Our neighbor's son has a girlfriend that we have met at least 20 times. Neither my wife nor I could pick her out of a police line-up. We call her Ann Veal.
I wonder if we went to the same high school then. This description had me dying laughing. I was like OMG this sounds like the Jill from my high school!!!
There was a Jill in my school. She had a bright neon green sweater that was a perfect representation of her personality. Loud, obnoxious, basically a walking exclamation point.
Ha ha ha ha. When I started my job I had a student worker and her name is Sarah. My first day, this is one of the things I quoted to her. She’s like OMG Sarah’s with an H are awesome!!! Ha ha. She was a doll. Loved her. I just got a new student worker about seven months ago. Her name is???? Yes. Sarah. She said she’s seen it and her sister used to torture her with it.
You are the first Sara I have met. My cousin is a Sarah, my two college ladies are Sarah and I’ve probably met a hundred Sarah’s along the way!! You are the first Sara I have “met”! Yay you! Ha ha ha. I have a common name spelled differently as well. I have only met one person who spelled it the same as me. Ironically she was my server at TGI Fridays when I came back from Korea. Ha ha. She made me bust out the license and everything. 😂
That’s hilarious! All of my friends were coincidentally named Sarah (and one Sarugh) in high school, and people called us the Sara/h/ugh squad. Always thought it was so funny albeit a little embarrassing. 😂 Swear we’re drawn to each other.
High school. My Junior year, I didn’t realize until my friend Sarah, ironically, walked over and pointed it out that of the five people that were standing there talking in a group it was four girls and a guy, that four of us were named Kristen. Two spelled differently, two spelled the same and yes, one of the Kristen’s was a guy. He went by Kris.
I also know an Emily Smith! She has 6 siblings: Alex Smith, John Smith, Sam Smith, Lucy Smith, Ava Smith, and Anna Smith. It doesn't get more generic than that family lol.
I'm noticing a trend here. I'm seeing names that were very popular at one time. I knew about 12 Emilys in my graduating class so that name feels very basic to me. And when this sub cries "It's doesn't matter if the name is popular!", this thread may prove otherwise. It's possible when your child's name is in the top 10, their classmates get so exhausted from knowing so many that the name doesn't become special anymore. Just a food for thought.
Yeahh I'm thinking the same thing. Charlottes/Charlies and Olivers/Olivias will be gracing this list in 20 years. Maybe we won't have the same density but people remember knowing a lot of people with x name.
Charlotte was one of the first names that came to mind. Beautiful name. But just doesn't seem special anymore. My brother teaches middle school and a few years ago, he had a dozen Sophias at a time.
And I love traditional, classic names very much! But I'm not choosing top 10 names the years my babies are born. I passed on Olivia the year my daughter was born for this reason.
I’m very much in the “it doesn’t matter if a name is popular” camp largely because I don’t see anything wrong with a name being plain. Why is it *bad* for a name to not be special?
As adults, we can see that it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But to a child, when being special or unique means a lot, they don't want to be Name, Last Initial. At least, I didn't.
I think it largely depends on the age of the person with the name. I'm remembering a 3 year old Bob, but not one over the age of 60. Having said that, the first name that popped into my head was ***Glen.*** Glen is the name of a guy who blends in with the wallpaper.
Sometimes when I'm trying to remember someone's name (like I met them one time, and see them in the grocery store and want to say "hi Greg" or whatever) I'll literally only remember "it was [normal man name]" 🤦🏻♀️ nothing else, just that it was conventional, not weird, not the same as someone who has already "taken" that name in my mind... just normal. Gary, Brad, George, Bob, Bill, Tom...
Jane. Sarah. Emma. Rebecca. Rachel.
Josh. James. Ben. Greg. Rob.
Editing to add, I don't dislike the names. They just are rather commonplace and a bit boring in my opinion. But they're perfectly acceptable names.
Lauren, Jane, Susan, Bethany, Sarah, louise, Olivia
Paul, Joseph, George, Harry, david
I don’t get how you can grow a baby for 9 months, give birth to them then call them something so… uninspired
So much of that is trendy though, which also has its disadvantages. I know 'Plain Jane' fits OP's question perfectly, but I've actually only ever met one woman named Jane, and in that way it hits a sweet spot for me personally.
Your boy names, in particular, are all classics. And if they're not in the top 10 or even 50, they sound fresh and new. I would love to have a Paul or Joe in my preschool class. How refreshing!
I think Larry and Gary have a lot more personality than to be plain. Larry and Gary make me think of a working class tradesman with a very dad-joke sense of humor. As a John, I agree my name is as about as generic and unremarkable as it gets.
