Aha, apparently I’m the culprit of the shortlived Scarlett epidemic, there were none in the 1970s, and then a small explosion shortly after that. 
I know two, but they’re both hippie kids.
I also know an Ultraviolet (seriously), a Chiron and more Maples, Rains and Rivers than you can shake a stick at - all given names.
Same here - I have an uncle and two cousins named Mark - all on the same side of the family. And no, neither of the cousins Mark are the son of the uncle Mark. And the two cousins Mark are less than 2 years apart. It’s very confusing.
They’re all pronouncing it Kate-Lyn, as far as I’m aware.
When I was at the school though, we did have an Aisling, pronounced ‘Ashlyn’. That was rather pretty, and unique. (Though truly, I’d have preferred Ashlyn, if only for the sake of the poor kid who’s going to have to explain that she’s not an Ays-ling for the rest of her life.)
Joshua is a “new” name? Really? Because I have certain documentation indicating that it might be quite old.
Josh
Well, there is that. But it was still a weird transition – the breakup with the first Mike was a horrible nasty experience I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. So I had some rather unpleasant associations with the name.
I know a three-month old William. His parents refer to him as Will. He’s adorable. And I love the name.
I can understand my name being somewhat common (Its not Rosie, though). What I find a little odd is that at the small clinic I go to there are three people that share not only my first name, but my middle and last as well. And those names are not so common.
Also, my freshman year in college, out of about 30 girls on my floor, four had my name. Not quite as bad as the triple who were all Matt (or something, not really remembering it right). The honors housing director has a reputation for putting people with the same name in rooms together because it’s funny, so its not too surprising.
Aiden’s pretty old, too. Not so sure about Brandon.
Brandon, Brenton, Brendan were popular in the 80s for boys.
I like my name now, but I hated it as a kid. All the other Eleanors were old, old ladies. Still are, really. I wanted to be a Linda or a Terry.
Oddly enough, I know 4 Janes and 4 variations on Susan/Suzanne. If you see me out with another woman, chances are her name is Sue or Jane… I love the name Jane and wanted to name my daughter that. If I had had another girl, I would have insisted.
Robert is #1 son’s name–he was the only one in grammar school. He’s called Rob, though, not Bob or Bobby (I don’t like names with “y” or “ie” on the end for kids). According to Freakonomics, the book, Robert is a “black name”. Guess not.
I beat you both – in college I dated five Daves in a a row. They had to get nicknames so my friends could keep them straight: Mean Dave, David P., Dave from Hell, Sensitive Dave, and Stupid Dave. Mean Dave wasn’t actually mean.
Until recently, I worked with six Julies and a Julia. Five of their last names started with H… the two I worked with most became, to my husband, Julie-my-boss and Julie-not-my-boss. At work, we started referring to Julie-not-my-boss, whose last name is something like “Highview”, as J-Hi. (One of the tasks I shared with J-Hi was reading hundreds of high-school essays about “someone you admire”, and Jennifer Lopez was high on that list at the time.) Julie-my-boss, whose last name is something like “Hoopville”, took exception to being referred to as J-Ho, however. J-Hi and I sometimes call her J-Who anyway.
Here is the motherlode of information about what not to name your kid if you agree with the OP. I give you one guess as to the single most popular girls’ name for the last freakin’ twelve years.
Do tell. I was actually musing recently that Robert and its diminutives seem rather unpopular among African-Americans these days. The only black Roberts I’ve ever met personally were considerably older than me (I’m 48.)
That site is a little misleading however, because names like Kaitlin, Katelyn, Catelin and Caitlyn are all considered different names. There are a lot fewer permutations of Emily, so it rises to the top.
Growing up, I only knew one other girl (in 3rd grade) with the same first name as me. Until this year. Now there are 4 of us in our circle of friends. With 3 different spellings. And the funny thing is, I looked in that SSA database under all 3 variations, it’s ranked like 600-something out of the top 1000.
Right now it seems like there are a lot of Ethans crawling around.
As a place name and surname it goes back to Henry the VIII’s time at the very latest. It shows up in the US top 1000 first names around WWII.
At my current place of employment, there are 6 Kathy/Cathys, in a group of 30 people.
At my previous POE, there were 7 Michelles, 5 Mikes, 3 Michaels, 3 Sara/Sarahs, 3 Megans, 3 Ambers, 2 Elaines and 6 Roberts (200-ish employees).
The place before that, 6 Jennifers, 2 Toms, 2 Bobs, 2 Roberts, 3 Aprils, 2 Jeffs and 4 Kellys (2 of each m/f) in a group about 100.
Add friends, neighbors, relatives and inlaws to the confusion, with 5 Roberts, 3 Bills, 4 Tracy/Tracies, 2 Austins, 3 Lindas, 4 Jeffs, 3 Jennifers, 2 more Ambers, 4 Carols, 3 Debra/Deborahs, 3 Erik/Erics, 3 Marjories, 11 Toms (not related!), 6 Davids, another 2 Aprils, 11 Bettys, 3 Nikkis, 7 Becky/Beckis, 3 Heathers, 2 Bonnies, 3 Bens, 5 Chris/Kris/Crys/et ceteras (2 male), and 7 Waynes.
I’ve learned to appreciate names like Bellerophon and Ultraviolet, as long as they’re not spelled Yuneekli.
I have a Rob (ert) and a Joe (Joseph). No confusion on how to spell or pronounce.
I’m not black, at least the last time I checked.
Oh, and to Chimera- I knew you must be Mn from the Barb Carlson comment.
Mark Johnson
Dave Anderson
Karen Olson
Dan Nelson
Mike Carlson
Jennifer Erickson
I know of at least 5 people that share each of those names.
We have a Bennett (Thomas). We really liked the nickname Ben, but thought Benjamin was too popular. And since my husband is a huge fan of Bennett Cerf, the publisher, we came up with Bennett. The only other folks I’ve seen with Bennetts are on a pregnancy/baby/parenting board that I’m on - and they’ve just stolen it from me 
(my son just turned two, they are all one or younger). We figure it’s classic and traditional without being trendy.
We’re trying to stick with the same for the next kid (when we have one) since we still don’t like overly popular names. My great-grandfather was named Leo, which is what Bennett would have been if we hadn’t discovered Bennett, so that may be put into use for the next child, if we have another boy. And if we end up having a girl, we’re leaning towards a traditional Welsh name that very few people seem to have ever heard - Carys - because we’ve fallen in love with it.
I will say, I am sick to death of the Cayden/Caden/Caiden/Caidyn/Caeden and Aidan/Aiden/Aedan/Aidyn and Jadyn/Jaden/Jayden/Jaidyn fling. I know about 5 of each, and every single one of them has a different spelling. :rolleyes:
Moved to MPSIMS.
I have a Dorothy and a Howard. Both classic, neither currently trendy. It’s not that hard.
Yup, says mother of Arthur.
I didn’t know about the “old name” trend when we named him. He’s named after my uncle, and I thought it would be really weird to have a little kid with an old-man name like that. But we had our reasons, and so we forged ahead…
How odd is it that people think Arthur is a “cool” name? 
But it’s all good. I inadvertently gave my kid a somewhat trendy name, but the trend is more toward a type of names than a few particular names. So he’s unlikely to find himself in a classroom with another Arthur, unless that other Arthur is an 80-year-old teacher. I’ve heard of a few other baby Arthurs out there, but I’m sure anyone who ever hears of one anywhere makes sure to tell me about it, so I don’t know if it’s become any more common.