Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Give Your Child a Popular Baby Name

Helping Parents and Baby Boomer Grandparents

It seems like every year more and more parents are following a trend by naming their child what everyone else is naming their child. Now, it could just be a coincidence that many people all liked the same names. However, if you are thinking of names for your child, there are many reasons why, out of all the different names you could choose from, a popular baby name shouldn’t be one of those options.

Confusion

There are trends with baby names, and the same names keep popping up, depending on the decade or even popular culture events. If you choose to give your child a popular baby name, chances are that when it comes time for the child to go to school, there will be a bunch of other children with the same name, and this will no doubt prove very confusing for the child.

Different Spellings

Don’t think that you are getting around the confusion of giving your child a popular baby name by spelling it quite differently. Chances are, that your unique spelling of the name will just confuse your child even more when he or she is just learning how to spell his or her name, because if it was a popular baby name, then no doubt the child will end up knowing others in his or her age group that spell their same name differently.

Typecasting

As silly as it may sound, by giving your child a popular baby name, you are consigning it to a kind of typecasting. For example, the name “Larry,” is a popular name from the Baby Boomer generation. Anyone who goes by that name will most likely be of a certain age, and thus is typecast into a generation. Now, would you want the same for your child if you chose a popular baby name?

What to Do

While it is a good idea to avoid a popular baby name, if you have more of a poignant reason for choosing it, such as that it was also the name of a parent or relative that you would like to honor, then by all means do so. Just remember, that while a popular baby name for your child certainly seems tempting, there are many excellent baby names to choose from. After all, your baby is uniquely special, so the name should reflect that!