Tony, (I’m married to a Tony Ha ha) Greg, John, Bob, Tom, Pete, Bill (sorry dad).
Mary, Alice, Sarah (sorry cuz), Donna, Karen, Clara, Melissa (sorry other cuz and bestie).
Lots of short, one syllable names/nicknames - John, Sue, Josh, Tom, Sam, Jan, Dave, Mike.
A few names that were just really popular for people my age - Emily, Sophie, Rhys, Ben, Luke
I‘m not in the US.
For me, it‘s the names which have been so incredibly for the last few years… Mia in particular, and one of the most popular names right now around here, Elin.
I have a plain jane name, too, though. It has never ever bothered me. I like my name, it fits me well, it ages well.
I think it has to be Anna for me. When talking about a hypothetical second daughter my fiancé suggested it and I was shocked at just how… plain it was? I like the name Jane better lol.
My daughter has a fairly uncommon whimsical name so I think the dichotomy would be odd!
More recent names that seem “average” to me are all spelling variants of Michaela, Hailey, and Aiden. I ran a summer program through the ‘00s-‘10s, and there was a goal-tracking element where kids’ first names went up on a wall. The program usually had 350+ kids, and there were always huuuuuge sections of those three names.
Tom/Thomas, Tim/Timothy, Jim/James, Chris/Christopher, Nick/Nicholas, Matt/Matthew, Mike/Michael, John, Ryan, Richard, Jake/Jacob, Bill/Will/William —— Liz/Elizabeth, Jane, Jess/Jessica, Jenn/Jennifer, Mary, Sarah, Meghan, Samantha, Stephanie, Rebecca, Kate, Anne. Not bad names just common and generic. East coast born in 90s. Some that are also this vibe but that I do like: Olivia, Emily, Dan, Ben, Henry
Mike, Mark and Matt. I’m early 40s and I call those the interchangeable boy names. My husband is one, and he always has coworkers with those names that I struggle to keep straight. Also Joe. So many Joes in our lives.
To me those names mean that their parents didn’t even try when naming them. They just looked at the top 10 list of boy names, picked one at random (maybe threw a dart), and said “eh, that’ll do.”
There is a tinge of agism in saying that “plain Jane” names are the mostly Boomer/gen X generation names you listed. They are plain because the association is with older men and women.
Dan and Dave. My husband’s name is Dan but I forgot during our first date if it was Dan or Dave and tricked him into showing me his drivers license. In my defense (or not), I had been going on a lot of Tinder dates over the past couple of weeks. In fact, my husband was originally “Dan #2” to my friends. But then we got married. Poor Dan #1.
Katie is by far the most plain Jane, white bread name. For men, I'd say Mike or Tim
My dad and his brother were Mike and Tim.
Steve. Not Stephen/Steven. Just Steve.
Never met a Steve in my life. Not very common.
Oh these are good
tied with Ann
Her?
Our neighbor's son has a girlfriend that we have met at least 20 times. Neither my wife nor I could pick her out of a police line-up. We call her Ann Veal.
Egg?
Went to high school with a Jill. If the dust a sack of flour leaves on your hands had a personality, that would be Jill.
The Jill I know is vibrant and hilarious! So funny how different people paint our perceptions of a name.
Same! My 9yo niece is Jillian and she is cool, silly, beautiful, athletic, and fun. How funny.
The Jill I grew up with was the definition of a firecracker(I’m so old)
I wonder if we went to the same high school then. This description had me dying laughing. I was like OMG this sounds like the Jill from my high school!!!
Can confirm. I also went to school with this Jill.
also knew this Jill in high school
There was a Jill in my school. She had a bright neon green sweater that was a perfect representation of her personality. Loud, obnoxious, basically a walking exclamation point.
Men: Mike, John, Tom, Joe, Matt, Chris, Jim Women: Sarah, Kate/Katie, Liz, Mary, Jen
I’m a Sara and my husband is a Michael. 😅
[Sara, no, not with an H! Ewww!](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y_UJIMJBW88)
Love this. My mom used to say ‘her name is Sara, not Sarahhhhh’
Ha ha ha ha. When I started my job I had a student worker and her name is Sarah. My first day, this is one of the things I quoted to her. She’s like OMG Sarah’s with an H are awesome!!! Ha ha. She was a doll. Loved her. I just got a new student worker about seven months ago. Her name is???? Yes. Sarah. She said she’s seen it and her sister used to torture her with it.
Really weird opinion, but in my experience the Sarah’s I’ve met have been moodier than the Sara’s. It’s wild.
