The ‘hidden’ story on the most popular baby names
According to the data compiled annually by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the most popular names for children born in England & Wales during 2008 were as follows:
Position | Boys | Girls |
1 | Jack | Olivia |
2 | Oliver | Ruby |
3 | Thomas | Emily |
4 | Harry | Grace |
5 | Joshua | Jessica |
6 | Alfie | Chloe |
7 | Charlie | Sophie |
8 | Daniel | Lily |
9 | James | Amelia |
10 | William | Evie |
There are some patterns here.
First of all, it is striking how traditional most of the names are for both boys and girls, although for the boys it is interesting that the familiar form of names rather than the original version is often preferred – Jack instead of John (first for the 14th year running), Alfie instead of Alfred, Harry instead of Harold, Charlie instead of Charles.
In the case of boys, three of the top nine names begin with the letter ‘J’. In the case of girls, six of the top ten names end with the sound ‘ee’ and 11 of the top 20 names contain one or more of the letter ‘l’.
On the other hand, the name David – which is the second most common name in Britain – slipped out of the top 50 of names chosen for baby boys born in 2004 and has stayed out. Similarly Margaret – the most common female name in the population as a whole – does not even appear in the top 100 names chosen for girls these days.
It should be noted that the Office of National Statistics (ONS) produces its ranking of the popularity of names using the exact spelling of the name given at birth registration. If one combines the numbers for names with very similar spellings, a different picture is revealed. For boys, combining the occurrence of Mohammed, Muhammad and Mohammad would put the name third – a reflection of the changing ethnicity of the British population. Similarly, if one combines the occurrence of Isabelle, Isabella, Isabel and Isobel, one would find the name top by far of the girls’ list.
You can see a fuller list of the most popular baby names and more analysis here.
If you’re one of NightHawk’s many American readers, you’ll find the comparable US data here.