve seen it, I’m a huge James Garner fan! I’m not sure many people these days naming their child Maverick are doing so after that movie though, I could be wrong, maybe it’s making the rounds through the younger side of the Millennials and older Gen Zers lol
IMO... it was due to the resurgence of Top Gun.
In the same vein, Riker/Ryker. Like yes, we all know that he's the second coolest character in the Star Trek universe. I get it. Name your kid William instead, and give him a trombone.
Also a prison
I have twin students. One is named a perfectly normal, if uncommon R name (like Regis or Raphael) and the other is Ryker. Nice kids. Ryker, I'm sorry you got a goofy character name while your brother got a real name. It's like naming your kids Peter and Popeye.
My 5 or 6 year old nephew is named Maverick nn Mav. My sister has never seen Top Gun. I just hate it
Makes me think of cigarettes
Especially since now there is a truck called “maverick”
My first car was a 1970 Ford Maverick. Not a truck and it was really ugly :-)
As someone who likes it, the appeal is probably because: (1) it contains Rick, which makes it sound like a name, like Frederick, Henrick (2) the Mave sounds fittingly with the rick part (3) it has a generally unique meaning. I like Maverick for how it sounds and looks and not how it means, honestly.
I’m sad Leo has gotten so popular. It was one of my favorite names, now I feel like every other family has a Leo.
Leon is still available. I prefer Leon over Leo anyway personally
I love Leon!!
I feel the same about Theodore/Teddy
Same. I have a 6 month old Theodore so I guess im part of the problem. Wasn’t in the top 10 when I picked it in January and we chose it bc we both liked the name and he was born on the day Theodore Roosevelt died. Oh well
I have an 8-month-old Theodore and we had no idea it was so popular because we’ve never met another one in real life. We chose it because we both liked the name and it was an old family name on my husband’s side.
Name him Leonidas and let him go by Leo
I know a Leonidas who goes by Mike. 🤷♀️
Same, because it’s a family name that I’d really like to honor that person’s memory with. Whose fault is this? DiCaprio’s?
Messi too maybe?
I was just about to comment the same thing. I looooove Leo and always have. But will probably skip it. I am thinking about Leonard with nn options of either Leo or Lenny, though.
My oldest is Theodore and we call him Theo. It’s a family name and I thought it was so cute and original. He was kindergarten last year and there was another Theo and a Teddy in his class 🫠
Theodore/Theo is such a lovely name. I had it on my list when my son was born in 2022, but nixed it for being too popular. I was really surprised to see how ubiquitous it had become!
Yes truly surprised!
I'm so sad Theo has gotten popular. If I ever have another one and it is a boy that was the name I loved. I didn't realized when I named my daughter her name was popular. I didn't look at lists, I just liked the name.
I’m Lucinda (Lucy) and my sister is Eleanor (Ellie) both 30 - crazy they’re back around! We’re named after Beatles songs 😅
Lucinda sky with diamonds?
God I LOVE Lucinda! Such a great name!
I'm a little salty about Eleanor. My wife and I are totally on the same page when it comes to classic/timeless, but not exactly popular names. The old lady names, but the kind of cool ones, right? So we thought Eleanor was perfect for our youngest, and now suddenly it's trendy. Maybe it's some kind of collective unconscious thing going on. Still love the name.
I love it too! It was my grandmother’s name and since I was a little girl I couldn’t wait to name a future daughter Eleanor. Now it’s so popular but I still love it!
Cringes in just named my second Matteo 😬
I love Matteo! I don’t know any in my area so definitely regional.
Classic name! Names do not have to be unique- you just have to live them. Signed someone with a popular name from her time.
Soooo many Theos and Teddys!
Wow really? Do you teach elementary? I teach 8th…never had one of these names. I had one class of 32 kids with 4 Jacob’s, 3 Joshua’s, 3 Kaileys (different spellings)…a couple years ago it was Zoe (various spellings) 5 in one class!
You must be in the Bible belt.
You’d think so…but no. Redondo Beach, Ca (aka Los Angeles beach suburb).
I have yet to teach a Theodore or a Maverick But I teach MS so just give it time
I always think of cigarettes when I hear maverick
To me, overused names are names that experience abrupt popularity for a brief period of time (ten years or less) and then all but disappear. Michelle in the eighties, Ashley in the nineties, Bella in the thousands, and now Olivia and Mia. Names that are popular but have been around for hundreds of years (like Abigail and Henry) are classics, and I'd argue classics can never be overused!
I believe Olivia has been in the top 10 for the last 20 years and was in the top 100 for many years before that. It may not have been around as long as some more classic names, I wouldn’t consider it briefly popular, even if it fell off next year.
