Hi there!
My wonderful daughter is nearly two years old. Naming her was a terrible struggle, since my husband and I agreed on very few names and were not 100% sold on any of them. After an exhaustive name hunt which involved list after list after list, we had two names going into the hospital.
We named our little one Fiona.
I love the name Fiona. I really do. I often call her “Fae” or “Fiona Fae” as nicknames. The name has been universally well received, which is great. So what’s the issue?
Everywhere we go, we meet baby Fionas born the same year as my daughter. One in her baby gym class, another at story time, another born to a friend’s daughter, so on and so forth. It is the only repeat name in any class or playtime we’ve ever taken her to (which sounds crazy, I know, but is absolutely true). People tell us all the time how many baby Fionas they’ve met.
One of the requirements for both of us was that our daughter’s name not be too popular. I’m a Jennifer-called-Jenny born in 1985, so I know how annoying it can be. According to Social Security, Fiona was only ranked #197 in the US in 2013 (her birth year) and #209 in 2012. We knew it was steadily rising, but it was so low down the list that we weren’t worried about it.
Apparently, though, all those Fionas were born in our community. We live in suburban Chicago. A couple other parents who have a Fiona have also admitted their frustration.
I have to be honest: This has made me really, really regret my daughter’s name.
Our second choice name was Juno. We were going to use the nickname June sometimes. If I had it to do over again, I would absolutely name her that. My husband doesn’t think about it as much as I do, although he is extremely annoyed. I would never consider changing her name at this point, but I can’t figure out how to come to terms with my disappointment. I don’t ever want my daughter to know that I think her name was mistake, so I need to deal with it.
Should I just start calling her “Fae” full-time, and give up Fiona? Half of our family has embraced this, and half never use it. My husband doesn’t call her that, but I do all the time and we’ve never met another Fae (or Faye or Fay). Should I try to put a positive spin on the twin-names all over the place? Suck it up and get over myself? Tough love is okay. I just really need some advice.
I hope you have time to get back to me. I appreciate your blog so much.
Thank you for reading,
Jennifer
I do think it would be very frustrating, to deliberately choose a name for its low popularity, to consult all the right statistics and make a decision based on those numbers, and still find yourself thwarted. And even worse that you had another name you liked nearly as well which would NOT have resulted in these issues. (Though I think Juno would have had issues of its own.)
Well. It’s a pickle. Is there a chance you will move from the area at some point? If so, you may find your problems immediately solved.
Or you may find that the issue resolves as she gets older, even if you stay in the same area. In my mommy-and-baby class with my firstborn, there was another baby with my son’s name (AND the mother had almost the same name as mine!). In our childbirth preparation class, the leader’s son had the same name, and another couple in that class used the same name. And then Paul’s cousin had a baby and used the same name as a middle name. It felt as if the name were EVERYWHERE! But now it doesn’t feel that way: we’re not in touch with the childbirth instructor or any of the families from the classes, and Paul’s cousin’s child goes only by his first name, and we’ve encountered only one other child with the name in all our various circles. As your Fiona gets older and is involved in different activities, it may coincidentally be enough to remove most of the other Fionas from her circle. I mean, it’s not something to count on, but it may happen for you as it did for us.
Name interest/discussions also peter out a bit after the early stages. At the beginning, everyone is noticing the names of new babies and commenting on them; and other parents, fresh from their own naming struggles or in the midst of new ones, are eager to discuss the topic. Later, there still may be occasional comments (“Oh, that’s my niece’s name!”), but names are in general less interesting to almost everyone, and there is less talk about it. (My peers look at me a little funny when I ask how they chose their middle-school-aged children’s names, which is why I am so glad to have a name blog.)
I do think it works fine to openly regret the POPULARITY of her name, without regretting the name itself—and you may find dividing it like that gives you some comfort and helps you resolve some of the mental conflict. Another of my sons has a name that was in the low 30s nationally when we chose it, but turned out to be top 10 in our state that year. We run into the name a LOT. I’ve found it helpful to frame it this way: I don’t regret using the name, because it is definitely his name. I only regret that so many OTHER people used it! I still love the NAME.
When that same son was in preschool, there were two other boys (out of twelve total boys) with his name. I found that a bit galling: even a top ten name doesn’t typically need to be braced for THREE in a classroom! I asked him if he wanted to change to a name very similar to his name, which in fact sounded like his first name with our surname initial, which is what he was being called in class; people were already occasionally mistaking it for his name anyway. I use pseudonyms on the site, but it would be as if his name were Joe L., and I asked if he wanted to go by Joel instead. He declined, and said he liked being “one of the Joes,” and that made me feel better about the situation, too. (He’s still friends with those boys, and they still call themselves The Joes. “Hi, Joe!,” one says. “Hi, Joe!,” replies the other.) This, though, leads me to another option for your daughter: you could ask her later what she wants. Would she like to switch to Faye, or would she like to stick to Fiona?
Or I think your idea of calling her Faye exclusively starting now could be a very good plan. If the situation is driving you crazy and making you regret her name, and if you like the name Faye just as much, this is a great time to switch: if I’d started calling my son Joel back when he was two, my guess is that’s what he would have gone with from then on.
But if you don’t like the name Faye as much, if you’re ONLY changing because of the popularity of a name you note has been universally well-received, then it doesn’t feel worth it. I think Fiona is a wonderful name. I like the way it looks, I like the way it sounds, I like everything about it. I like the name Faye, too, but I wouldn’t trade: I like Fiona too much more than Faye for that to be a good deal, if all I’m getting out of it is a reduction in popularity. I think instead I’d go the direction my son went and see it as belonging to The Fiona Club. It’s a pretty great club to have membership in. I’D want to join.
Or, as you mention, there’s the Tough Love approach. These things just HAPPEN sometimes. Parents choose a name thinking it is simple to spell and pronounce, but to their surprise everyone seems to get it wrong. Or they like a common name but it’s too common, so they choose a less-common version of it, but then everyone mistakes it for the more common version anyway. Or they choose a name right before a royal couple chooses it. Or they choose a name that ends up being the name of a criminal in a big news story. Or they choose a name and everyone who hears it makes the same remark/joke/association (“Oh, like that movie?”). Or they choose a name that is soon being used as an example of what parents want to avoid (“One of the -adens”). Or they choose a name they think of as girl, but almost everyone assumes boy. In short: you’re not alone. You did the best you could with the information available to you, and it turned out not to work as hoped. You nevertheless chose a WONDERFUL name, a name you love, a name everyone else loves too. These things happen, and this time it happened to you, but it is a small and reasonable and common thing to have happen, and not too hard to suck up as far as suck-up-required things go.
If you want the love even tougher, you can use the method I think is absolutely unacceptable to EVER EVER EVER use on other people but can work if one uses it judiciously on oneself, which is to remind yourself of all the things that can go wrong with pregnancy and childbirth and infancy, and to think of what a small thing this is to go wrong by comparison. Use that one lightly: it’s a useful tool for perspective readjustment if you feel you could use some, but don’t go too far and start believing that if you don’t have The Worst Problem in the Whole World, that means you can’t be unhappy or disappointed, or can’t complain. ABSOLUTELY you can. Of COURSE you can. It is in fact the tagline on my main blog: “I acknowledge my luckiness, without giving up my claim to the suckiness.” This is supposed to be a tool to make yourself feel BETTER, not WORSE, and to help yourself shake the bad feelings you’d rather not have about the name, so if it isn’t working that way I’d go right back to the gentler approach.
I love Swistle’s response. One thing that helps me with regrets of any kind is to remind myself that, if I had done something a different way, I might still have regrets, just of a different flavor. For instance, if you had named your daughter Juno, you might be thinking right now, “We really liked the name Fiona a little bit better. Why didn’t we name her that?” I think it’s human nature to not be 100% satisfied with things. If I remind myself that there is no such thing as as perfect choice, and I made a good choice with the information I had at the time, I can let things go.
