When your names catch on?

[babynamer2012]

This always happens to me! I know no one here will agree with me, but I love Elliot for a girl. I saw it on the tv show Quints by Surprise and loved it (the older sister is Eliot). I had never met anyone named Elliot. Now, I have noticed that not only has it became extremely popular for boys, it is on the rise for girls too. I will probably never use it now, because I don't want any of my children to have trendy or popular names. I like to keep things at least out of the top 100, preferably out of the top 500 lol. This also happened to me with Noah. I loved Noah and now it's in the top 5 and also my nephews name. Maybe the movie The Notebook had something to do with this.

[strawberry shortcake]

I remember being 8 years old at Summer Camp, and meeting a little boy called Aidan. His parents were Irish and I remember think what a beautiful, handsome name it was.

I'm gutted it has caught on like it has, its one of the most hated names out there because of its misspellings/popularity, but I think its beautiful

[emmybee]

There are two different groups of names on my list, the first are those that I won't abandon even if they become wildly popular. Then there are those that I like because they're beautiful and rare, these I would be much more likely to toss if they made it into the top 50.

I love, love, loved Emma when I was young, before everyone and their sister was named Emma. It lost a bit of its appeal for me now.

I also love Luna, and I doubt I'm going to abandon it just because it's in at 270 or so.

[redwoodfey]

Yup. Seth and Ethan were my top boy names for years, and then my sister used both for her two sons. Kestrel has always been a name I've kept as a secret favorite for a girl. In the past four years I have met two little Kestrels!! Two of them! I couldn't believe it. Ottilie and Hattie are family names I've always thought of using and I keep hearing people talking about both names. People used to crinkle their noses when I said how pretty the name Ottilie was. Rawr! I don't know how this happens.

[catloverd]

A question--did you love Arden for a boy or a girl? Four or five years ago, before my youngest sister was born, I was playing around with some combos for fun and thought Arden would be pretty for a little girl. Since then I've met an elderly gentleman, probably in his 70's, named Arden. It put a bit of a crimp in my love for Arden as a girl's name. I still like it, but I haven't gotten around to researching its usage yet. Was it once more popular for boys?
To answer your question, no, not really. It's worked more the other way around--since I've been on Nameberry I've become more open to names I used to dislike.

It was originally a boy's name, but it's one of those that has "gone to the girls"

[caramichelle]

My all time favorite girls name is Brynn. Last year it got to 190, according to the name berry page.

I'm saddened, but I'll probably still use it, since I've never met a Brynn at all. And who knows where it will be by the time I have kids in 5-10 years?

My sister also liked Daphne, but it seems to be a favorite on here. I don't know how she feels about it now. . .

[natural]

When I was younger, I was a huge Sailor Moon lover. Lol, so I secretly loved their English names: Luna, Serena, and Artemis.

Still love them now, but not enough to give to my child, although I have thought about using Céline as a variant.

[rylane46]

My daughter is named Delaney. I never intended for it to be her first name but when she was born...she just looked like she needed to be named something "different" I never in my life met a Delaney but I was reading an article about Martina McBride...her oldest daughter is named Delaney..I've loved it ever since. In 2005 (when she was born) it was ranked 190....yet in a 15mile radius where we live, we have come across 4 other Delaneys. And I've had several people say...oh so and so named their daughter that.

[sodallas3]

A question--did you love Arden for a boy or a girl? Four or five years ago, before my youngest sister was born, I was playing around with some combos for fun and thought Arden would be pretty for a little girl. Since then I've met an elderly gentleman, probably in his 70's, named Arden. It put a bit of a crimp in my love for Arden as a girl's name. I still like it, but I haven't gotten around to researching its usage yet. Was it once more popular for boys?
To answer your question, no, not really. It's worked more the other way around--since I've been on Nameberry I've become more open to names I used to dislike.

I used to love it for a little girl and obviously because I was younger Arden Rose was the first thing to come into my head. It has lost it's uniqueness to me now that its well-known.

[kmw1975]

I HATE it when my names catch on! DS1's name is Ethan. When I named him, it was not a top 10 name, but within 5 years it was. It bothered me to hear it everywhere - AFTER I named my son. I'll admit, it was not completely unheard of when I named him, but I had no way of knowing that before long, it would beome the #1 boy name!

So, with my 2nd child, I purposely set out to find a LESS common name. I found 2 names I loved that were NOT in the top 100 - Preston for a boy and Ava for a girl. Thankfully, my 2nd child was also a boy! Ava was almost unheard of at the time (1999) and was actually LESS common than Preston. I liked it because it was different! I would have been REALLY upset if that one had blown up in my face!

After the rise of Ava, I then picked out a new name for my future baby girl - Elle. That was the name I had set in my mind for years and I didn't know or even know of ANYONE named Elle. It has only recently started to rise. Anyway, I stupidly told it to a friend - who just happens to have the same last name as me. Literally 9 months later, she had a baby girl and named her Elle! And now there's suddenly Ellas, Ellies, and Elles everywhere! On another board, I saw a 27 year old Michelle who wants to start calling herself Elle! Yep. I guess it's really that trendy now.

When my friend named her baby Elle, I tried to find another name for my girl. I came up with the name Lila, which I thought was pretty and different, and then THAT started to rise in popularity! Now Lila is off my list. I'm over it. It doesn't flow well with Ethan and Preston, anyway.

Now, I'm thinking of naming my baby Estelle and just calling her Elle, anyway (or Stella). At least Estelle isn't even in the top 1000! Although, there was a blog here on Nameberry not too long ago that predicted it to be a hot name for 2012. Whatever. I wish that I could find a girl name like Preston. A nice name that isn't unheard of, but stays out of the spotlight.