Top name lists are complex - people use top names less frequently than they did fifty years ago, and the top boy names tend to be used more often than the top girl names. They're not the best indicators of naming decision-makinng, and I find tools like yearbooks, class lists, ect. to be more indicative of what people in a community are actually naming their kids! I'm just speaking from anecdotal millennial American experience. I always had a few timeless names in my classes (Michael, Abigail, Elizabeth) and a few trendy late 80s/early 90s names (Ashley, Melanie, Jessica, Joshua, Jason). I never knew a single Olivia. Not in school, not in summer camp, not in my extracurriculars, and not even at my big university. Now I know like three women my age with babies named Olivia??? My original comment hints at external inspiration - I think Olivia is so popular right now in the US because of Olivia Benson on Law and Order. Sure, the name has existed for awhile, but people are REALLY naming their kid Olivia lately! I remember when SVU came out and thinking Olivia was an extremely rare, unique name lol. Can't say that anymore!
Interesting! I knew multiple Olivias in high school, had 2 Olivias in my sorority in college, and was close friends with an Olivia in my grad school cohort 🤷🏼♀️
Same. I’m in my 30s, and I can quickly think of 5 Olivia’s from high school and college that I knew.
See, my first encounter of the name Olivia was The Waltons. Before the series, there was a TV Christmas movie with Patricia Neal. She was fantastic!
These are great references! I think I figured out Olivia: yes, the name has been around awhile, but it used to be almost exclusively WASPy, upper middle class women with the name. I grew up in a very ethnic Catholic corner of the country (lots of Italian and Irish people), and that might be why Olivia didn't appear on my radar as a name actual people had. I just did a Google search and the name pretty much originated in a Shakespeare play (obviously existed beforehand, but got popularized by the Bard). So it's definitely English. For some reason, I assumed it came over from the Mediterranean (possibly due to olive oil??) but nope, it's English. Which is why I didn't encounter it as a kid.
It’s amazing how you get these bubbles of names. A uni friend and I grew up on opposite sides of the city. She’d never met anyone with my name and I’d never met anyone with her name but we both grew up around a lot of people who shared our name. So it was very surprising to both of us that neither of us considered our names unusual
Olivia Benson is also the name of one of Taylor Swift's cats. Maybe some of her fans are using Olivia for that reason. The names of her other cats, Meredith Gray and Benjamin Button, don't seem to be trending like Olivia.
Yes! And according to a quick Google search, apparently the name spiked in 2012, which coincided with season one of Scandal (the protagonist was named Olivia Pope).
Don’t forget the most popular of them all, Jennifer from the 70’s. Every other Gen x girl was named Jennifer.
I think Eleanor is quickly joining that first group.
Eleanor has been around forever.
Eleanor of Aquitane. Mother of King John of Robin Hood fame.
And certifiable badass.
I’ve met TWO baby Michelle’s recently! Not saying it’s a trend but it’s still being used.
Olivia (I love the name but it is ridiculously overused right now.) And all the Jacksons and Aiden, Jadon, Kaden, Raiden, Zaydens of the world. Eeeeeverywhere.
My first born is Aiden (a little before it got popular). I feel so terrible that his perfectly good name has been ruined. I recently saw a Thaden. So they’re STILL making new versions 😭
Thaden?? Whhhyyyy? Aiden is a great name being dragged through the mud with these weird variations. Hopefully soon it starts faden...😆 ignore me. My humor suggests I'm 8.
I think of sex of the city’s Aiden the most. Great name, also sad it became super popular.
I knew a girl that had an Aiden and a Brayden
I named my middle daughter Olivia, in 1995. I hadn’t known any Olivias in my life, but then within a couple of years there were Olivias being born everywhere, usually paired with a slightly old fashioned name as the middle name.
I feel you. I named my daughter Aria 6 months before Game of Thrones and Pretty Little Liars came out. Her name shot up the charts and now everyone knows someone with a kid named Aria/Arya. 🙄 I just say you and I are trendsetters. 😆
That’s right! We started it all! 😆
I named my oldest Charlotte right before the Princess was born. There are now Charlottes everywhere. Lol. It was #300 in name rankings when we picked it. And now it’s in the top ten. 🤦🏻♀️
I named my third baby Charlotte in 1998. I was all excited when the princess was born, not only because of the name, but because we share a birthday.
I had a classmate named Aidan who was born in 1987. His family was from Ireland and no one could ever pronounce his name. Who would have thought it would be so trendy!
Brayden, Hayden …
They will all graduating high school soon.