YES, I live a couple hours downstate from you and suddenly there are multiple Fionas in our small farm town. It’s taking Illinois by storm as far as I can tell. I wonder why that is.
We’ve sorta kinda had this kind of thing with both boys. When we picked Henry 10 1/2 years ago it was in the middle 100s nationally. It’s a family name and we felt pretty strongly about using it. Surprise! In Illinois it was like #30. We know loads of Henrys and it’s really fine. Then we picked Quinn and our son Quinn was born ONE MONTH before Glee premiered and Quinn shot up the charts as a girls name. Again, that was 5+ years ago and it’s fine. It is really and truly fine. And this is coming from a 1977 Jennifer who hates her name so much she doesn’t use it except to tell people how much she dislikes it. :)
I named my now-seven-year-old Adeline, and boy, was I surprised with all the Addisons and Adelyns and what-nots that are her age too.
There is an Addie or an Addy in every one of my children’s classes, for several years now (I also have an 8 yo and 9 yo.)
I loved Adeline, nn Addie, for years, and was so excited to use it for my daughter when we finally had a daughter.
It is hard to get over the popularity when that’s not what I was going for. The runner-up name for her was Esther, and sometimes I wish we went with that. But hey, in the grand scheme of things, we’re all OK. And Addie loves her name.
Ahh, your letter kills me a little because I’m also in Chicago and love Fiona. I’m not pregnant yet, but I love that name to pieces. You have great taste!
I think Swistle does a good job listing all the things that can “not quite work” with names. I’m sure my mother didn’t intend to set me up with a lifetime of “it’s pronounced ha-LAY-na” but alas.
I had the same experience as Swistle, experiencing lots of instances of name popularity right after my first-born arrived, but then we moved out of those circles and it hasn’t been a big deal since. In fact, right after my son was born and we announced the name, my cousin and a close acquaintance (both pregnant with boys) contacted me to say that they were naming their sons the same name. It’s not a Top 100 name – what were the chances? Then another cousin started dating a guy with the same name, and we heard of another friend-of-a-friend baby, and I wasn’t regretting our choice exactly, but definitely regretting the popularity.
But a decade later: My cousin is in another state, we rarely see the acquaintance, cousin and boyfriend broke up — and my son has never been in a school class or sports team with the same name. It was just a weird little popularity pocket for that name.
For what it’s worth, I love the name Fiona, but I’ve never met anyone with that name (and I have three very social young kids – so I meet a lot!) I’m guessing that as your circles change, this will fade.
I found this letter interesting mainly because I have a Fiona just the same age (born December 2012). I have never met another Fiona and I adore her name.
When I was in grade one a friend of mine introduced me to a girl from her soccer team. The only reason she wanted to introduce us was because we shared the same name. 20ish years later we’re best friends! We’re the Alisha’s. Alisha isn’t a unique name- I know tons of Alisha’s, Alicia’s, Alysha’s etc. My friend is two years older than I am, and in her grade there was another Alisha that also had the same last name as my friend, and she was fine with that.
Fiona is a beautiful, versatile name. (I would have it on a short list myself if it wasn’t unusable for family reasons – alas.) It just turns out that lots of people in your area happened to make the same excellent decision that you did.
There are upsides to popularity: if there are lots of Fionas running around, people in your area are more likely to know how to spell it and pronounce it than if it was really unusual. My name is really uncommon in my generation and I’ve been correcting people’s misspellings since I learned to spell it myself. While I’ve made peace with it, growing up I desperately wished my name was Ashley or Stephanie or Jessica, because those names seemed much more “normal” than mine did. And I know some very creative, awesome Jennifers and Lindsays and Ambers whose popular names don’t seem to have kept them from becoming super interesting, great people.
