How popular is the baby name Luke in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Luke.

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Popularity of the baby name Luke


Posts that mention the name Luke

English family with 16 children

kinderfest

The Radfords — Noel and Sue of Morecambe, Lancashire, plus their 16 kids — are thought to be Britain’s biggest family.

In order from oldest to youngest, the names of all 16 Radford children are…

  1. Chris, 23
  2. Sophie, 18
  3. Chloe, 17
  4. Jack, 15
  5. Daniel, 13
  6. Luke, 11
  7. Millie, 10
  8. Katie, 9
  9. James, 8
  10. Ellie, 7
  11. Aimee, 6
  12. Josh, 4
  13. Max, 3
  14. Tilly May, 2
  15. Oscar, 1
  16. Casper, one month

Which of the 16 names is your favorite?

Want to read about other large families? I’ve blogged about families with 9 kids, 12 kids, 14 kids, 15 kids, 16 kids, 17 kids, 18 kids, 18 kids, 18 kids, 19 kids, 20 kids, 20 kids, 21 kids and 22 kids.

Source: Britain’s biggest family increases as mother gives birth to 16th child

Image: Ein Kinderfest (1868) by Ludwig Knaus

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2011

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

Jack and Emily were the most popular baby names in Ireland in 2011.

Here are the full top-20 lists for each gender:

Girl Names

  1. Emily (1.6% of all baby girls)
  2. Sophie
  3. Emma
  4. Grace
  5. Lily
  6. Sarah
  7. Lucy
  8. Ava
  9. Chloe
  10. Katie
  11. Ella
  12. Mia
  13. Aoife [EE-fa]
  14. Caoimhe [KEE-va or KWEE-va]
  15. Kate
  16. Leah
  17. Hannah
  18. Anna
  19. Saoirse [SEER-sha or SAIR-sha]
  20. Ruby

Boy Names

  1. Jack (2.4% of all baby boys)
  2. James
  3. Sean [shawn]
  4. Daniel
  5. Connor
  6. Ryan
  7. Adam
  8. Harry
  9. Michael
  10. Alex (tie)
  11. Dylan (tie)
  12. Luke
  13. Cian [KEE-an or KEEN]
  14. Jamie
  15. Oisin [UH-sheen or O-sheen]
  16. Aaron
  17. Liam
  18. Thomas
  19. Darragh
  20. Charlie

(And here are the 2010 rankings, if you’d like to compare.)

The names that increased the most in popularity from 2010 to 2011 were…

 Boy NamesGirl Names
By rank:Tommy – 160th to 88th
Mason – 128th to 70th
Hugh – 126th to 99th
Donnacha – 102nd to 76th
Leo – 94th to 79th		Michaela – 164th to 78th
Muireann – 120th to 87th
Sofia – 80th to 58th
Kayla – 41st to 21st
Eve (tie) – 60th to 45th
Maebh (tie) – 107th to 92nd
By number of babies:Harry – 364 to 499
Adam – 581 to 637
Mason – 59 to 115
Thomas – 347 to 403
Rian – 161 to 213		Lily – 371 to 496
Kayla – 186 to 306
Caoimhe – 323 to 398
Mia – 344 to 400
Ella – 380 to 434

Tommy’s rise can be attributed to Tommy Moon, a fictional baby who was “born” (read: introduced) on the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders at the very end of 2010.

And we already know why Mason is so popular…

Sources: Irish Babies’ Names 2011 [pdf], Jack and Emily top baby names list

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2010

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

Ireland recently released baby name data for 2010. Here are the top ten boy names and top ten girl names of last year (plus parenthetical comparisons to 2009 rankings).

Boy NamesGirl Names
1. Jack (same)
2. Sean (same)
3. Daniel (same)
4. James (up from 5th)
5. Conor (down from 4th)
6. Ryan (same)
7. Adam (same)
8. Alex (up from 9th)
9. Luke (up from 10th)
10. Dylan (up from 11th)		1. Sophie (same)
2. Emily (up from 6th)
3. Emma (same)
4. Sarah (same)
5. Lucy (up from 8th)
6. Ava (down from 2nd)
7. Grace (down from 5th)
8. Chloe (up from 10th)
9. Katie (down from 7th)
10. Aoife (down from 9th)

The one name that fell out of the boys’ top ten is Michael (now 12th).

The top 100 lists have seven new entries overall — four boy names (Tyler, Sebastian, Daithí, Alfie) and three girl names (Lilly, Sofia, Lena).

The boy names that saw the greatest popularity increases from 2009 to 2010 in terms of rank were Tyler, Sebastian, Jacob, Daithí* and Shay, and in terms of number were Noah, Ethan, Charlie, Harry and Jake.

The girl names that saw the greatest popularity increases from 2009 to 2010 in terms of rank were Alicia, Sofia, Lena, Lilly and Daisy, and in terms of number were Emily, Saoirse, Olivia, Sophia and Lucy.

*Daithí, pronounced DAH-hee, is a form of Dáithí, which is thought to mean “swift” in Irish Gaelic. The sudden interest in the name may have been sparked by the TV appearances of young Irish fiddler Daithí Ó Drónaí, who was on The All Ireland Talent Show in 2009 and Must Be The Music in 2010.

Sources: CSO, Jack, Sophie top baby names in 2010, Jack and Sophie, you’re top of the roll-call

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)

Acts of the Apostles…as a baby name

Here’s a story I’ve spotted a couple of times:

A couple of centuries ago, Thomas and Elizabeth Pegden of Kent, England, had four sons named Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Then they had a fifth son. They were out of evangelists, so what did they name baby #5? Acts of the Apostles, after the next book in the New Testament.

Is it a true story?

Sort of.

A man named Actsapostles Pegden was indeed born in Kent back in 1795. (He went by the nickname “Actsy.” He married in 1826, and passed away in 1865.)

And his parents were named Thomas and Elizabeth Pegden.

And he did have at least four older brothers.

But the brothers I’ve found were named Thomas (b. 1787), Philip (b. 1789), Isaac (b. 1791) and Christopher (b. 1793) — not Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

So how did he get his name?

I’m not sure.

The only two other people I’ve come across with this name — Acts of the Apostles Kennett (b. 1833), son of Richard and Phoebe Kennett, and Acts of the Apostles Tong (b. 1850), son of Henry and Mary Tong — were both born in Kent, just like Actsy. This makes me think the name has more to do with regional religious fervor than anything else.

Sources:

  • “A Curious Christian Name.” New York Times 16 Apr. 1899: 24.
  • Bardsley, Charles Wareing Endell. Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature. London: Chatto & Windus, 1897.
  • “‘Acts-Apostles’ as a Name.” Notes and Queries 3 Mar. 1866: 175.