To pg moms, from a teacher

*This post is not meant to insult, just inform. Hi ladies! I used to teach pre-school, now I teach 2nd grade. Just a friendly word: if you want your child to belnd in completely with the crowd, go with these names: Girls: Ava, Grace, Kailey, Kylie, Kaity, (any Kate form), Emma, Emily, Julia, Madelyn, Alexis, Riley, Olivia and drumroll..the most popular...SOPHIA or Sophie. Boys: Aiden, Jack, Connor, Evan, Ethan, Matthew, Joshua, Luke, (or Lucas) Collin, and the most popular...JACOB. (Clearly, I teach more girls). I know a lot of people look at Name Lists, but this is coming from the real world (I teach in New York.) These kids all BLEND TOGETHER in my head. I have to resort to Sophia P, Sophia F, and Jacob B, Jacob R, and Jacob J. .It's crazy. Names that I NEVER hear anymore? (used to be old-fashioned but now would sound new and charming): Boys: Michael, (it's still out there, but not common at my school; believe it or not, I don't have one in my class), John, Charles, Sam, Eric, Jason and Joseph. Girls: Sarah, Amy, Angela, Joanna, Anna, Kristin, Lisa, and Rebecca.

I'm very surprised that Lily and Isabelle aren't on there.  But then again there are a lot of names out there and you can't name all of them.  Also this is just for your area and not necessarily everywhere.  I consider the social security name index to be pretty reliable.

OH I hear ya!! I grew up in a small private school, only 16 kids in our class. Of the 8 girls, 4 were named Amy (Amy B, Amy F, Amy K, Amy T).... It's ridiculous!!

I didn't realize how popular "Carter" would be, but it's nothing compared to Aiden, Mason, etc...  Hopefully our DS#2, August, will be a  littlre more original! 

August is nice...i have never had one in 5 years

I agree that what was once old, can be new again.  Our second son's name is John and I don't think he has ever had another John in his classes.

Arudy:

August is nice...i have never had one in 5 years

 

My son has an August in his kindergarten class this year! And there are TWO boys named Linus in the same second grade class! I think there are more unusual names at my kids school than common ones! R has a top fifteen name and he's the only one with that name in the whole third grade.

I guess most of my kids won't stand out in the world......I have Colin and Connor and I'm considering Kiley for my DD.  I have to say, though, DS1 and DS2 have yet to have a Colin or Connor in their classes.  I have a Cole and DS1 does have one of those in his class, but I haven't met any others in 4 years that DS1 has been in school.  I don't know about Kiley, haven't really paid attention. 

 

I swear I didnt know a single person with the name Devin or Mason when I named my boys. Now I hear of tons of kids with those names. I hate it because at the time I really thought I was being original with my choice yet not odd or strange. If this is last baby is a girl I'm naming her Madison. I noticed it's on some of the top baby names list but I no longer care. All three of my babys will have a name that ends in N. That in itself makes me feel unique as a family.

Mom2RJ:

Arudy:

August is nice...i have never had one in 5 years

 

My son has an August in his kindergarten class this year! And there are TWO boys named Linus in the same second grade class! I think there are more unusual names at my kids school than common ones! R has a top fifteen name and he's the only one with that name in the whole third grade.

Mom2RJ, where do you live again that there are two Linuses?  That is really an oddity!  Not that I don't like the name, it's actually pretty cool.

Oregon has very unique names. In DS's class we have names like precious, Star ect.

Very cool and unique. I'm thinking about Amethist for this baby if its a girl

I was a teacher too and struggled over names for all of my kids.  Not only did I not want a popular name, but I also didn't want a memory of a kid that I had taught at some point.  Ella was way more popular than I had wanted but it was the only girl name that DH liked....so we added Clare and called it a day.  We have since met a few Graysons but no Adelaides in our area.  So I'm happy about those two.

Ahimsa_Malozzi:

Mom2RJ, where do you live again that there are two Linuses?  That is really an oddity!  Not that I don't like the name, it's actually pretty cool.

 

We're in Michigan, but it's more the school than where we live. Our kids go to an alternative Open school that is part of our local public school system. A lot of somewhat unconventional people tend to choose alternative education for their kids, so we see names like Linus, Persephone, Lachlan, Jasper, Lior, Arden, Hazel, Zev, Nyeli. One family has Hebe, Hector, and Thor. Of course all the more common names are there too, but they don't seem so common! We also have a lot of same-sex parents and hippies who grew up, settled down and had kids. It's a very interesting environment full of families who are really committed to the school and its philosophy. We love our school. (And I think it's cool that I can give my kids popular names and they won't run into anyone else with that name at school!)

I've always liked really unique names,

DS#1 is Logan -was very unique in 1995 - have heard it used more now.....

DS #2 is Deveraux Terran, I've never heard that name being used before, he thinks he is the "Only one in the world with that name"...lol

DS#3 was going to be Draven, but we decided not to use another D name, so instead called him Grayson Vaughn...I have heard of a few Graysons, but it's still not extremely popular or over-used.

I've had a few girls names over the years, but I think if we have a girl this time, I'd use something pretty and unique.  My husband is part Hawaiian and I've been thinking of using a Hawaiian name..either Aylani, Keilani, or Kaleiyah and use Aurora for a middle name as that is dh grandmothers name (deceased)

 Personally,  when i'm choosing a name i try to pick one that is not in the top 25 but is not too unusual that they will have to teach every single person they meet how to say it and spell it. I find that people who have very unusual names i can't remember either. I just know them as the person with the unusual name that i can't pronounce or spell properly.

Plus there is absolutely no way to know what names other parents will choose for their kid.

I think you just have to pick a name that you like and let the chips fall where they may.

DS1 has a very popular name because he was named after a family member. His name was  in the top 10 the year he was born, yet only 2 out of 5 years that he has been in school has there been anyone in his class with the same name.

DS3 name is not as popular. His name is not even in the top 100 for the year he was born. Yet he has another little boy in his nursery school with the same name. Go figure.