Giving your child a really common name.

[Le Chat]

In son no1's class, there are 6 (you read that right!) boys called Matthew. He is 15. In son no 2's class there are 3 boys called Cameron and 3 girls called Emily. (He is 7.)
I was wondering why parents call their children names that are really common and therefore no longer individual?

[China Doll]

Maybe because they just like the name.

[ummmm]

After other family members.

My daughter is named after her Nan. My daughter named my older son, and my youngest son is named after his Uncle.

[boxtops]

Names go in waves - when I was at school, there were 5 Susans in my class. I would rather have been called a name which was popular and ordinary, than a weirdo trendy name that I'd have to live with for the rest of my life.

[paddywak]

I don't know, but it's better then some of the names the poor little buggers get called.

[Eve]

I guess they are the most popular names for a reason.

I was going to be Emma but it was one of the most common baby girl names around at the time so I got a more unusual name. Funny thing was there were two of us in my year at school (and 9 sets of twins!) with the same forename and middlename despite it not being very common at all.

[sara3]

I remember being wheeled back to the ward, babe in arms, after giving birth. a nurse asked me if I'd chosen a name and I said "Yasmin". she said "oh lovely, we've had loads of those recently!"

I didn't call her Yasmin :o/

[China Doll]

Ummmm has a point, my middle name is Jane, that's very common but it's also my great grandmother and my aunts name.

When I was at school there were loads of 'Tracey's'... at that time my first name wasn't very common (is common as muck now) and I had the mick taken out of me and some terrible misprounaciations of what is a very simple name, I would have loved to be called Tracey then.

[sherrardk]

We chose names for our children that would suit them as children and still be sound names as adults (we hope), but they also have quite grown-up middle names which they could use if they prefer. We also have a surname that people find difficult to spell so we went for names that are easy to spell.

[Le Chat]

China and ummmm - Yes, but would the fact that there were loads of other kids with the same name be of no consequence?
Boxtops and Paddywak - It doesn't have to be so radical. There are other names which are very nice but not used everywhere.

[sara3]

Jenna, your "other" name was on my baby shortlist, which would have been bizarre considering the surname issue!

[bednobs]

THERE WERE 5 BEDNOBS IN MY CLASS

[vallaw]

Probably because at the time they give the child the name they have no way of knowing just how popular it is.

[boxtops]

Having the same name doesn't matter, the family names are different - and the Susans ended up as Sue, Susie, Soo... and so on.

[jackthehat]

When Mum was expecting me, they were living in a cul-de-sac where there were 3 other expectant mothers. Mum and Dad were considering naming me Alison but 2 of the other mothers had plumped for that. The third mother had chosen an unusual name should she have a daughter, which Mum quite liked. The other Mum had a son, so I got the redundant name...........complete with awkward grave accent.

I believe it's something we have in common, Jenna (although I don't know if you have the accent) ;o)

[Le Chat]

Part of the reason I'm asking, is that 2 of the Matthews' told my son that they thought he had the 'coolest name ever' and that their names didn't make them feel special..plus at school the Matthews' are always referred to by their full names to differentiate.
My son is called Luca. However, if we lived in Italy, I would never have given him this name as it is really common there!!

[jackthehat]

We had a surfeit of Karens in my year.
Karen York was best friends with Karen Wills. Karen York married a chap named Wills.......and Karen Wills married a chap called York...:o)

[redcrx]

in my sons class there is only 1 Matthew and only one other in the school. There are 2 charlies though (1 male and 1 female)

all names are individual to the parents when they name their child, as a general rule, unless they name a child after a family member.

[boxtops]

Common in this context means it's used a lot, not that it's lower class!