With Christmas Day just around the corner, children's festive spirits are starting to heighten as Father Christmas prepares to deliver gifts under the tree. Hoping to have made it onto the big man's 'nice list', little ones will remain on their best behaviour in the build-up to December 25, but data has shown that there are some children who are most likely to land in Santa's good books - based on their name.
The team at Real Santa Letters have revealed the top 20 girls' and boys' names most likely to make the cut. Putting over 700 names to the test, they have shared insight that might surprise parents.
They discovered which names were most likely to be on Santa's 'nice list' by looking back through their records to see which children have received a Real Santa Letter, and comparing the stats to baby name data in England and Wales.
Searching through the 4,262 Santa letters sent to date, the team compared their internal data to the latest release of baby name figures for England and Wales to discover the children's names most likely to make the 'nice list'.
The boys' names who are more likely to land a visit from Mr Claus include Braelyn, Broc, Ged, Graydon, Kiernan, and Teigan.
Analysing on the same basis, the girls' names included Adie, Arian, Baillie, Charleen, Hollie-Rae, Jaylee, Kade, Kristie, Melrose, and Mylor.
The research also dated back figures based on the 50 most popular baby names from the last ten years (according to ONS data – sum for years spanning 2012 to 2021) to see where they compared against each other.
Based on these popular names, boys named Ethan, and Jack, and girls called Isabelle, and Maisie, ranked highly to make it onto Santa's 'nice list'.
However, Charlie and Sophie took the top spot.
The top 20 kids' names most likely to be on Santa's 'nice list' - for both genders:
1. Charlie & Sophie
2. Ethan & Isabelle
3. Jack & Maisie
4. Jacob & Ella
5. George & Olivia
6. Thomas & Evie
7. Oliver & Grace
8. James & Sienna
9. Edward & Freya
10. Logan & Ruby
11. Oscar & Jessica
12. Harry & Mia
13. Daniel & Daisy
14. Freddie & Scarlett
15. Max & Chloe
16. Joshua & Sophia
17. Isaac & Lily
18. Noah & Ava
19. Archie & Isla
20. Alfie & Phoebe
A North Pole insider commented: "From their workshop in the North Pole, Santa makes the all-important gift lists for children of all ages.
"With a little help from one or two elves, Santa draws up the nice list and makes sure that his workshop has a fantastic range of toys and gifts ready to be delivered on Christmas Day. But he still makes time to sit down and write magical personalised letters for children across the world.
They continued: "Whilst Santa is writing his letters, he'll spread a little festive magic and use a touch of Christmas cheer to ensure that each letter is individually personalised for each child.
"Once Santa has finished writing his letter, Mrs Claus and the elves help him out by carefully putting the letter in its very own festive envelope, which is individually personalised.
"Either Santa Claus or Mrs Claus give the letters one final check before each letter from Santa is prepared to be posted to all the kids on the nice list.
"Letters from Santa are in such high demand that there's not an elf in Lapland who doesn't lend a hand packing the letters in Santa's sacks, ready to be sent from the North Pole's post office this December."
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