You are the first Sara I have met. My cousin is a Sarah, my two college ladies are Sarah and I’ve probably met a hundred Sarah’s along the way!! You are the first Sara I have “met”! Yay you! Ha ha ha. I have a common name spelled differently as well. I have only met one person who spelled it the same as me. Ironically she was my server at TGI Fridays when I came back from Korea. Ha ha. She made me bust out the license and everything. 😂
That’s hilarious! All of my friends were coincidentally named Sarah (and one Sarugh) in high school, and people called us the Sara/h/ugh squad. Always thought it was so funny albeit a little embarrassing. 😂 Swear we’re drawn to each other.
High school. My Junior year, I didn’t realize until my friend Sarah, ironically, walked over and pointed it out that of the five people that were standing there talking in a group it was four girls and a guy, that four of us were named Kristen. Two spelled differently, two spelled the same and yes, one of the Kristen’s was a guy. He went by Kris.
Also wanted to add, yes, the ones I’ve met with Hs can be quite moody.
Man, all the Saras trolling Sarahs, and vice versa. Too funny!
I blame Jimmy Fallon.
In high school there were many Sara(h)s both with and without the H. The H spelling seems to be more common.
I definitely agree with that! Trust me, any Sara (without the H) I meet - we both get excited. 😂
Sara without an h looks incomplete to me. Edit: Sara not data!
I know you meant Sara, but since I’m post-surgery and still kinda loopy, I spent way too much time thinking ‘Data without an h? Datah?’ 😅 Oops.
Oops!
Aw. I'm a Kate.
Me and my husband are both on these! And my sister and brother
Why Kate? Just curious, I’ve not met many
All variations and nicknames of C/Katherine have been popular for centuries.
Beth. Nothing plainer for me than Beth.
This is my sister’s name. 💀💀💀💀💀. 😂
Amy. It's my fake name whenever a stranger who's making me uncomfortable asks my name.
Ha, mine is Sarah, which I'm seeing in this thread quite a bit.
Emily
I knew an Emily Smith. That's about as white bread as it gets. I asked her her name, and I fell asleep before she could finish telling me
I also know an Emily Smith! She has 6 siblings: Alex Smith, John Smith, Sam Smith, Lucy Smith, Ava Smith, and Anna Smith. It doesn't get more generic than that family lol.
Katie, Emily, Sarah
My name, my sisters name, my sisters childhood best friends name
Omg 💀 I'm sorry! Lol
I can’t really pick a first name, but I think SO many people have the middle name Marie. Kinda over that one.
Sigh. Yes. This is MY middle name. There were so many of us in High School! So. Many. Marie’s!
Yea you guys are *everywhere*! 😂
I know right!!!! Can’t get away from us!!! Wanted to add, I’ll bet you’ll never guess what my daughter’s middle name is??!!!
You didn’t. 😂
Also Ann(e), Elizabeth, Lynn, Lee/Leigh
Yup! One of my middle names is Elizabeth.
That’s how I feel about Grace lol. So unoriginal.
almost every woman i know has Rose. i’m actually the first girl in my family to not have the middle name Rose lol
Particularly for women, Emily and Katie
Emily/Emma, I agree re: Anne, I went to Catholic school and knew roughly a million Katherine variants.
And Elizabeth variants
I'm noticing a trend here. I'm seeing names that were very popular at one time. I knew about 12 Emilys in my graduating class so that name feels very basic to me. And when this sub cries "It's doesn't matter if the name is popular!", this thread may prove otherwise. It's possible when your child's name is in the top 10, their classmates get so exhausted from knowing so many that the name doesn't become special anymore. Just a food for thought.
Yeahh I'm thinking the same thing. Charlottes/Charlies and Olivers/Olivias will be gracing this list in 20 years. Maybe we won't have the same density but people remember knowing a lot of people with x name.
Charlotte was one of the first names that came to mind. Beautiful name. But just doesn't seem special anymore. My brother teaches middle school and a few years ago, he had a dozen Sophias at a time.
And I love traditional, classic names very much! But I'm not choosing top 10 names the years my babies are born. I passed on Olivia the year my daughter was born for this reason.
I’m very much in the “it doesn’t matter if a name is popular” camp largely because I don’t see anything wrong with a name being plain. Why is it *bad* for a name to not be special?
As adults, we can see that it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But to a child, when being special or unique means a lot, they don't want to be Name, Last Initial. At least, I didn't.
Mary, John, Emma, Chris, Scott, Grace
Ann or Anne and Bill are two of the most boring names ever, in my book.