Calling her Fiona-Fae or sometimes Fae seems fine, but I would vote that you not totally stop calling her Fiona, because after all it is her name and I think it would be awful if she started to feel she should be ashamed of it in any way. It’s no one’s fault that all of the Fionas in the country seem to live near you, least of all hers.
I’m a 1982 Jennifer called Jenny. My middle name is Grace, which was the ‘other option’ name. My mom didn’t know how popular Jennifer was (in the days before the internet). She took my sister to her first day of preschool when I was 10 days old and immediately regretted her decision.
She campaigned to have me called Grace, and got about 1/2 my family and some friends to call me Grace exclusively, but without everyone participating or on board, it just didn’t stick. Or it didn’t stick fully. I still ANSWER to Grace, and when I hear someone yell Grace across a room, I think it might be me (even when it CLEARLY COULD NOT, for instance in my professional life where no one is aware that Grace is any part of my name).
I grew up quite aware that my mom regretted the popularity of my name (although she still thinks it’s a beautiful name), and I think that made ME like my name a lot less. I have always been dissatisfied with it, and I think I inherited some of my mom’s name regret.
I suppose I could have fully embraced Grace at an older age, especially as I answer to it naturally, but by the time I could really think everything through I felt like Jenny was my name too, and Grace is more of a family nickname.
ANYHOW, 1. I totally empathize with your feelings about your own name, and 2. I don’t think you can successfully change your daughter’s name unless you get more people on board, particularly your husband. I think if your husband is calling her Fiona, the best thing to do is embrace, and don’t complain about the popularity of her name within her earshot.
Also, isn’t it funny how these things work? My son’s name was ranked somewhere in the low 20s the year he was born (23ish?) and I have yet to meet another kid with his name (I’ve met an adult here and there).
This is wisely written, Swistle. Nice job.
The popularity thing kills me, too. There is a name that my husband and I are considering for a girl, and it feels like it is suddenly everywhere. EVERYWHERE! Or, worse yet, the name would be mistaken for another popular name. Not cool.
Fiona is distinctive and lively. The nickname of Fae is lovely, but be warned if you hate popularity, the ‘Maes’ are coming. She could always have the nickname of Fio or Fifi or Nona or Feena or Nina.
I’m sorry you’re in a quirky demographic outlier for Fiona. That is definitely a one-off, from my experience, and I completely understand why you are feeling the way you are feeling. For what it’s worth, my girls are 4 and 1.5 and I’ve never met a Fiona, nor have I heard of anyone naming their child Fiona in my circle of friends and aquaintences and beyond. It’s a lovely name, so my two cents is to have a “Fiona club” and enjoy it. I imagine it’ll be strange for Fiona when she finds herself in a situation of being the girl with the “less common” name as she gets older!
I understand how you feel- my first two children have names that ranked in the 300s when I named them, and now one has a name in the top 100 and the other is ALMOST there. I LOVE the names- just wish everyone else didn’t love them so much. It bothers me when I hear new babies given their names, even though I know that isn’t rational! We were a little ahead of the curve, so there aren’t really many children their ages with their names, but one thing I’ve noticed is when we named them we got lots of pleasantly surprised responses- and now when people hear their names, it’s an instant “So and so just named their baby that!” That being said, I think you should embrace Fiona- it’s a lovely name, and it’s HER name. And for what it’s worth, I personally don’t know any. :)
With our second daughter we had a name picked out for almost the entire pregnancy. Then, when she was born, it just absolutely didn’t work. I looked at her and just could not see calling her that. After much deliberation we went with Nora. Not once in my pregnancy had I ever considered that name before, but it was on both sides of our family and we loved the sound of it, and most of all, it just seemed to fit. I was pretty bummed then when I started to notice that just about everyone else was using Nora! I’d had no idea it was as popular as it is. I’m a little bummed about it, but I’ve learned to just roll my eyes and move on when I hear about yet another Nora.
