[...] here’s the one that I found most intriguing:  Melissa of Dear Baby shared her reaction at Babble.  The list, you see, included Arlo – the name of Melissa’s newborn son.  Her family [...]

It just means that you have good style! It’s incredible how quickly the naming landscape changes and what influences those changes. I am sorry you are frustrated that your unique names have become less so, but it’s pretty crazy how few children will actually share your children’s names. The year I was born, my name was ranked around 300, but I have never met anyone within 3 years of my age that shares my name. And of course that was just the beginning of Madeline shooting up the charts, which my mother never anticipated. She was just naming me after her mother. Anyway, I love your kids names!

Be flattered that you are apparently a trend setter. I can understand your disappointment though. I cried when I found out a friend of mine that I hadn’t seen in a while named his daughter Hadley. Literal tears, over a name. Granted I was like 80 weeks pregnant with her and we hadn’t shared the name with anyone…and I might have been slightly hormonal at the time. I am sure the kids will love their names.

Our 2 year old son is named Arlo and everyone we meet LOVES his name so I guess it was bound to happen but I never thought it would become so popular all of a sudden. I had the same thing happen with my name I knew no other Olivia growing up now you are tripping over them at the playground.

next time, pick a name that doesn’t even pop up on the chart at all. that’s what we did. and no, we didn’t make up the name. it’s a real name. but i’m not telling you what it is.

I too have an Arlo, 10 months. I was really bummed when I saw this list too. When I delivered my Arlo the nurses told me there was an Arlo born a couple weeks before – aughh!! Oh well, we adore the name, it suites him perfectly, and it’s a cool name.
I have a girl on the way in 7 weeks and the name we have picked out is off the radar too, but I am starting to think I’ll see it on some sort of list next year.

Arlo and Everly are GORGEOUS names. We have Milo picked out, and as soon as we settled on it and got over our parents and grandparents wrinkling their noses, Milo’s started popping up all over the place :) Still, no other Arlo’s or Everly’s are YOUR Arlo and Everly.

I love the names Arlo and Everly. And don’t worry. They are still obscure. I go through birth announcements for my blog (http://names4real.wordpress.com/) and I rarely see either. They are being talked about, searched, but not used so much. I just checked the Social Security Stats. 181 babies named Arlo and 159 girls named Everly were born in 2009.

You have great names! I hear what you are saying though. I wanted Dashiell forever for a boy and then my husband came home one day sad and worried to tell me his cousin chose it for her son (I had it in my bag for a few years). Then I was set on Arlo for a boy. I did get a little negative feedback and had finally decided on Charles, nn Arlo for a boy. My mom told me (when I was pregnant but didn’t know the sex yet) that my sister would name her son (if she ever had one) Charles… I said, what about me naming baby Charles, nn Arlo though? And she went on to explain it would be different because of the nicknames. I can’t understand people sometimes. Anyway, I had a daughter and named her a name around the 250-300 mark in popularity and have seen numerous comments about how trendy her name is too. I don’t think it is but us name nerds do find anything under 500 popular I suppose. By the way, Ever was considered for our daughter. I love your children’s names!!

I understand what you mean! When I was 15 I decided that I wanted to name a daughter Hazel Jane after two of my great grandmothers. Ten years later, those names are getting pretty popular! I have a boy, but if we ever have a girl I will have to weigh the options between something rising in popularity or a name that I love that honors our family.

I love the names you chose for your kiddos! I also feel your pain of thinking that you’re being super unique – and then being disappointed to see the name on trendy baby lists. We picked the name Henry two years ago, when we first started thinking baby names, and our Henry is six months old now. Little did we know that we’d meet nine bazillion other little Henrys all around his age. Blast.

Trust me I feel your frustration! We chose three names for each of our children: their first names “unique” and the second two after family or a more common name we loved. Both Zion and Phoenix were totally unusual names when we chose them, but now I’ve heard of several kids with those names! And Phoenix is being used a lot for girls, which is interesting.

Oh my gosh — I’m having a fit! We named our sweet little 9-week-old Adelaide after my beloved grandmother, and just adore the name for its sentimental value AND its originality… but lo and behold, there it is on the nameberry.com top names list! I’m definitely surprised; everyone keeps telling us they haven’t heard of a baby named Adelaide in forever. Oh well — our babe will certainly wear it well, and any other Adelaides out there will have one cool girl to share their names with. :)

I am the Momma of Everly Claire born November ’09. I had never ever heard of a female Everly. The only Everly that came up when we played the google game was Anthony Kiedis’ son Everly Bear (obscure enough that only one other person in my ‘name council’ even referenced this). I adore her name though I have seen lists alleging it’s trendy rising status which disgruntle me somewhat. My Momma sent me some such link a few months after her birth which led me to googling again and THIS time I found your blog, your Everly Veda, and have truly enjoyed learning about your families growth, philosophies, and adventures ever since. So, a happy connection out there in the world of the Intranets!