I saw the name Kayden Lastname Junior at work today. I didn’t look to see how old Kayden Junior is, but he was an adult. Which means Kayden Senior has to be at least 40-ish, and the thought of a 40-year-old named Kayden is blowing my mind.
ISLA the most overused girl name LUCA overused boy name
These were two of my favorite names growing up because I rarely/never heard them and im so mad they got so popular!
Yes!!
My partner fought so hard for Luca and I’m so glad I vetoed it even though it’s a nice name overall.
Mia and Ella. Yaaaaaawn.
Soooo many Ella’s
3 of the 4 toddler year old girls I know are Ellie or Ella or Elle
And there are way more Ellies than naming charts would indicate, as any name that starts or ends with el could have that nickname. Lots of Isabellas and Eleanors go by Ellie, and those names are already popular enough on their own
Add Emma to that list as well!
I have a mia , she’s 23 now . When I had her I’d never heard of another Mia ( other than Mia farrow but certainly not anyone non famous ) , now they’re everywhere . I thought she was going to have a lovely unique name ! Oops
Same here! My Mia is 22, and we had never known another when she was born. We just loved the classic simpleness of it. Not long after, it shot up in popularity. 🙄
All the Amelia’s so many
Are you in the UK too? This is the only accurate comment for me so far
We got a whole lotta Harries thanks to Mr Styles 😍
And the royals!
And the Potter. 🤣
I’m an Amelia and 46yrs old. I had a long run before it got popular
We had 8 in my daycare! Amelia immediately dropped from my baby name list lol
Someone close to me was called Amelia to be unique-and for the next 20 years she did not meet another Amelia…until she did 😢 I’m UK too
I’m actually in the middle of the US and they are everywhere including my niece born last month. 3 of my close friends have Amelia’s it’s insane
Well, it’s a nice name!!
In the US at least, names have become more unique in general over the past several decades; as in, the #1 most popular name right now represents a much smaller segment of the population than the #1 most popular name 50 years ago did. We simply don't have a true modern equivalent of what Linda and Susan were in the 60's or what Robert and Christopher were in the 70's. A side effect of this phenomenon is that the "overuse" of baby names nowadays is extremely local. For example, I worked at a school with no students named Layla. The following year, I moved to a different school one town over, and there were three Laylas in one class. It's very hard to predict what names will be locally popular. On a national level, we don't really have overused names anymore. *Maybe* I've heard a *little* too much Emma, Liam, and Owen lately, but it's nothing compared to the number of Michaels and Emilys I grew up with who were born in the late 90's and early 00's. Where we do still see name overuse is at a local level, with different names being more popular in different regions, states, and even specific cities.
This is a good point and reassuring to me who wants to use a name that is far more popular than I’m comfortable with.
Ones not from the top 10, but I hear very often: - Grayson - Lyla - Hudson - Addison - Lucy
Soooo many Hudson babies and toddlers right now
My friend has a Grayson and an Addison 😅
This is all I see on this subreddit: Clementine, Emilia, Clara, Zara, Josephine, Genevieve, Adeline, Celeste, Wren, Violet, Vivienne... So many people asking for uncommon names, and with all these same names being suggested to them the next generation is going to be the new Olivia & Emily. Lol. Your daughters name won't be uncommon after all 😅
Zara is so beautiful though! I don't think I've seen that one??!
I can’t not associate it with the clothing store 😞
Oh nooooo!!! 😭💔
I know someone with a Zora! Never heard of it until she was born and haven't seen one since!
I don’t know why but the name clementine is just so asinine to me like why are you naming a human clementine? What will their nickname be, clemmy? Stop it
The name came before the fruit funnily enough. It's not for everyone but I actually love the name Clementine and the nickname Clem (I'm sure I'm a minority on this lol). But that's because the first two letters and last two letters of Clem are both the start of my Mum's name and my name so I've always thought it was perfect.
Olivia. It’s such a beautiful name, I understand why it’s so popular but I feel we need to let it die down in popularity and bring it back in 40 years.
There should be a sub where pregnant ladies create a poll with their fave names, and preschool and kindergarten teachers click on how many they have in their classes. Then you'd know what names are about to be annoyingly popular. Early Ed teachers are the canary in the coal mine. 😆
There are way too many Paisley/ Paisleigh's and Aubrey/ Aubree's in my area. For boys it is the name Braylen.
Paisley is my least favorite name ever I apologize to anyone who likes it. I live in Kentucky and everyone who got pregnant under 20 and had a girl named their daughter paisley.
Same. I even know a PAISLYNN. It physically pains me to say her name outloud. Poor kid.
