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« TOP ENGLISH GIRLS’ NAMES: Who Are The Most Popular?

TOP ENGLISH BOYS’ NAMES

Yesterday we took a look at the long-delayed UK Office for National Statistics’ list of most popular girls’ names in England and Wales for 2008–and now it’s the boys’ turn. We see many similar patterns across the gender divide, though perhaps even more names in the boy’ column that are less familiar in the US.

jackhorner3 The top ten names are:

1. JACK–#1 for the 13th consecutive year

2. OLIVER*

3. THOMAS

4. HARRY– relecting the popularity of both the younger prince + Harry Potter

5. JOSHUA

6. ALFIE–the name of a perpetually popular BBC TV character

7. CHARLIE

8. DANIEL

9. JAMES

10. WILLIAM

*Note must be made though, that the ONS, like our Social Security Administration, ranks each spelling of a name separately, and if all the spellings of the name Mohammed were totalled, that name would rank in second place, reflecting Britain’s growing ethnic diversity.

As with their sisters, there are a number of male baby names in the UK top 100 that don’t even appear in the US top 1000 at all. These include:

ALFIE
ARCHIE
HARVEY
THEO
FREDDIE
LOUIE
EWAN
ZAK

Here again, an astonishing number of nickname names–60%! – a couple of which it’s difficult to imagine catching a Virgin trans-Atlantic flight and landing over here–certainly true in the case of Louie. Another that pops out is Harvey, an upscale Brit favorite rarely considered in the US (except, of course, by some bold nameberryites).

There are some other top English boys’ names that rank much higher up–the followng are not even in the Top 500 in the US–though some have the potential of catching on:

HARRY
LEWIS
CALLUM
FINLEY
RHYS
TOBY
BEN
LEON–popular all over Europe
HARLEY
KIAN
KIERAN
BAILEY (now used more for girls in the US)
REUBEN
ELLIS
BILLY

Those new to the Top 100 in 2008 following substantial leaps:

KIAN — up 436 places
RILEY — up 306 places
JAYDEN — up 281 places (and proving that the cultural exchange works both ways)
ASHTON — up 264
LOGAN — up 195
THEO — up 172
LUCA — up 135
BLAKE — up 105

And, once again, to complete the picture, here are the top names on neighboring lists:

SCOTLAND

JACK
LEWIS
DANIEL
LIAM
JAMES

NORTHERN IRELAND

JACK
MATTHEW
DANIEL
JAMES
RYAN

For the full list of the British/Wales top 100, go to: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15282

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 17th, 2009 at 12:12 am and is filed under Uncategorized, baby name popularity, baby names of 2008 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

17 Responses to “TOP ENGLISH BOYS’ NAMES”

susan Says:

September 17th, 2009 at 12:37 am

I love Harvey!

linda Says:

September 17th, 2009 at 12:44 am

And that’s why you’re a supreme nameberryite!

Kayt Says:

September 17th, 2009 at 12:45 am

Ha, and my husband thought James wasn’t that common anymore! Well, not where we live (Colorado), but still. I guess I should be glad it’s a British chic sort of classic….

lyndsayjenness Says:

September 17th, 2009 at 3:09 am

I love Harvey too! Actually, Alfie, Freddie, Harvey and Archie are all favorites. I’m starting to love Theo, too, even though I was the one who said “I hate Theo” in the secret name heresies… proof of what nameberry does to a person! Oh and I also love Charlie, not sure I’m on board with the whole nickname-as-full-name thing, but I don’t particularly care for Charles, and think Charlie is cute as can be. I feel the same about Alfie/Alfred and Archie/Archibald (Archibald is one I just couldn’t do to a kid, no matter how much I like Archie!)

redriding Says:

September 17th, 2009 at 4:29 am

Yes, you are right about the nicknames. Archie is very popular, as is Alfie, but you would very rarely see an Archibald or an Alfred.

Are you sure it is not Louis with an S and not an E?

Hil Says:

September 17th, 2009 at 5:49 am

Just wanted to mention that you can download the full spreadsheets from the National Statistics website – the spreadsheets break down the names for Wales separately (mentioned in the last post) as well as breaking them down by region within England.