I think Swistle’s advice about waiting it out is best. Fae is cute, but if you loved Fiona I say stick with it.
My 2013 daughter is also a Nora. I knew it was rising in popularity, but it was definitely more common in my state and local area that year than nationally. In the months around when she was born we heard about a bunch of other babies named Nora, and I was a little bummed. I still loved the name, and it was the one my husband and I agreed on, but like Swistle said, I wished it weren’t so popular. After the first few months, we haven’t met more than one or two Noras. Amongst other things, I think I stopped being hyper-aware of the name.
I love the name Fiona! I wouldn’t change it, I would just embrace it. Maybe when she goes away to college in another state she will be the only Fiona.
I also really wanted to name my daughter something special, so I picked something not in the top 1000 in 2012, and now I think it’s jumped to under 200, and I have met quite a few people with daughters the same age with that name, or someone who knows a toddler with that name. I NEVER could have predicted that, so rather than beat myself up, I just decided I’m a trendsetter. :)
Fiona is an awesome name. I only know one in CA and she’s about 12, and I didn’t want to copy her name, but I do love it! Move to CA! ;)
I picked a classic name for my daughter. Shortly after she was born I checked the SSA site, and there were only 80 girls with that name in the state who were born that year.
Now I think all 80 of them live in our town.
When she was two, another two year old girl moved in next door – and she has the same first name. I call her first and middle or use a nickname when I call her in for dinner, but play dates with the two of them are a muddle of “no, I meant the *other* C.”
It bothers me, but she is six now and she loves it.
With luck, Fiona will not reach the popularity of Jennifer!
Pockets happen. But keep in mind that this really is just a pocket. Most of your daughter’s life she won’t be surrounded by girls born in her neighborhood/year. I’m willing to bet that as your child gets just a little older and goes to school that there will be many fewer Fionas in her various classrooms and activities. I also read once that the best loved names (by the wearers of those names) are the ones that are at the bottom of the most popular lists: somewhat familiar but not ubiquitous. I think Fiona hits that sweet spot, and she will love her name as she grows up. Embrace it! But also look at Babynamewizard maps and console yourself that the name isn’t nearly as common as it seems right now. In addition, Fiona doesn’t have the trendy sounds: names beginning with E and A; …belle, etc. I’m willing to bet that if you pay attention to the other names around you, you’ll find that many of them (or at least their sounds) are much more popular than your daughter’s name.
My sister is a 1963 Jennifer (one of four in her very small elementary school class – Jenny, Jennifer, [our last name], and JennyLastNameAllOneWord). I was born in 1969 and my (also very small elementary school class) had 3 boys named Anthony (Anthony, Tony, and LastName); a Nissa and a Lisa; a Mia and a Gia; a Tracy and a Tressa. My friend’s little sister Danica (Dan EEK a) was in a class with an Anika (An EEK a) and a Tomeka (rhymes with Topeka).
My son’s name is Gordon with an F. He’s the only one we know, but in HIS classes, he’s had 2 Jordans and a Morgan.
In other words, I don’t think it matters how unusual the name, you’re going to have doubles of some kind.
I had the reverse experience as a child. Not once in my entire elementary/middle/high school experience did I run across another Kayla (of any spelling variation) nor even Michaela (of any spelling variation). There wasn’t a single one of either in the entire school. (Being name-obsessed from a very young age, I used to comb the year books for the names.) I never even met another one in any kind of outside school activity, and when the SSA finally started publishing stats online in the early 2000s I was shocked to see how high up all the Kayla and Michaela names were in the years around my birth.
Then I got to college. And suddenly there were Kaylas and Michaelas of every variation! I now know 4 Michaelas (Micaela/Mikaela) and 6 Kaylas (spelled 3 different ways).
I’m not sure any of this is reassuring, except to say I imagine you and your Fiona are having a reverse bubble to mine.