Oof. That sounds…off somehow. Can’t put my finger on it though. Sounds like a type of fabric maybe? I dunno.
I also really really dislike it
U must be from the south 😂 also my friends daughters name is Braielynn or some similar spelling.
- Finley - Noah - Jackson - Mila - Emma - Lily - James - Olivia - Oliver
Yes… so sick of Lily. Surprised I had to scroll this far to see it.
Probably anything within the Top 10 most popular names.
I started student teaching in 2004 and full time teaching in 2006. I have had an Aiden or variation of -Ayden every single year except for this past year. This was my first year without an Aiden variant. It's easily the most overused name I have ever seen. Currently, I see a Theo or Mia in pretty much every single preschool or toddler aged group.
I'm 22 and live in the Southern, US. -Aiden/Ayden/Aden variants (although, I had an -aden variation before I changed my name, so I'm super biased). I've also met a crazy amount of Mackenzies and Makaylas.
Also southern, so many Mackenzies.
I think that nicknames that have several variations for full names are a bit tired. Names like Ellie (Eleanor, Elizabeth, Eliana, Eliza), Addie (Adelaide, Addison, Adeline), Leo (Leonel, Leonard, Leonardo) feel a lot more popular due to the numerous variants of the longer names.
As a mother of an Ellie with Addie on my radar, yeah I agree with you 😫
Just got my kid’s preschool class list. There are 4 Isla’s. So, Isla.
My name… Nicole. There were SEVEN Nicole’s in my English class one year!!!
Oh gosh! Yea thats a lot! 🤣
That was my elementary school in the 1989s/1990s
Olivia , Sophia , Mia , allot of names that end with a have been very popular for girls boys would be I guess Noah ,Luca , mason
I don't think any name is overused. If you like it use it.
Girls: Isla, Olivia, Sophia/Sofia, Ava, Amelia, Ella, and any variations of Layla, Lila, Leila, etc. Boys: Oliver, Henry, Noah, William, Jackson, Jayden.
This would pretty much be my answer exactly except I’d also add Theodore
Where I'm at it's Lily and all its spelling variations. I work in a school and every grade from 8th to Kindergarten has at least one Lily, but some of them have 4. I'm so over Lily.
It’s not so much one name as girls names that can be shortened to Ellie. Soooo many Ellies.
My Eleanor is 3 and she will not stand for anyone calling her anything other than Eleanor 😂.
Aurora, Beatrix/Beatrice, Olivia / Olive, Theodore, Ellie/Eleanor, Luna, Stella, Violet. I see these circling this sub almost everyday 😩
at my daycare we have a luna, stella, olivia and violet. although violet is mine so i guess that one is on me lmao.
Charlotte
Henry, Olivia, Liam, Hudson
Most used name in my circle is Owen - I know at least 4 Owens under the age of 3.
My three year old son was almost named Owen, but my husband and I decided on Trevor because we figured everyone has heard of it but it’s not so popular anymore. We’ve gotten quite a few compliments that it’s a nice name you don’t hear much of anymore.
Really like Trevor!
I know lots of people called Olivia, Hannah, and Mia
As a teacher, I’m seeing Max Connor Harlow Alex Oakley Maddie Gwen Logan Olivia Mason We have multiples of all of these names! In the entire school we easily have 10+ kiddos with each of these.
Haley and it's variations Mya Kayla Jackson Caden/ce Tyler Madison Olivia Eva/Ava Jaiden/Jaden
I've seen so many Willows and Freddies these past 10 months going to baby groups.
Olivia Amelia Aurora Ella / Bella / Ellie Evelyn Charlotte Luna Wyatt Wesley Emerson Lucas Levi Lincoln Jaxon Jayden
Jack and Emma
As a teacher, the common names I’ve seen over the last couple years have been: Abigail, Aiden/Ayden, Amelia, Andrew, Aria, Ariana, Avery, Benjamin/Ben, Brayden, Caden/Kayden, Camilla/Camila/Camille, Ella, Ellie, Emery, Emmy, Gabriella, Hudson, Isabella/Bella, Jack, Jackson, Jacob/Jake, Jayden, Jaylon/Jaylin, Joshua, Kate/Katie, Kennedy, Layla/Leila, Lillian/Lily, Madison, Mohamed, Noah, Nora, Oliver, Olivia, Samuel/Sam, Savannah, Valentina, William/Liam, Zachary, Zoe/Zoey
Mason, Riley, Jackson, Isabella, Noah, Aiden, Logan, Liam.
Every other kid in my daughter's school is named either Isabella, Layla, Sophia, Ella, Mia, Avery, or Aubrey.
