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[Opinions] Re: Bree
Those popular names ... I feel like, on paper, in the abstract, taken as a group, they seem boring and overdone. But in real life, you run into them on individuals, and the impression is different, to me. I've encountered at most 3 of any of them, only one of most, and zero of some - among the school peers of my daughter (since she was born 2006). So each one of them has her own name, to me. Knowing 2 different Ellas doesn't make the name seem boring (it's boring because it's Ella, and the popularity of Isla doesn't make it more so imo). And no popular name is so popular anymore, that you're guaranteed to personally meet more than one of them in the space of a few years. So I don't need a breath of fresh air. It doesn't mean that much to me.Anyway, Bree. It's not the usual, but doesn't sound totally fresh to me, and certainly not counter-fashionable. It slightly retro-unusual - about like Tai or Kyle (f) or Ally - not quite as bland as Ally, but blander than Tai. I think it's a good nickname for Brianna or Sabrina, but it's a little too glib for my taste as a full name. Maybe it would not be, if I liked Br-names ... I think I would like more to see Dree, than Bree.- mirfak

This message was edited 10/20/2022, 1:02 PM

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I know what you mean and in real life they don't annoy me either. I actually like some of them. It's more that on boards you see them all the time and when I saw Bree I just sort of went "well, that's nice!". Thanks for suggesting it for Sabrina, I hadn't thought of that at all but it works and I love Sabrina.However, from my experience it's not true that you only run into one every few years (as in people with popular names nowadays). We had three girls with the same name in a class of less than 20 kids in total recently and even in the kindergarten-aged groups there were three girls with the same name in a group of less than 20 and a few doubles as well.
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I wonder if hyperpopularity of names is regional, and *how* regional it is. Like - were the names for which you had 3 girls per class, Emma and Olivia? Were they top 2 in the state? Maybe just in the county? and if not, if they were #3 and #4 - then why didn't you see the same high frequency of names ranked above those names? It's just so random, how representative is the sample of people we run into.We have excess Nathans and Ethans here (in my daughter's age group) - they were ranked somewhat higher than statewide in the 00s, but if you just went by the local school, you'd think they were totally #1 and #2.It's interesting and bizarre that you had 3/20 girls with 1 name. That makes it way more frequent than the #1 name nationwide - that's like 15 percent. Statistically only 1/20 girls should have each of the very most popular names so one triple and a few doubles is really wild.Anyway this is off topic, I'm not arguing with the idea that you can still observe that popular names are popular! I just thought it was interesting.When my sister and I were little kids in the 70s, my sister (always very well read, and I don't know where it came from) had a doll she called "Bree" short for Sabrina. So I always think of Sabrina first when I hear Bree!
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Yes, it is sort of random and has to do with regional popularity as well but there are lists for every state too so I think if you avoid the top 20 in your state it is much less likely to happen (can still happen, though).I'm not in the US but yes, one of them had been the #1 name when these children were born. The others were top 10 names. I think the percentage for the #1 name here is about 1 percent so it shouldn't happen here either, statistically.But I think I'm not alone in noticing this. I read on quite a few places online that there are still two kids and sometimes three with the same name in one class.Oh and I am talking about several classes with about 20 students each. So the 3x something were in one primary class and one kindergarten class. The doubles were in other primary and kindergarten classes.
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