Also, I have to say I really love whenever I meet someone else with my name… It’s somehow reassuring, like there is some kind of shared history or foundation there to build upon. Usually it’s much easier to talk to fellow Kaylas (of any spelling) when we first meet too. Some kind of social anxiety.
I think Swistle’s response to your anxieties is really generous, and there’s not much I can add except to perhaps say a bit more strongly to try to focus on the positive aspects of the name… And remember that a name is not necessarily meant to be an entirely unique appendage. The name Fiona has a history because other people used it, too. And you were drawn to it partially because of that history.
I wish you lots of luck!!!
Oh, I didn’t get to say– Fiona is a lot lovelier and more distinctive than Fae/Faye, I think. (Not to offend the Fayes of the world). It feels more substantial and the flow is great. It was my favorite name for years and years, actually, until I met one who put me off it… Still feel wistful about my old love for it, actually. I’m fond of it!
I meant to say “Some kind of social anxiety is automatically extinguished.”
Thank you SO much everyone, and especially Swistle!
I think it’s a good idea to wait and see what Fiona wants us to do as she ages. When I was growing up, I tried every variation on Jennifer (Jenni, Jenn, Jen, Jenna…) and my equally-popular middle name, Elizabeth (Liz, Liza, Beth, Bette…). They didn’t stick because my parents refused to use anything but Jenny. They said they’d chosen my name, and I should be proud of it, but I had four Jennifers in one classroom all through grade school. If we really let her choose what she’s comfortable with, that will make me feel better about it. Maybe she’ll like being in the Fiona Club!
I appreciate everyone’s positivity and empathy. Thank you, Swistle, for your very kind and thoughtful response. Fiona also thanks you for helping her mama remember how much we love her name!
That’s great you’re feeling better about the situation. :) I like the plan to see how Fiona and you guys feel as she gets older.
I have a 7 year old Henry. It was in the top 100 when we picked his name, but now it’s top 10 in our state. The summer before he started Kindergarten there were Henrys everywhere! I was sure that he’d end up in Kindergarten with another Henry in his class. But it worked out that he is the only Henry in his grade level – so far! I did mention to him that there are nicknames to Henry and he could go by Harry, Hank or Hal if he wanted to. But he wasn’t at all interested. Probably because we have never called him any of those names! :P We have called him Hen or Hens. So I would keep up with using Fae, since it’s a nickname that you like. And if she does go to school and there is another Fiona in her class and she doesn’t want to be Fiona Last-Initial, then you could have her be Fae, if she wanted to. :)
Glad to see that the person who wrote the letter is feeling better. Swistle, you always write very thoughtful responses, but occasionally you hit it out of the park. This is one of those times.
Also, I think that some of it might be perception– Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon is when you feel like you see something everywhere after it becomes important to you. But we had a similar experience with Lucy, which is in the 30s for the year of her birth– we’ve met several around her age just in our area, but NONE at all other than a single adult in the larger area we moved from after she was born. We moved from an area where the under-5 set included Jayden, Braden, Avery (2!), Noah (a couple), Jacob, and Sophia. In our new town, after a year, I have yet to meet a Sophia or an Olivia or Avery or Alex, but go to story time with Freya, Oliver, Max (2x), Kellan, Collin, Jane, Edith, and Preston. We still meet the occasional -ayden name, but just two hours away and it’s a totally different naming pool. Fiona might not always be in an area where she’s one of many.
As another aside, I went my whoooole life being the only Audrey involved in any class or activity. Now I go to play group and hear my name on two or three little girls or babies.
This is somewhat amusing to me because the very last letter on Swistle included “We are NOT looking for a nature name like Clover or something.” I had just named my daughter Clover two days prior. Now that I have a Clover, the name is turning up everywhere!!
