Don’t get too excited — these aren’t the top names for 2009. (If only!)
Why am I posting old news? Because I recently found a more complete version of the 2008 list that goes all the way down to baby names used in England and Wales just three times. So, the top-ranked names may be old news, but the rest are new. (New to me, anyway.) Here goes:
| Boys | Girls | |
| Popular Names |
Jack Oliver Thomas Harry Joshua |
Olivia Ruby Emily Grace Jessica |
| Unusual names (# of babies) |
Spike (23) Willoughby (22) Ziggy (20) Ptolemy (19) Zidane (13) Zinedine (12) Kal-El (10) Hendrix (9) Humphrey (8) Elan (6) Gruff (6) Legend (6) Achilles (5) Amen (5) Bright (5) Jesse-James (5) Tennyson (5) Darlington (4) James-Dean (4) Courage (3) Freedom (3) Messiah (3) Remus (3) Riquelme (3) Seven (3) |
Bluebell (20) Primrose (17) Temperance (13) Breeze (11) Cleopatra (11) Sorrel (11) Tigerlily (9) Tirion (9) Comfort (8) Peaches (8) Pebbles (8) Beyonce (7) Miami (7) Zinnia (7) Godiva (6) Mercades (5) Panashe (5) Tulip (5) Wednesday (5) Magenta (4) Boadicea (3) Cayenne (3) Kimora-Lee (3) Plum (3) Rejoice (3) |
And now, just for fun, let’s compare usage in England to usage in America:
| Name | # UK* Boys | # UK Girls | # U.S. Boys | # U.S. Girls |
| Avery | 4 | 6 | 1,731 | 5,758 |
| Harper | 18 | 20 | 244 | 1,108 |
| Mackenzie Makenzie Mckenzie |
361 28 462 |
53 9 66 |
?** ? ? |
4,425 2,048 2,258 |
| Riley | 2,201 | 63 | 4,076 | 5,701 |
| Total*** | 363,000 | 346,000 | 2,150,000 | 2,060,000 |
*By UK, I mean England and Wales. Not an accurate substitution, I know. But “England and Wales” is just way too long for that spot.
**The 1,000th name on the U.S. top 1,000 was used for 192 baby boys. So the question marks represent some number between 0 and 192.
***Update: Kelly has astutely pointed out that raw numbers can be misleading. I’m not going to change the chart — I’m just too lazy — but I’ve thrown in some rough totals, for context.
Source: Office for National Statistics
9 Comments
It completely delights me that more than one person named their child James Hyphen Dean and Jesse Hyphen James.
If I have another baby, I am going to make their middle name “Hyphen” just for the lulz.
And Kimora Hyphen Lee! I love it!
I love those hyphenated names too. Jesse-James is one I see every once in a while, but Kimora-Lee? That’s rare. (And also kinda funny, at least to me, because I’m not exactly sure what Kimora Lee Simmons is famous for.)
Some interesting names there. I quite like Sorrel for a girl. I don’t think I could use any of the rare boys’ names. I’m kinda surprised that there aren’t more Tennysons around. But Gruff? !
When comparing the numbers of births, to make a more accurate picture you need to know the total number of births in both places, divide the U.S. figure of total births by the England/Wales one, and multiply the England/Wales numbers (or divide the U.S. numbers) by that ratio. Since England/Wales’s population is probably quite a bit smalle than the U.S. when looking at numbers alone there is a bit of a “false illusion” with those numbers (but your point in comparing those names is still probably valid).
*Awesome* lists!
Although I don’t like all of them, these I am very much in favour of:
Willoughby (this one and Bellamy are all boy for me!)
Hendrix
Humphrey (reminds me of Alphonse, so out of style and so adorable!)
Bright
Courage (Virtue names for boys are few, but this one is new and wonderful!)
Freedom (I don’t see the problem with this, as long as it’s on a boy!)
Remus
Primrose
Breeze
Sorrel (awesome, this one is high on my list!)
Comfort (the ONLY name I LOVE but don’t have the courage to completely commit to…)
Zinnia
Godiva
Wednesday
Cayenne
Plum (so much sweeter than other monosyllabic favourites like Claire)
Rejoice (awesome way to honour a Joyce!)
I cringe whenever I see Comfort, because I love her so much but for some reason I can never even bring myself to put her on my list, and my list has Morning on it!
I love her, but she’s too beautiful to be stuck in the middle, but I can’t bring myself to use her up front either so it’s just an eternal thorn in my side! :(
@Kelly – Good point. I’m not going to crunch the numbers right now, but I will go find the total number of births for each place/gender and add them to the post, so people can have an idea of scale. Thanks!
@Dearest – I love Comfort as well. Huge GP of mine. :)
As a lifelong Dolphins fan, Miami is quite possibly my biggest guilty pleasure name ;)