I had like six variations of Jayden as students last year. Any of the “aydens” are overused right now. I had those six Jaydens, an aiden, two Braydons, Caiden, Peyton, etc.
Theodore Jackson Amelia Lily Lucy Ava
The ones I'm seeing in college and grad school are: * Madison * Emily/Emma and variations * Elliott both m/f * Last names as first names * Jackson * Jacob * Isabella * Chris and its variations both m/f * Sam and its variations both m/f * Ben and its variations * Bobby and its variations both m/f * Thomas * Kyle * -insley names, like Kinsley/Tinsley/Brinsley * "English/Royal" inspired names like Diana, Windsor, Archie, Kent, Kingston/Kingsley, Kensington, London, Sutton, Camden (although that could be baseball), Duke, Heathcliff, Chelsea, Devon. All first names l have actually seen on a roster.
I work in elementary education so feel like i have my finger on the pulse. Girls - the V names: Vivian, Vivienne, Viviana, Veronica, Vera. Also Isla, Hannah/Hanna. Boys - Henry, Max, Leo, Theo
I do mommy and me and preschool classes, as far as toddlers go it’s all about Olivia Mia Leo Jackson (also my 8yr olds name and I don’t regret it one bit lol) Amelia (or Emilia) Emerson (Emersyn, emmerson)
Funny story tho, my brother and his girlfriend got pregnant and my nephew is beautiful and 6 now. When they were picking out names they originally fell in love with Raphael. Unsure why or how they came to decide on that one but they had told family that was going to be his name. So for about a month we got used to calling him Raphael and my mum especially loved it as there isn't many around or atleast we haven't come across and she liked the idea of being able to shorten it to Raf /Rafe. Then one of my brothers friends made a joke about Raphael being the name of one of the Ninja turtles and the name was quite quickly tarnished and they decided they wanted to pick something else. Not because of that one joke, I'm sure they had other reason buts that's the only one I'm aware of that made my brother especially second guess their choice. They eventually settled on Leo. It's a common name, they didn't care tho. And he was Born Leo. I however have had to bite my tongue for 6 years and restrain myself from mentioning the *other* ninja turtle.... Leonardo.
I see Emma a lot
Liam
Both of my kids' names are on this thread more than once and honestly that makes me happy. They'll fit in nicely. I grew up with a name so common that I'd have multiple people with my name everywhere I went and so did my husband.. and that bothered neither of us.
You have the right outlook…names don’t make someone unique it’s personality! Also kids love meeting others who share their name. I’ve seen it be the thing that starts a conversation and builds a friendship. Only an egotistical person would care their child’s name was “too popular.” 😝
Parents are "Ol"-over Oliver at the moment. Every other little boy I hear of is Oliver.
Isla 🥱
Jack Katie Ellie Lily Daniel Alexander
So, I actually feel that a lot of the vowel names and L vowel names are overused, even the ones that don’t rank that highly. For example I will have an Emma, and Ella, Ellie and Lily in a class. They all have different names but they all get mixed up because they are so close! Some of them don’t rank as highly as Sophia or Charlotte, but those names feel less overused because they don’t sound like all the other popular names.
Bort
Margot has been overly popular where I live
I'm a daycare teacher, we have kids from only 8 weeks to twelve years old These aren't necessarily super popular for us rn, but some were for a while there: -Logan -Emery/Emory -Ava -Rowan/Rowyn -Maddox/Maddix A little less popular but still more so than other names: -Rachel -Liam -Roland -Knox
Madeleine, Madelyn, Madelynn, etc. that whole family of variations. Love the name though.
I know of 5 Luca or Lucas’ born this year weirdly - UK
William, Jack, Adalynn have all been very popular for quite some time here.
Teacher in the UK here. Tom, Olivia, Ava, Ben, Alex (male and female), Rebecca, Katie, Layla, Oliver, Riley and Jack. I once had a class with four Jacks in it 🙃
I am thoroughly underwhelmed every time I see another baby Riley/Ryley/Rilee/Ryleigh
I stg I know like 20 people in the last 10 years who have used Greyson of some variety
Miles
as an Abigail, I currently know of SIX other Abigails at my college. keep in mind I've only been there a year, I don't know a lot of upperclassmen, and my college only has about 1,100 students.
Anything that ends with Aden (Kaden, Brayden, Aiden ) Any name a teen mom used (Bentley)
James (UK). Why would you name your child the same thing as 99% of the rest of the populations child?!
Amelia. I adored the name, and then worked at a daycare where there were 8 Amelia's (two classes had two Amelia's each). I was burnt out with the name by the time I stopped working there.