Civil registration began in England and Wales in 1837. Between 1837 and 2005, approximately 318,000,000 names were recorded. The most popular were:
Boys
Girls
John (2,090,961)
William (1,918,538)
Thomas (1,277,284)
James (1,195,922)
George (1,089,770)
Joseph (729,456)
Robert (585,341)
Arthur (501,581)
Charles (485,873)
David (470,377)
Elizabeth (1,167,650)
Mary (1,128,958)
Mary Ann (718,245)
Margaret (692,674)
Ann (610,010)
Jane (560,064)
Ellen (512,836)
Sarah (503,947)
Alice (491,250)
Annie (475,101)
Mary Ann makes things tricky, doesn’t it? Elizabeth took the top spot, but [...]
Posted in Baby Name Trends, Baby Names, Boy Names, Girl Names, Popular Baby Names | Also tagged alice, ann, arthur, david, elizabeth, ellen, george, james, jane, john, joseph, margaret, mary, mary ann, robert, sarah, thomas, william
A reader named Maisie is expecting her fourth child (gender unknown) and she’d like some help coming up with names. Her first three children are named Lorna, Zacharias (Zach) and Louis. Here are the names Maisie and her husband have been considering:
Anastasia
Caitlin
Catya
Eva-May
Lara
Lena
Marlena
Willa-May
Winefred
Alfred
Arthur
Freddie
Joshua
Laurence
Leo
Myro
An intriguing mix, isn’t it?
Even before reading the list, though, my very first thought [...]
Posted in Baby Names, Baby Names Needed, Boy Names, Girl Names | Also tagged abraham, ada, alfred, alice, amelia, anastasia, antonia, archibald, arthur, barney, benjamin, bernadette, bernard, caitline, catya, dorothy, eva-may, florence, freddie, frederick, george, georgia, greta, henry, isla, josephine, joshua, katya, lorna, louis, maisie, marlena, milo, myro, myron, richard, roland, suzanne, thomas, walter, willa-may, winefred, winifred, zach, zacharias
A couple of days ago, a reader named Christie mentioned in a comment that she’d named her first son after St. Maximilian Kolbe. Nope, her son’s name wasn’t Maximilian–it was Kolbe.
Her comment reminded me of Elisabeth’s post on names from French birth announcements. One of the baby boys on the list, Vianney, was probably named [...]
Posted in Baby Names, Baby Names from Religion, Boy Names, Girl Names | Also tagged alexander, aloysius, becket, borromeo, bosco, briant, cabrini, christie, drexel, elisabeth, elizabeth, frances, gonzaga, gwyn, john, junipero, katharine, kemble, kirby, kolbe, luke, matt, maximilian, richard, rigby, serra, seton, talbot, thomas, vianney, xavier
A reader named Shannon is expecting a baby boy at the end of the month. She currently has two children — twins named Kathryn (Kate) Rose and Nicholas (Nick) James. She writes:
We like Jonathan and Joshua, but are having trouble with a middle name. My husband’s name is James Nelson, and we are considering [...]
Posted in Baby Names, Baby Names Needed, Boy Names, Middle Names | Also tagged adam, alex, alexander, andrew, anthony, arthur, blake, calvin, cole, daniel, david, grant, henry, isaac, jacob, james, joe, jonathan, joseph, joshua, kate, kathryn, luke, marcus, mark, martin, matthew, michael, mike, neil, nelson, nicholas, nick, paul, philip, rose, ryan, samuel, shannon, thomas, victor, william
Are there any boy names out there that aren’t at risk of becoming girl names?
This may not be the answer you want to hear, but: nope. There’s simply no way to guarantee that a boy name won’t suddenly become trendy for girls. (A movie mermaid was all it took for the name Madison — a [...]
Posted in Baby Name Advice, Baby Name Trends, Baby Names, Boy Names | Also tagged abraham, albert, alexander, archibald, augustine, balthazar, barnaby, benedict, benjamin, bennett, bernard, bertrand, blake, brian, brianna, bryant, caleb, carl, carla, chad, clark, conrad, derek, desmond, donald, elliot, emmett, erik, erika, favorite, ferdinand, garrick, george, georgia, gerald, geraldine, gilbert, grant, henrietta, henry, irwin, isaac, jared, joseph, josephine, kenneth, leopold, madison, mark, martin, martina, maynard, montgomery, mortimer, patrick, paul, paula, ralph, reginald, robert, roberta, rudolph, scott, seth, stanford, stuart, sylvester, theodora, theodore, trent, victor, victoria, woodrow, wyatt
Namestorm #7 – Baby Names Inspired by Children’s Book Authors