Has this happened to you after naming your child?

When we picked our son's name we knew NO ONE with that name and had only heard of a few people with it that were people from the past. Everyone who asked what we were naming him said "oh we have never heard that before" except 2 people I knew - one from Hawaii and one from Japan from where the name originates. Now all of a sudden I have had 2 or 3 people come up and say oh our friends are going to name their baby the same name as your son! I am not mad - how could I be - I just think its weird and now (since he is only 8 months old) he will probably have 2 or 3 kids in his school or class named that! Has this happened to you?

Has this happened to you after naming your child?
Sort of. We used a name we'd both loved since childhood, though we knew it had grown quite popular, but we didn't actually know of any ourselves (except for a family friend now in her 20s). Of course, once she was here, every single person we met would then proceed to comment, "Oh! My sister, cousin, niece, boss, mailman, etc. is planning on naming THEIR daughter that too!" LOL So while we knew it was no longer an uncommon choice, it was funny -- and a bit annoying -- how many seemed to pop out of the woodwork only after she was born and named. ;)





Of course, you have to be aware of bigger trends. Raiden -- to use a name with Japanese ties, since you mentioned that ;) -- is part of the whole Aidan, Braden, Caden, Hayden, Jadon, etc. trend at the moment, so even parents who have no Japanese heritage or aren't even aware Raiden is an actual name are likely to latch onto it. They might think they've made up yet another rhyming "Aidan," all by themselves LOL, and in the process have stumbled onto a very real name other parents probably assumed was fairly safe from becoming a trendy choice, know what I mean?





Not knowing the name in question, it's hard to say why this might have happened to you, but it's possible that, like Raiden, it's simply gotten swept up on the wings of such a trend.





And you are definitely not alone.





Edited to add: I see you've added that his name is Kai, and yes, that is part of the equally-huge K names trend at the moment. It's actually fairly common -- in the 200 range -- and it doesn't help that similar names like Kaia, Maia, Jaia, Laila, etc. are part of yet another rhyming names trend (for girls, but it makes similar names even more appealing). And the K trend itself is huge to begin with! Just think about all the traditional C names you've undoubtedly seen randomly changed to Ks -- Caitlin/Kaitlyn, Caden/Kaden, Carter/Karter, Caleb/Kaleb, Cadence/Kadence, Claire/Klaire, Clara/Klara, Cian/Kian, Connor/Konnor, Ciara/Kiera, etc. It's like the letter C is being shunned. LOL Unfortunately, that's why you're hearing Kai more often than you'd expected (or hoped to). :(
Reply:Yes. I know no one of the name my grandson has and as we doubted he would live when he was born, he was quickly named with no discussion.


And yet, my other son now has a fiance who is a single mum. And guess what her son's name is? Right - I now have two grandsons both with the same name. And I've never heard it before, or since.
Reply:You shouldn't be mad...all it means is that you named your child a name that is popular %26amp; cute. I like Kai [dont even think about changing it]. When I was born my parents knew NO Carly's [my name] %26amp; they thought it would be unique, while meanwhile once I got to school there was another Carly in the grade %26amp; like five in my camp. Same with my brother's name. It's okay, it happens to everyone. It's actually better that there will be more Kai's in his class, so it doesn't seem too different. Trust me, it's true. Don't sweat it!!
Reply:Yes, my daughter is Annabelle. After she was born, I joined a mom's group and there was an Annabelle there already, just 3 months older lol. We call my dd Bella and now I just found out a friend's friend is naming their dd Belle. I think it's just that we notice these names more b/c they're our children's names.





LOL, for our son, my hubby wants a "Jr" so he will be Kevin Jackson N****, Jr" and we've decided to call him Jack after his grandpa.
Reply:yes
Reply:YES YES YES...THIS HAPPENED TO ME! I picked the name Jackson because it was different and original. Than all of a sudden I see like 5 ladies pregnant or with little boys named Jackson. It's so annoying! I wanted to pick a name that wasn't trendy and it seems as if it's becoming the new trendy name fast. Oh well....at least we thought of them first!
Reply:Yes that happened to us. Eighteen years ago we didn't know any other Andrews, but a few years after he was born we now seem to be surrounded by them, but they are all years younger than he is. He almost never had any other kids with the same name in his classes at school, though.
Reply:i guess u dont want to tell us the name so no one else can have it... right??
Reply:I went to school with a girl who recently had a baby boy and she named him Kai. Doesn't it mean ocean or something similar? Maybe it is becoming more common. It is weird! We named our daughter Alyssa Jade, and shortly after I began hearing the name more frequently. My husbands cousin even named their baby Anissa Jade. Oh well. I still love the name. Well, your point is proven I see several others on here have also named their daughter Alyssa!
Reply:I know loads of boys called Kai or Cai! My brother has a name that is easily shortened to Cai. Brilliant name! Never knew it was Japanese though!
Reply:Does nobody look on the social security register before they name their kids? You can type in name and see it creeping up the chart every year.





Every name I have on my "list" isn't in the top 1000 baby names for the last 20 years.... I'm thinking I won't have this problem.
Reply:I like Kai, and I don't know any personally, but have seen it in the baby section of our paper. I named my son Reese and had never heard of or seen it when I used it back then. Now I see all these little girls running around with the name Reese. Who knew?! Being 5, he is just appaled at the thought of sharing his name with girls! I still love it though! It fits him!
Reply:Nope. We named our daughter a very traditional name, and still know of no one with that name (Evelyn Renee).





I think you started a trend.
Reply:My cousin named her daughter Madison at the beginning of its popularity. Once her daughter hit pre-school, she was one of many.





I named our daughters Jane and Alice. I still don't meet very many others. It's funny, these names are very plain and common, but there are very few.
Reply:Yup. Happened to me with both my sons. My first son is Gabriel and I knew NO ONE named this. Now, everywhere we go, children close to his age are also named Gabriel. We just met some kids at the park yesterday and their sons name was Gabriel. Almost the exact same age.





My second sons name is Brayden. We didn't know ANY Brayden's nor did we know anyone who was naming their sons that. I went to see the doctor at 4 weeks postpartum and he mentioned that the last 5 boys that he delivered were named Brayden. lol





My daughters name is Alyssa (middle child). We don't personally know any Alyssa's, but I hear the name all the time.





**hahaha. See! There's another Alyssa just two people above me. lol Its OK though. Great minds think alike!
Reply:When I named my son long time ago I thought the name was unusual........on his 7th birthday all the boys that came to the party had his name except two of the little boys.





It happens. Don't worry about it.


It just shows that you have good taste in names
Reply:Yes, my oldest is named Zowie (pronounced Zoey). She was the only Zowie I heard of. Now I see the name A LOT.





Alyssa was listed as the #14 girl's name in America when my daughter Alyssa was born. I had only seen one other girl named that, though. Now I see it a lot. I guess it was probably around all along, but I just didn't notice so much.





***ADD: I have seen some boys named Kai lately. Apparently, it has become very common. Also, I noticed that the other woman with an Alyssa has a son named Gabriel.


That has been my boy name for the last nine years, but so far I haven't had a boy. If I ever have a boy, his name will be either Gabriel Blake or Gabriel Baine. I also like Caleb


Aiden which I've noticed has also gained quite a bit of popularity lately.