Flaws of choosing a popular name?

Hi everyone,

We are having a girl and we are very confused on what to call her. We both absolutely love the name Grace, however it seems to be very popular and is constantly in the top 10 names on every website I go on & was also very popular last year.

A few people have said to choose a name that is not as popular to avoid confusions at say school and just our little one comparing herself to the possible overload of other Grace's around.

We thought maybe we could just use Grace for the middle name but I cant find anything I like as much and keep going back to Grace for the first name.

Does anyone have any experience of multiple kids being called the same name in schools etc? How do the kids (and teachers lol) cope?

My eldest daughters name is Courtney. She did have another girl in her class called Courtney but it didn't really affect her. But Courtney wasn't as popular when I named her that so the other little girl is the only one we have come across.

I guess I just have it in my head that there is going to be like 10 Grace's in one class haha.

Oh and to add to this my mum thinks Grace is not an appropriate name for an adult.....cant win can I hahah

Your advice/help would be greatly appreciated smile

I am a casual teacher so may be able to shead some light on how the teachers cope. What I have noticed in classes is that kids with the same name often get called their whole name (first and last) or the first letter of their last name is always tacked onto the end of their name. For example, I was in a class with two little boys named Liam. The rest of the class always refered to them as Liam Sha___ and Liam Mat___.
But then I was in another class with three little Matthews. They were known as Matty, Matt H and Matt K.
As kids got older the last name was used more and more often, usually with a 'o' or a 'y' on the end.This, however, is more common with boys.

When it came to naming DD, DH and I also loved the name Grace, as well as Isabel Charlotte, but we were also worried about the names being everywhere. Eventually we found a name we liked just as much that was not on the 'most popular' list.
HOWEVER, if you and DH really love the name, then use it! Honestly, teachers and other kids can just deal with it. Besides, your little girl might be the only Grace in her grade, so why worry.

You run that risk with any name; my name isn't common at all and there were 2 of us in the same Home class all through high school. Was never a problem. We knew where we came on the role (there was 1 person between us) so our teachers very rarely made an effort to differentiate our names. We moved in different friend groups so it wasn't a problem there either.

About the only issues was that, because I was a good student (read quiet and polite to the teachers) and less popula so it was usually the "other" one that was being addressed; it took a while once I was out of school for me to start responding automatically to my name smile

If you like the name, choose it; don't try to work someone elses opinion into it.

My advice is if you love the name USE it!!

We didn't use 'Jack' for our second son as it was the most popular boys name the years both my boys were born, and we were worried about him being at school with 50 other Jack's ...

Well my eldest son is in his 4th year of school and has never had a Jack in his class. And my second son is in his 3rd year of school and only had one Jack last year.

On the other hand my eldest son has had a child with the same name as him in his class 2 out of his 4 years at school so far despite him not having a top 10 popular name around the time he was born.

You just never know!

I would use it! I haven't met a single Grace in any of DS's groups. I think it is way more popular as a middle name.
We've got a Lucas which is apparently very popular but still haven't met another smile

I'd say if that's the name you like then use it... Both my DD's names were in the top 20 and i didn't care... As for kindy there is another girl with the same name as my DD1 just different spelling... When the teachers need them they use first and last name... Although the teacher did come up to me last week and suggested they may start using first and middle names instead...

i say do it! if you love the name who cares if there's another kids out there called the same name. your child isn't likely to compare themselves to someone on the basis of having a shared name. also as a former teacher, i always had double ups with kids names - georgia, matthew, gemma, etc, it was never a problem for us - often they have a preference - e.g. matt or matty, etc. we called our daughter what we thought was a very unique name - we have since heard of several other girls called that name but it doesn't really matter. we love it, its special to us, & it suits her. my name isn't that common & i loved it when i stumbled across other kids with the same name.

Hi everyone,

We are having a girl and we are very confused on what to call her. We both absolutely love the name Grace, however it seems to be very popular and is constantly in the top 10 names on every website I go on & was also very popular last year.

A few people have said to choose a name that is not as popular to avoid confusions at say school and just our little one comparing herself to the possible overload of other Grace's around.

We thought maybe we could just use Grace for the middle name but I cant find anything I like as much and keep going back to Grace for the first name.

Does anyone have any experience of multiple kids being called the same name in schools etc? How do the kids (and teachers lol) cope?

My eldest daughters name is Courtney. She did have another girl in her class called Courtney but it didn't really affect her. But Courtney wasn't as popular when I named her that so the other little girl is the only one we have come across.

I guess I just have it in my head that there is going to be like 10 Grace's in one class haha.

Oh and to add to this my mum thinks Grace is not an appropriate name for an adult.....cant win can I hahah

Your advice/help would be greatly appreciated smile

I love the name Grace and cannot understand at all how its not appropriate for an adult, its a timeless classic name.

I had our daughters name in mind for many years before she came along and the year she was born her name ended up being the most popular girls name, its still in the top 10.

DD2 came along and we also had our hearts set on a name, now her name is in the top 10 as well.

My theory is everyone copied us grin

Anyway despite the fact that they are in the top 10 popular names its only after six years that we've come across another girl with DD1s name and no one in our circle of friends or playgroup or school has DD2s name - so dont let it put you off. It doesnt mean there will be a class full of them.

I have a Grace, and was told by so many people that they were surprised I called her that as it's a very popular name and there'd probably be 10 in her class roll eyes
But, after 4yrs I have only just encountered another Grace, and this Grace is only 4mths old! I haven't come across any in any of my sons kinder classes or school classes, or any in her kinder classes.
It apparently is popular, but I'm yet to see that - as a pp said, it's quite common as a middle name.

Some names I have come across a lot are; Tyler, Luke, Mia, Tara, Maddy/Maddie.

I say go with it, names are hard to choose, so if you've found one you like, then why not?

I have a Grace, and was told by so many people that they were surprised I called her that as it's a very popular name and there'd probably be 10 in her class roll eyes
But, after 4yrs I have only just encountered another Grace, and this Grace is only 4mths old! I haven't come across any in any of my sons kinder classes or school classes, or any in her kinder classes.
It apparently is popular, but I'm yet to see that - as a pp said, it's quite common as a middle name.

Some names I have come across a lot are; Tyler, Luke, Mia, Tara, Maddy/Maddie.

I say go with it, names are hard to choose, so if you've found one you like, then why not?

'can i begin with sorry MT82 i didn't mean to hit reply to your post! i must be tired -just popped back into edit to add this!'

I think it's important that you go with a name you love muchly or you will kick yourself later and wish you had of used it.

my main thing is i think about the adults in my life with really popular names that would have been very trendy cute favourites back 20-30 years ago and obviously their parents chose them bcos they loved the name.. BUT when i hear these names i just think Boring boring boring! bcos they're so used and overheard in my generation then i hear a name that isn't one of those top names from back then and i think wow, it must be lovely having that name.. I dont want my children to be a 'Mel', a 'Bec' or a 'Sharon' -please dont take ofence anyone with these names!! i think Rebecca is a very beautiful, sophisticated name i'm just using them to make a point wink

Grace how ever... i'm not sure that it is as popular as what it seems. I mean yes it's a name you hear and know about but i do work in early childhood and have only ever met one! -i hope that helps u somehow smile

good luck deciding, it's a lovely name.

In one of my high school classes there were 7 Rachel's!!! They all pretty much went by their last name, Sparky, Cooky, Rach G, etc...

Can be tough, some towns will be overloaded with Grace, and others won't have any.

we just chose a different name, so we werent in the top 100 names.