Just like my craving to click the purchase button on every single little adorable onesie made out of bamboo and organic cotton I can find, I cannot help myself from devouring the SSA's list of most popular baby names every single year.
I like to see my own predictions about where Emma and Aidan will fall on the list, whether my playground research will be confirmed or denied by The Big Governmental Tally and whether or not the names I hold tight to give to possibly-maybe-perhaps-future-babies will be overused and outdone before they ever make it to a birth certificate.
For the last 3 years, I've done the (clearly, much more important task of) checking where my own son's name lands on The List. Last year, it was #2, this year it has fallen to #4.
It's not that I care either way. I chose his name before I ever knew gazillions of other parents thought it was the perfect fit for their boy too. And even if I'd known, I wouldn't have budged. From the moment his dad and I thought of it, it was his name and so I really can't blame the scads of other mommies and daddies for making such a beautiful choice at the same point in time too.
But then, I am biased. As a person who had a first and last name in first and second place on The List for several years in a row (and in the top 20 for 11 years in a row), I didn't grow up scarred or therapied because there were multiple Jessicas and Ashleys in my class. Instead, I reveled in always having stickers and bike license plates and books with my name pre-printed on them. To me, it was well worth the price of being Jessica A. among all the others with the same name.
If it is any indicator about how my own little boy with a popular name feels, he squealed when he heard his come in fourth. Of course, he thought the list was referring specifically to him (which it was, plus four badillion) but I'm glad he's not worried about other mommies calling out his name in the park.
I've heard many, many parents stressing over this themselves as they chose names for their babies-to-be or even after they spotted their child's name smack dab on The List after they assumed their kid would have a unique moniker (sorry all parents of Isabellas and Nathans).
To those popular name parent worriers, I say: Fear not. Ava and Andrew are gonna be juuuuust fine. They might be known by their first and last name the rest of their lives but hey, at least they'll have way more stickers.
You can check out The List, research name popularity and all kinds of good stuff here.
More people with awesome popular names:
