There has been much talk about how Britain is turning to turn-of-the-century trends for inspiration. Mum's name now feels "Mumsy", grandmother's name feels "old", but great-grandmother's name? .... That's actually sounding quite fresh now.
I have compiled a list of the Top 100 names in England and Wales from 1904, and compared their ranks in 2009 to see to what extend British parents have revived Edwardian trends. Over the course of the week I will do the same for all the decades from 1914-1984 and we should have some nice statistics and percentages to draw some conclusions from. Have we come full circle, or are we still hanging on to our 80s trends?
Here are the Top 100 names from England and Wales in 1904 with their current 2009 rank added for comparison:
Rank in 1904
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
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Name
WILLIAM JOHN GEORGE THOMAS ARTHUR JAMES CHARLES FREDERICK ALBERT ERNEST ALFRED EDWARD JOSEPH HAROLD ROBERT FRANK HENRY HARRY WALTER REGINALD HERBERT LEONARD STANLEY LESLIE RICHARD CYRIL SIDNEY FRANCIS PERCY DAVID WILFRED SAMUEL NORMAN CECIL ERIC SYDNEY HORACE FRED JACK EDWIN RONALD ALEXANDER CLIFFORD PATRICK BERNARD MICHAEL VICTOR PHILIP EDGAR MAURICE DONALD KENNETH BENJAMIN DOUGLAS HUGH LAWRENCE DANIEL GEOFFREY PETER ARCHIBALD CHRISTOPHER ALAN TOM GILBERT HUBERT RALPH STEPHEN GERALD BERTIE LEWIS ANDREW PERCIVAL RAYMOND BERTRAM ARNOLD EDMUND CLARENCE LOUIS IVOR ROLAND MARK GORDON CLAUDE MATTHEW MARTIN LIONEL DENNIS EVAN HECTOR ALEC ANTHONY ALLAN OLIVER OWEN HOWARD COLIN MORRIS DENIS LAURENCE JESSE
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Rank in 2010
7 94 9 6 82 10 62 95 159 574 154 43 15 1241 90 239 34 3 758 854 854 413 88 2036 221 2400 236 298 1407 64 358 14 4678 3865 256 1055 2941 495 2 503 1144 21 3865 126 1082 53 296 296 758 1551 1407 792 22 402 364 355 11 1344 147 503 104 205 176 1241 574 258 217 2199 811 27 133 3865 699 1344 1407 721 2941 69 1029 1551 201 2036 2629 41 267 2036 470 76 386 574 148 897 1 59 1171 491 1620 470 343 189
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Rank in 1904
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100
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Name
MARY FLORENCE DORIS EDITH DOROTHY ANNIE MARGARET ALICE ELIZABETH ELSIE GLADYS WINIFRED ETHEL HILDA LILIAN IVY VIOLET KATHLEEN ELLEN LILY SARAH NELLIE EMILY MABEL ADA BEATRICE MARJORIE MAY ROSE OLIVE EVELYN PHYLLIS GERTRUDE CATHERINE AGNES JESSIE FRANCES GRACE IRENE EVA CONSTANCE EDNA JANE AMY VERA MURIEL DAISY MINNIE MAUD LUCY EMMA ELEANOR LOUISA DORA NORA GWENDOLINE HELEN IDA CLARA HANNAH ANNE NORAH KATE MARTHA BERTHA LILLIAN ANN MARION BESSIE EILEEN LAURA MILDRED RUTH ISABELLA CHARLOTTE ESTHER RUBY HARRIET MARIE MARIA CAROLINE BARBARA ELIZA ROSINA AMELIA FREDA MILLICENT JANET FANNY JOAN LYDIA IRIS BLANCHE MIRIAM JEAN RACHEL ELLA MARGERY CHRISTINA NANCY
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Rank in 2010
213 54 2235 259 695 153 469 50 43 124 4564 1837 4564 3031 483 281 135 738 271 8 79 1004 4 471 547 129 --- 387 94 428 85 --- --- 267 576 301 647 7 1837 38 319 3031 879 28 1411 --- 18 621 2759 16 41 56 255 1105 771 2535 576 726 239 29 821 1139 190 81 5556 390 1022 3936 1171 1467 117 --- 342 15 14 182 2 89 543 93 664 1171 119 1467 9 2535 508 1467 --- 3031 91 195 5556 355 2019 140 13 --- 375 157
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Now for the stats:
28% of boys names and 25% of girls names rank in the Top 100 in both 1904 and 2009.
Names that are in the Top 100 for 1904 and are in the Top 500 for 2009 represent 56% for boys and 54% for girls.
Statistics taken from data supplied by the Office for National Statistics.