I was born in 1973, and growing up, I never met anybody with the same first name as me, Joel. Sure, there were Joe’s and Joey’s and Joseph’s and so on, but as a kid and all the way up to, and including high school, I never ran into another Joel. It wasn’t until the early 90’s that I started noticing the name more and more.
I use to work at a pizza parlor and for a while, another Joel worked there. After he left, I told my coworkers that there would never be two Joel’s there again. A couple of months later, yet another Joel worked with us for a while. I was shocked.
Anyway, long story short, as time goes on, I notice more and more Joel’s, there’s even a Joel where I work now. Hell, there’s even famous Joel’s, Joel Coen, Joel Hodgson from MST3K, and I think one other that I’m blanking on.
And while my name isn’t as common a Bob or Bill or John, or even Randy, it’s slowly getting there.
So, growing up, did you have a name that seemed uncommon, or even rare, that’s becoming more and more common?