One thing I have noticed is that I am called Linda a lot. Not by people I know, of course. Just this past week it has happened twice. Once at the doctor’s office when the medical assistant called me to the back, and then when a contractor returned my telephone call. It seems that people just see the “L” and assume it’s Linda. I have always wondered if that happens to other women named Laura, too. But, I’ve never thought to ask anyone.

My mother must have had a good ear for classic names, because my sister’s name is Julia. I am 53 and my sister is 46.

Regarding the name Melissa, I don’t care for it much, but named my older daughter Marisa, as I thought it was such a beautiful name. It was not at all common 25 or so years ago when I named her that, but it has become more common in recent years, especially with the spelling of Marissa.

My daughter has gone through being mis-called Melissa for years, just as I am mis-called Linda.

And you’re absolutely right - Emily might be #1, but she’s not Jennifer. Or Linda. Or Mary. The percentage of children receiving the most popular names has dropped over time.

(All this is US, of course.) In 1907, more than 5% of all newborn girls were named Mary. In 1947, the same was true of Linda.

By 1977, Jennifer was #1, and given to about 3.5% of newborn girls. Still very, very popular - but not quite as dominating as Mary or Linda in her day.

But in 1997, Emily held the top spot with 1.34% of the population. By 2007, she was still #1, but less than 1% - 0.1967%, to be precise - were given the name.

Sensible shifts from place to place, but it is true that chart-topping monikers are less problematic than they were a generation or two back.

And despite hearing of Emily’s popularity, in my entire life I have only met 4 other people with that name!

And Lola, I hated my given name, too. (It was Amy. Okay, it still is, but now I’m known by my middle name, unless I’m doing my banking.) I completely understand the resulting name obsession. And I object to Amy’s fresh-faced simplicity, so I understand your hitch about Laura. (Especially since I’m guessing we both grew up with Little House.)

My mother chose Amy because she had a long, exotic foreign name and wanted her kids to have simple, easy-to-say names. Which we all rather dislike. You really can’t win.

I actually almost put Amy on the list of sensible names, BTW. A couple of these - Melissa, Kimberly, Jenna, Amanda - couldn’t have been considered sensible in the 1980s, when they were dreadfully overexposed. But today, I’m willing to admit that time has marched on and many choices once done-to-death now sound familiar without being epidemic on playgrounds. I’d include Amy in that lot … and yes, Laura. Though like Amy, it doesn’t have much in the way of obvious nickname choices and that’s a drawback.

Disappellatia is a dreadful thing, isn’t it? There are cures, but sadly, not much in the way of prevention.

And as an answer to Allison, those “mom” names (Barbara, Janet & Linda [who are all contemporaries of mine]) will come back when WE are the grandparents. I keep a list of names I would have loved to use but got shot down for one reason or another for my kids (the boys in particular, they’re a bit older than 4!) so maybe I’ll get lucky and have awesomely named grandkids sometime soon!