Popular baby names in England and Wales (UK), 1837-2005

Civil registration began in England and Wales in 1837. Between 1837 and 2005, approximately 318,000,000 names were recorded. The most popular were:

Female names

1. Elizabeth (1,167,650)
2. Mary (1,128,958)
3. Mary Ann (718,245)
4. Margaret (692,674)
5. Ann (610,010)
6. Jane (560,064)
7. Ellen (512,836)
8. Sarah (503,947)
9. Alice (491,250)
10. Annie (475,101)

Male names

1. John (2,090,961)
2. William (1,918,538)
3. Thomas (1,277,284)
4. James (1,195,922)
5. George (1,089,770)
6. Joseph (729,456)
7. Robert (585,341)
8. Arthur (501,581)
9. Charles (485,873)
10. David (470,377)

Mary Ann makes things tricky, doesn’t it? Elizabeth took the top spot, but if you lump Mary and Mary Ann together, the total (1,847,203) trumps Elizabeth’s total by a wide margin (679,553). In my mind, this gives Mary a strong case for being declared the true #1 name. What do you think?

Source: Hale, Beth. “John and Elizabeth, most popular British names in record books as Royal monikers reign.” Daily Mail 17 Feb. 2010.

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)