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Popular vs. Unique Baby Names

Why Do Some Parents Avoid Popular Baby Names?

By Shannon McKelden

After giving them life, the most important gift we may give our children is their name. Many parents want unique and individual names for their children, so they choose to avoid the most popular of baby names. Every year, the Social Security Administration reports statistics on the most used names, making it pretty easy to eliminate names likely to belong to a half dozen of your child's future peers.

But there are definitely pros and cons to choosing distinctively different names.

Popular names are popular for a reason – lots of people are using them. Obviously there's some motivation to pick a more common name for children.

"Selecting a popular name provides parents with a measure of comfort," says Paul Krantz, senior editor of TopBabyNames.com. "They know, right from the start, that their child's name will be familiar to family, friends and their youngster's classmates. There's also less likelihood that the child will be embarrassed by his or her name, or that it will be mispronounced or misspelled."

There are some disadvantages to popular names, though. "Many parents believe that a common name makes it harder for their child to stand out in a crowd, though the science is still out on whether your name affects your success in life," Krantz says. "A potentially more serious problem is mistaken identity. A child with a common first name – especially combined with a common last name – increases the odds of confusion and mix ups. Ask any 'David Johnson' how often he gets mail meant for someone else, or finds credit agencies calling to ask about his 'late' car payments."

Nicole Amsler knows exactly what that feels like. "I am named Nicole, which was extremely popular in the early '70s because it was on a soap opera," says the Springsboro, Ohio, resident. "I went to a very small school and there were at least six Nicole/Nicki/Nikki/Nicky's in my age group. To boot, my maiden name was Smith so I had two ordinary names." This definitely motivated Amsler to choose less common names for her children.

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