Top baby names

Each year a list of top baby names comes out, and like it suggests, it lists the most popular names given to newborns in that year or the year before. The list might have a ranking of where it was the year before and some even list how long it has been on the list. There are some parents who will only choose names from that list, and there are other parents who will go through it to know what not to name their baby. Each family has their reasons for the names they choose, but personally, I would never give my child any name on that list.

The reason I would stay away from the top baby names list when naming a child was because my name was very popular and very common the year I was born. It does not feel original or special because there are so many with the same name. I think it was one of the top three on the top baby names list that year, and remained there for a few years. Most parents today do not use the name any longer. In fact, I cannot recall meeting a child with my name in a very long time.

My name was so common that there were three girls in my class at school with the same name. The teacher allowed us to use our first name only on our work, except for me and the other girls with my name. We had to use the first initial of our last names too. Even worse, one of those girls with my name has a last name that started with the same letter as mine. We had to write out our entire names. Thats not really a huge deal, but it let me know how common my name was, and I swore then I would never do that to my child. I didnt know that the top baby names list existed then, of course, but I swore never to give a common name.

Some like to give names from the top baby names lists for reasons of their own. They may not care about originality, but perhaps want something that is traditional or biblical in origin. Those names are always somewhere on the top baby names list each year, though the names do move around. Those names will probably always be in fashion in one form or another. The name my daughter has was not on the list and Im not sure it ever will be, and that makes me quite happy.