I suppose i don't understand why one might feel a name is stolen. Like i don't see how using a name someone else likes COULD be hurtful - to me it's like someone "stealing" a glance in my mirror - they won't wear it out!

I guess i feel that i could call my kid anything i wanted and even if every friend i had also used that name, it wouldn't mean i couldn't, kwim? And if i didn't want to, because it put me off there being so many babies with that name already, well, that's my decision, not theirs, so they didn't take anything from me. Does that make sense?

With DD there was only really one name we liked. We had zero boys names lined up and only one for a girl, nothing would have made us use another name. I actually have 2 friends who never speak now because one called her son the name the other one wanted to call HER son (the one who wanted the name so badly wasn't pregnant and still has no kids). I know the little boy is named after his dad's dad, who died when bubs was still in the womb, and i've no idea if the other girl knows that, but she did have a big rant about how "she KNEW i wanted that name!" and then kind of dropped the new mother. At the time i thought probably there were other issues happening, but it's been a fair few years now and they're still very distant. It's ironic now too - if she HAD a baby boy now the other boy with his name would be 5 by the time he was born, not exactly 2 babies with the same name...

Bx