I still feel badly for my sister, though. She named her daughter Hazel only months before Julia Roberts named her baby Hazel. My sister was unimpressed. :)
1. I love the name Fiona! Lovely!
2. Just wanted to agree with Swistle that ‘these things just HAPPEN sometimes.’ My little boy is Ben – I thought the only-three-letters, easy-to-pronounce, extremely common name would be problem-free. Nope. I am frequenting correcting (or choosing not to correct) those who automatically assume his name is Benjamin, and address him as such. So perhaps a different name, as Swistle suggested, would simply mean a DIFFERENT set of ‘things that just HAPPEN sometimes…’
Yes, this is absolutely stellar response by Swistle, and deserves a spot in the reference section. Is there still a reference section?
I’m late to the party, but here are a couple more things to think about that might help. First, I have a moderately common name for my birth year – except the handful of years that I went to an extremely small school, I always knew at least one other person with the same name. And in multiple cases, those girls ended up my friends in large part because we shared a name. It was the first thing we had in common. Others have mentioned how she’s not likely to meet as many other Fionas as she grows up. You might also want to imagine her as a grownup, introducing herself. Fae is a very cute nickname for a little girl, but Fiona is a beautiful name for an adult. My youngest daughter’s name is Josephine. We have called her Josie from the beginning, but unlike many other people in my family, I try to use her full name almost as often, so both are equally familiar to her, and both feel “right.” This gives her more options as she grows up. I started using my full name over my nickname in college, and it only feels right with a certain subset of people. And on the flip side, when anyone in my family uses it, I feel like I’m in trouble. I think continuing to use both Fiona and Fae, and then asking her what she thinks as she gets older is a great way to go.
As you can see, I have a pretty common first name and my middle name is probably the most popular middle name out there -Anne. Growing up in Idaho in the 80s, there weren’t too many of us. I know plenty now, though.
I was called Betsy by my family, went by Liz as a teen and even tried Beth in my 20s, but now I fully embrace my name and I’ve even kind of made a game of it. Another Elizabeth? Is your middle name with an N or E? Funny thing-my mom is a huge Anglophile and actually named me after Queen Elizabeth and Princess Anne, betcha can’t say that!
All that being said, Fiona is a lovely name . Those who really aren’t familiar with it are now wishing they had called little Adynn something pretty like that. And she can grow up knowing she’s part of a cool little club. Just don’t be surprised when she goes through her Feeyonna stage! ;)
I live in Evanston, (possibly close to you, depending on which suburb you live in) and I work with many preschoolers and babies. I have met a fair amount of Fionas, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much. She will probably be the only Fiona in her class by the time she’s in school. Living in Chicago, I think people are ahead of the curve. I meet tons of kids each week at my job in Wilmette, and have noticed that parents are giving their children stylish names that aren’t super high on the charts yet. That comes with living in a big city. Keep that in mind when naming your next child–often times names that are not too popular nationally are trendy in a specific area. Hope that helps!
Great blog post, seriously. I’ve been wondering how I’d handle it if my daughter’s name (Ruby) suddenly became really popular in our area. She’s a week old and so far everyone has said they don’t know anyone with her name, but it’s a “normal” name (meaning we didn’t make it up and we spelled it the usual way) and seems to fit in with some of the old-school names that are popular right now (Lucy, Charlotte, Sophia) so I could totally see a ton of baby girls having this name soon. I appreciate that now I have some ammo for ideas on what to do if this happens.
For the letter-writer: I love the name Fiona and I hope you can find some peace with the situation soon. I think Fae is a great nickname if you choose to go the nickname route. I don’t know any little Fionas in my area so you must be right about all of them living by you. Here they’re all Charlotte.
I feel the need to chime in.
y daughter is 3.5.
Her name is Elsa.
When she was born in spring 2011, people thought her name was odd, charming, or old fashioned. I know some people thought it was a poor name choice.
Now? She’s the most popular girl in her preschool and her name is a fashion fad.
I wish I had named her Eliza, Else, or Elsabeth… But oh well… It’s done.
I do call her Elsie and Elsa Kate more often …and I like your solution of Fae.
Sympathies to you, Baby Fae’s mom!