Stacy Says:

September 17th, 2009 at 6:15 am

I tend to be a bit more conservative with boy names than girl names… That said, I just love Ellis (for a girl as well as a boy) but my husband hates it. Boo. I also really like Rhys (which my cousin is using for her baby) and Kieran.

I do really like Harry, but only has a nickname for Henry. I’m not a big fan of nicknames as given names, I still like having a more formal name.

Abby Says:

September 17th, 2009 at 8:50 am

I love Theo and Freddie! But only as nicknames for Theodore and Frederic. I wonder how all those Alfies, Archies and Charlies will feel when they grow up …

JNE Says:

September 17th, 2009 at 9:07 am

Yay! Thanks for this post!

I’ll second Abby – Theo and Freddie are great as nn for full names. I like Ewan too. Charlie is also fantastic (as a nn for the full – I just can’t do the nn only names, personally). Alfie made our long list as a nn for Alfred, but was cut early-on with the recognition that it would be tough to pull off this side of the Atlantic. Archer was on our long list too (nn Archie). I LOVE Harvey (I wanted as a mn and had the George Harvey combo all picked out when my OH put his foot down and said “no – too sloany” – just the Harvey part – he does like George). Oh well! George is still a top-3 for us (Oliver and Oscar are the other two) – all are much more popular in England than the US, but none are obscure in the States. I guess we’re more adventurous with the girl naming than the boy naming.

Andrea Says:

September 17th, 2009 at 9:08 am

I think a lot of the other names that are popular elsewhere in Europe are as or more interesting. The number of two or three syllable L names on the lists and rhyming names that are similar in style have a pretty good shot at popularity in the U.S.

Wikipedia has a list of the top 10 in countries all over the world and links to the full popularity stats:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_popular_given_names

leffie Says:

September 17th, 2009 at 9:28 am

It’s fun to see so many nicknames being given in the UK. In the end why not name a kid the way you want it to be called? Makes sense.
You would think the Americans rather than the Brits would go for nicknames but turns out the US are much more conservative in that respect! So interesting.

When grown up I should think all the little Alfies etc. should have absolutely no problem, so many of them being around. Jack and Harry are nicknames too in the end, Prince Harry seems to be doing just fine.

peach Says:

September 17th, 2009 at 3:25 pm

What leffie said! This is a new era of “nicknames” becoming accepted as full names. It’s certainly not a new phenomenon: think of previously very common names, like Mary, whose nicknames are now much more popular than the original. And it’s no surprise that the UK, and the rest of Europe, is leading the name way…. the US will catch up in 5-10 years.

Kathleen Says:

September 17th, 2009 at 5:07 pm

I think Archer is a great formal name for Archie, and would work very well in the US!

Ellen Says:

September 19th, 2009 at 3:22 pm

As with the girls’ Top 100, the data given above is incorrect for “Those new to the Top 100 in 2008 following substantial leaps:

Those figures reflect the “change in rank since 1998″.

There were only 3 names new to the Top 100 list in 2008: Blake at # 91, Ewan at 95, and Zak at 100.

Emz does London Says:

September 20th, 2009 at 12:54 pm

I recently moved from Glasgow to teach in London and am surprised at the sheer numbers of Alfies, Archies, Billys, Joshes, Sams and Charlies. I have at least two of each, often in the same class, and all between the ages of 11-16. The Alfie trend certainly wasn’t sparked by the Eastenders character (though of course he certainly boosted it) as these kids all predate him.

And linda – please remember that ‘British’ is not synonymous with ‘English’! It’s not the British/Welsh top 100, as there is no British top 100. There are four countries in Britain, and England is only one of them! *rant over*

linda Says:

September 20th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

I promise to try! It’s an old bad habit (mistake), and I occasionally slip.

sarah Says:

September 22nd, 2009 at 12:26 am

Archie was the name of the main character in a popular tv show in the UK during the 90’s called Monarch of the Glen. I wonder if that would be a cause or effect?