Popular vs unique names?

I think that depends on how you define the terms unique and popular.  If unique means spelled unconventionally or made up, then I'd hate those names regardless.  If unique means uncommon, like my daughter's name, Beatrix, then I love them.  Popular names aren't really an issue, at least not so much in the United States.  If you look at the Social Security Administration website (they have the records of the real top 1000 baby names in the USA since 1880), you can sort the popular names by percentage of babies born that year.  If you look at the percentages, the top baby names for 2018 (2019 isn't over yet so data has not been compiled), are Emma and Liam for girls and boys.  The interesting thing is even though they are the most popular names, they still only make up about 1% of the babies born in that year.  If 1 out of every 100 baby boys born in 2018 seems like a lot to you, then I guess you really want unusual names.

So I do like unique names, but I don't like names that are unique simply because they are spelled differently or are made up.  I like names that are not common, but are still easily recognizable names.

My name is unique. My name is pronounced kaiser. I am a boy.

I like a mixture of all kinds of names.

It's more about the name and my feelings towards it. I like Liam, it's a popular name, but it also sounds good. If the name Paisley was 90% liked by the population, I would still be in the other 10%. A good name is a good name, regardless of popularity. Even though people can unfortunately name their kids things like Toad, Neanderthal, and Mud Sprocket these days, I don't see these as legitimate children's names, even if naming children according to the pattern of this foolishness is a fad of the lefty loons of this generation

I prefer more common names. Some people with unusual names like them and others have problems. Misspellings and unusual names can be hard to get right on passports and driver's licenses which are a pain to fix.

Why not both? There are tons of unique names that are popular or are becoming popular

Normal names are MUCH better than silly faddy ones.

Both are fine.

What I don't like are bad spellings of common names i.e. Airwrecka for Erica.

Despite the question mark, this is not a question.