Some names never go out of fashion and new data released by the Office for National Statistics has shown which names have remained popular over the last 100 years. A total of 15 names have appeared in the list of the top 100 most popular names in England and Wales every single decade since the 1920s.
From these, 13 boys’ names made the list for England and Wales, compared to just two girls’ names, suggesting that parents are more daring in their choices for baby girls. In fact, the data showed that 339 different girls’ names appeared in the top 100 of each decade between the 1920s and 2010s, compared to just 276 boys’ names.
The data shows that girls’ names don’t stand the test of time with parents in the same way that boys’ names do. For instance, Gwendoline, Doris and Vera were all staples of the 1920s, before being replaced by names such as Robyn, Harriet, and Zoe in later decades.
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Unsurprisingly, there's also a geographical difference across the UK too. For example, what you might call classic British names like George, Charles, and Elizabeth have remained consistently popular across the whole of the UK for 100 years whereas in Wales traditionally Celtic names including Rhys, Osian, and Erin are most popular with modern Welsh parents.
The Most Loved Baby Names: 1921-2021 according to the ONS
1. Alexander
2. Charles
3. Daniel
4. David
5. Edward
6. Elizabeth
7. George
8. James
9. Joseph
10. Michael
11. Mohammed
12. Robert
13. Sarah
14. Thomas
15. William
As well as full names, there are also trends in people's nicknames which have been picked up. Label manufacturer, mynametags.com, analysed the ONS data which showed a shift in parents’ attitudes towards nicknames throughout the generations. For instance, Alexander is one of the most consistently popular names, having been in the charts every decade since the 1920s, whilst Alex didn’t become popular in its own right until the 80s.
The same trend can be seen with Anthony, Daniel, and Joshua, with their shortened versions – Tony, Danny, and Josh – all making appearances as given names later in the records. This preference for nicknames as given names shows parents are becoming more informal with their name choices, especially when it comes to boys’ names.
In the 1920s, just three nicknames appear in the top 100 boys’ chart - ‘Harry’, ‘Roy’, and ‘Fred’. This is compared to 15 in the 2010s chart, including ‘Teddy’, ‘Ollie’, and ‘Freddie’.
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