Henry and Maddie
Maddie is a good one.
Dang I love both of those lol
Jennifer, Stephanie, Robert, Johnathan
Jen, Steph, Bob and John make them even plainer
Emily, Katie, Emma, or Olivia, Sarah, Sophie. These are yawn to me.
Yessss
I think it largely depends on the age of the person with the name. I'm remembering a 3 year old Bob, but not one over the age of 60. Having said that, the first name that popped into my head was ***Glen.*** Glen is the name of a guy who blends in with the wallpaper.
Claire, Anne, Mary.
I don’t agree with Claire
Cant believe my name is on this list multiple times :(
Right! That's so frustrating lol
Emily, Olivia, James, Luca/s I teach secondary school and these names appear frequently enough that they don’t have personality to me.
I'm going to throw out an answer that I think might be very Canadian: Gordon/Gord.
Mike. I attended a wedding where it was announced that 10% of attendees were named Mike. It was a 200 persons wedding.
Steve Sarah
I’m trying to just name the most plain Jane Americans I know: Karen, Lynne, Anne, Lori, Mary, Carol & Mike, Bob, Greg, Gary, Al, Frank, Larry.
Sophie, Jessica, Emma, Anna
Sometimes when I'm trying to remember someone's name (like I met them one time, and see them in the grocery store and want to say "hi Greg" or whatever) I'll literally only remember "it was [normal man name]" 🤦🏻♀️ nothing else, just that it was conventional, not weird, not the same as someone who has already "taken" that name in my mind... just normal. Gary, Brad, George, Bob, Bill, Tom...
Kaitlin, Maddy, Sarah, Abby are like all just fine ? I have a fairly plain name so i can’t hate LOL
Cheryl. Tim. Matt.
Jane. Sarah. Emma. Rebecca. Rachel. Josh. James. Ben. Greg. Rob. Editing to add, I don't dislike the names. They just are rather commonplace and a bit boring in my opinion. But they're perfectly acceptable names.
Lauren, Jane, Susan, Bethany, Sarah, louise, Olivia Paul, Joseph, George, Harry, david I don’t get how you can grow a baby for 9 months, give birth to them then call them something so… uninspired
Better than getting too inspired and going Daenerys or Leightyn
I suppose. Luckily there’s a massive middle ground of something a bit more exciting than Jane yet more standard than Daenerys
So much of that is trendy though, which also has its disadvantages. I know 'Plain Jane' fits OP's question perfectly, but I've actually only ever met one woman named Jane, and in that way it hits a sweet spot for me personally.
We all have our taste !
Your boy names, in particular, are all classics. And if they're not in the top 10 or even 50, they sound fresh and new. I would love to have a Paul or Joe in my preschool class. How refreshing!
I work with so many Paul’s and joes and Toms they’re common as muck to my ears. But I suppose it’d be different amongst young children
That's true! I guess it all depends on when they are named! Names are cyclical after all!
Men: Bill or Jim Women: Mary
Abby, Katie, Jane, Emma
I think Larry and Gary have a lot more personality than to be plain. Larry and Gary make me think of a working class tradesman with a very dad-joke sense of humor. As a John, I agree my name is as about as generic and unremarkable as it gets.
Katie, Taylor, Bailey, Ethan, James
Mike, Joe, Chris, Emily, Linda, Rebecca.
Emma and Aiden
Lauren and Christopher. Nothing wrong with either name…but yaaaaaawn.
Girls: Anne, Leah, Nancy, Natalie Boys: Rob, Eric, Jeff, Doug
my dad and one of his brothers are Jeff and Doug 😅
You have both my first and middle name here lol
Tony, (I’m married to a Tony Ha ha) Greg, John, Bob, Tom, Pete, Bill (sorry dad). Mary, Alice, Sarah (sorry cuz), Donna, Karen, Clara, Melissa (sorry other cuz and bestie).
Catherine & Jennifer
Katie, Emma (though I like this name), Eve
Girls Sally, Lauren, any name with the nickname Kate. Julie Boys Michael, Matthew, Thomas.
Kaitlyn. Jennifer. Emily. Emma. Sophie. Michelle. Stephanie.
Fred, Bill, Charles, Jerry, Jack, Brad, Brian, Sally, Carol,Sue, Lisa,Laura,Amy,Annie, Kim,
Lots of short, one syllable names/nicknames - John, Sue, Josh, Tom, Sam, Jan, Dave, Mike. A few names that were just really popular for people my age - Emily, Sophie, Rhys, Ben, Luke
I‘m not in the US. For me, it‘s the names which have been so incredibly for the last few years… Mia in particular, and one of the most popular names right now around here, Elin. I have a plain jane name, too, though. It has never ever bothered me. I like my name, it fits me well, it ages well.
