Interesting Facts

7th March Unique Name Day

According to the Office of National Statistics, Harry and Amelia are the most popular names for babies born in England and Wales this year. (Muhammad is most popular boys' name in London and once all the different spellings are taken into account, it's the second most popular name for boys in the UK. Other boys' names to make the top 10 included traditional monikers such as William, James and Thomas, as well as the more unusual Alfie. And for girls;  Olivia, Sophie, Isabella, Ava and Jessica, all proved popular.)

Keeping with the theme, according to Experian Marketing, 565,028 women in Britain are named Susan, which works out at 2.24 per cent of the female population. (Anne, Margaret, Sarah and Catherine close behind. The study was carried out as part of the Share a Coke campaign in the UK, whereby Coke bottles will feature 250 of the most popular names in Great Britain. Suffice to say Lynne doesn't feature, but that's okay, because I don't drink cola, I prefer beer. Now a "Share a beer campaign" that would be more like it.)

According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, Sophia has topped the list of names for American baby girls for the second year in a row and Jacob is the most popular boy's name and has been for the past 14 years. (That's the good news, Sophia and Jacob are quite nice names, but the bad news is that the fastest-growing name for girls was Cataleya, and the fastest growing name for boys was    Major, even worse, K ing and Messiah are becoming increasingly popular names for boys. Delusions of grandeur?)

A woman in the UK, Emma-Louise Hodges, has changed her name by deed poll to include the names of 14 different Bond girls. (Her name is now Miss Moneypenny, but her full name is:- Miss Pussy Galore Honey Rider Solitaire Plenty O'Toole May Day Xenia Onatopp Holly Goodhead Tiffany Case Kissy Suzuki Mary Goodnight Jinx Johnson Octopussy Domino Moneypenny .) You can discuss this on the forum. What's in a name?

According to the Office of National Statistics Oliver and Olivia were the most popular baby names across England and Wales in 2010. (The top 10 boys' names in order were: Oliver, Jack, Harry, Alfie, Charlie, Thomas, William, Joshua, George, James and Daniel. The most popular girls' names were: Olivia, Sophie, Emily, Lily, Amelia, Jessica, Ruby, Chloe, Grace and Evie. Not a Moses Amadeus (son of filmmaker Woody Allen and actress Mia Farrow), Brooklyn Joseph (son of David and Victoria Beckham) or Tallulah Belle (daughter of actors Demi Moore and Bruce Willis) among them.)

Research by Gurgle.com suggests that some traditional names such as Edna and Norman are in danger of dying out in England and Wales. (There were 1,048 babies named Gertrude in 1907 but none in 2005. Baby Normans declined from 1,991 to two, one in Shropshire and one in Tyne and Wear. The girl's names that were out of fashion are: Gertrude, Edna, Ethel, Irene, Ada Norah and Olive. Unfashionable boy's names are: Norman, Walter, Percy, Harold, Ernest, Herbert and Clifford.)

Actually Emily is the most popular name for newborn girls in the UK. (After Emily it's Ellie, Jessica, Sophie and Chloe.)

In the UK 'Jack' is the most popular name for newborn baby boys. In fact it has been the most popular boy's name for 10 years. (I wonder if the most popular girl's name is Jill?)