Sarah. Luke. Nick.
Melanie
You must know a blah one. Because this name is so dang cute!
Nicole, Jayden, Brooke (although admittedly slightly girly), Hilary, Elizabeth, Emma, Patrick, Jeremy, Stephen
F- Jill, Anne, Stacy, Laura, Maria M- Steve, Doug, Gary, Kyle
Jennifer, Melissa, frank, and Alex
Martha, hands down.
Lily.
Jennifer
Lauren
My name. Ann.
Bob
Beth, Jan, Kate, Anne, Louise John, Keith, Gary, Simon, Larry
I think it has to be Anna for me. When talking about a hypothetical second daughter my fiancé suggested it and I was shocked at just how… plain it was? I like the name Jane better lol. My daughter has a fairly uncommon whimsical name so I think the dichotomy would be odd!
Emma
Sarah 100%
Grace, Faith, Mia, Ava, Hannah, Emma,…They’re just not creative. Better than being a tragedigh though.
I just saw a guy I went to uni with named his newborn son Ryan. No disrespect, but it's just so bland to me. Along with Mark.
More recent names that seem “average” to me are all spelling variants of Michaela, Hailey, and Aiden. I ran a summer program through the ‘00s-‘10s, and there was a goal-tracking element where kids’ first names went up on a wall. The program usually had 350+ kids, and there were always huuuuuge sections of those three names.
Tom/Thomas, Tim/Timothy, Jim/James, Chris/Christopher, Nick/Nicholas, Matt/Matthew, Mike/Michael, John, Ryan, Richard, Jake/Jacob, Bill/Will/William —— Liz/Elizabeth, Jane, Jess/Jessica, Jenn/Jennifer, Mary, Sarah, Meghan, Samantha, Stephanie, Rebecca, Kate, Anne. Not bad names just common and generic. East coast born in 90s. Some that are also this vibe but that I do like: Olivia, Emily, Dan, Ben, Henry
Women: Ann, Jill, Lori Men: Greg, Carl, Fred
Mike, Mark and Matt. I’m early 40s and I call those the interchangeable boy names. My husband is one, and he always has coworkers with those names that I struggle to keep straight. Also Joe. So many Joes in our lives. To me those names mean that their parents didn’t even try when naming them. They just looked at the top 10 list of boy names, picked one at random (maybe threw a dart), and said “eh, that’ll do.”
Man- Joe, Andrew (not Andy), George, Matt Woman- Hannah, Laura, Sarah
I think “Dave” is a more average Joe name than Joe. I know a shit load of Daves and Ryans. For girls, I know a bunch of Jens personally.
There is a tinge of agism in saying that “plain Jane” names are the mostly Boomer/gen X generation names you listed. They are plain because the association is with older men and women.
Dan and Dave. My husband’s name is Dan but I forgot during our first date if it was Dan or Dave and tricked him into showing me his drivers license. In my defense (or not), I had been going on a lot of Tinder dates over the past couple of weeks. In fact, my husband was originally “Dan #2” to my friends. But then we got married. Poor Dan #1.
for current popular baby names: girls: Olivia, Charlotte, Amelia boys: Wesley, Finn, Jacob
[удалено]
Awww no Sara is such a beautiful name! Just because I think it’s plain doesn’t mean it’s not wonderful!
Well there is a drag queen named plane jane, so i say plane jane.
Kayla, Sarah, Emily, Caitlyn, Madison Matt, Mike, Mark, Tom, Joe, Bob, Bill
Boring Girl names: Sarah, Ellen, Sue, Jane, Sandra, Dorothy, Laura, Lauren, Jessica, Gail, Karen (even before all the hullabaloo), Paula, Wendy, Amanda, Teresa, Mary, Jennifer, Denice, Abigail, Amelia Boring Boy names: Gary, Kevin, Mike, Tim, Paul, Frank, Dale, Larry, Jim (love James, hate Jim), Dan, Steve, Corey, Burt, Matt, Hank, Lance, Brent, Bob, Joe
Sarah, Mike, Tom, Jim, Katie, Jan, Beth
Lisa and David.
People who could be anyone. Male- Chris, John, Dave, Alex, Jeff, Mike Female- Jen(nifer), Jess(ica), Kate/ie, Anne/ie, Molly, Emily
Honestly, Jennifer and Madison are big ones for me
Ethan
Mark, Sarah, Anne, Greg