Posted at 12:59 PM in Data Analysis and Statistics, Historic Names, Research | Permalink | Comments (2)
In 1377-1381, the Hundred Years wars have been raging for forty years, and Edward III has just died after his 50-year reign, leaving his grandson, Richard, as heir.
Below are the top 50 national totals for first names for men and women living in 1377-81 in England, collated by George Redmonds in Christian Names in Local and Family History (2004).
His frequency tables have been compiled from male names from 10 counties and female names from 10 counties in the Poll Tax returns of 1377-81. 1000 male and 1000 female names were counted from each county and have been combined to produce a national total of 10,000 names for each gender.
For his overall ranks, Redmonds has not included any male names with totals under three or female names with totals under nine. An examination of some of the rarer regional variations will be looked at in a later post.
As Redmonds point out, "Because those who were being taxed were adults, the names testify to practices a generation earlier."
Redmonds has also given each name a "classification of popularity", listed below:
1 | John | 3532 | Extremely popular | 1 | Alice | 1714 | Extremely popular |
2 | William | 1834 | 2 | Agnes | 1433 | ||
3 | Thomas | 945 | Very popular | 3 | Joan | 1239 | |
4 | Richard | 831 | 4 | Matilda | 654 | Very popular |
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5 | Robert | 741 | 5 | Isabel | 465 | ||
6 | Henry | 334 | Popular | 6 | Margaret | 435 | |
7 | Roger | 306 | 7 | Emme | 409 | ||
8 | Walter | 240 | 8 | Marg' * | 281 | Popular |
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9 | Adam | 178 | Quite popular | 9 | Margery | 279 | |
10 | Nicholas | 163 | 10 | Ellen | 278 | ||
11 | Hugh | 104 | 11 | Julian | 238 | ||
12 | Geoffrey | 85 | 12 | Cecile | 229 | ||
13 | Simon | 81 | 13 | Christine | 208 | ||
14 | Ralph | 69 | 14 | Katherine | 178 | Quite popular |
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15 | Peter | 62 | 15 | Edith | 142 | ||
16 | Stephen | 50 | Infrequent | 16 | Amice | 125 | |
17 | Gilbert | 34 | 17 | Elizabeth | 112 | ||
17 | Philip | 34 | 18 | Beatrice | 110 | ||
19 | Reginald | 32 | 19 | Magot * | 99 | ||
20 | David | 29 | 20 | Sarah | 78 | ||
21 | Laurence | 27 | 21 | Sybil | 74 | ||
22 | James | 20 | 22 | Felice | 72 | ||
23 | Edmund | 19 | 22 | Christian | 72 | ||
24 | Alan | 16 | 24 | Avice | 71 | ||
25 | Denis | 15 | 25 | Denise | 64 | ||
25 | Michael | 15 | 26 | Is' * | 62 | ||
25 | Alexander | 15 | 27 | Isolde | 60 | ||
28 | Matthew | 12 | 28 | Lucy | 46 | Infrequent |
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28 | Andrew | 12 | 29 | Petronille | 39 | ||
30 | Edus (?) | 10 | 29 | Rose | 36 | ||
31 | Giles | 8 | Rare | 29 | Mariot * | 34 | |
31 | Benedict | 8 | 32 | Mabel | 30 | ||
33 | Edward | 7 | 32 | Lettice | 30 | ||
34 | Luke | 6 | 34 | Constance | 27 | ||
34 | George | 6 | 35 | Anne | 24 | ||
34 | Gregory | 6 | 35 | Idony | 24 | ||
34 | Clement | 6 | 37 | Eve | 22 | ||
38 | Elias | 5 | 38 | Annabel | 21 | ||
38 | Bartholomew | 5 | 39 | Marion | 20 | ||
40 | Martin | 4 | 40 | Eleanor | 19 | ||
40 | Jena | 4 | 41 | Ibot * | 18 | ||
40 | Nigel | 4 | 41 | Mag' * | 18 | ||
43 | Randolph | 3 | 43 | Evita * | 14 | ||
43 | Madok | 3 | 44 | Clemence | 13 | ||
43 | Maurice | 3 | 45 | Agatha | 12 | ||
43 | Griffin | 3 | 46 | Helwise | 11 | ||
43 | Gervase | 3 | 46 | Godelena | 11 | ||
43 | Eyvyn | 3 | 48 | Lora | 10 | ||
43 | Hamond | 3 | 49 | Mary | 9 | Rare |
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43 | Stacey | 3 | 49 | Margr' * | 9 |
* "The evidence shows that clerks readily used abbreviations that could stand for more than one name and, since these cannot be identified, the totals in a few cases are seriously affected. The most obvious problems are Marg' for either Margaret or Margery and Is' which could be for either Isabel or Isolde. Less important numerically was 'Cris' which could be for either Christian or Christine, two names that are usually listed separately in dictionaries. There may have been a distinction, for the daughter of Robert de Gowtby of Noseley in Leicestershire was first names Christiana and then Crystina. Perhaps the spellings represented scribal preferences, since Christine was particularly frequent in the south coast counties of Kent and Dorset but missing from some counties in the Midlands and North, were Christian was more usual.
The clerks also employed many diminutives, and it has been thought safer to list these variations independently. Magot is the most important of these but Mariot, Ibot, Evita, Colet, Evot, Annot and Ammot are others that affect the overall counts. This helps to explain why the list of women's names is longer than the men's but, even if we ignore the abbreviations and diminutives, there were still more female names in use, and more of them were 'popular'."
Posted at 01:04 PM in Data Analysis and Statistics, Historic Names, Popularity Ranking | Permalink | Comments (4)
1700 - William III (famously known as William of Orange) is on the throne. This year, William Congreve's comedy The Way of the World is first performed in London and an English translation of the novel Don Quixote is first published.
Below are the top 50 first names for boys and girls born in 1700 in England and Wales according to Leslie Dunkling in The Guinness Book of Names, 6th Edition (1993).
Variants have been grouped together under their most frequent form.
1 | John | 1 | Mary | |
2 | William | 2 | Elizabeth | |
3 | Thomas | 3 | Ann | |
4 | Richard | 4 | Sarah | |
5 | James | 5 | Jane | |
6 | Robert | 6 | Margaret | |
7 | Joseph | 7 | Susan | |
8 | Edward | 8 | Martha | |
9 | Henry | 9 | Hannah | |
10 | George | 10 | Catherine | |
11 | Samuel | 11 | Alice | |
12 | Francis | 12 | Frances | |
13 | Charles | 13 | Eleanor | |
14 | Daniel | 14 | Dorothy | |
15 | Benjamin | 15 | Rebecca | |
16 | Edmund | 16 | Isabel | |
17 | Matthew | 17 | Grace | |
18 | Peter | 18 | Joan | |
19 | Nicholas | 19 | Rachel | |
20 | Isaac | 20 | Agnes | |
21 | Christopher | 21 | Ellen | |
22 | Abraham | 22 | Maria | |
23 | Stephen | 23 | Lydia | |
24 | Jonathan | 24 | Ruth | |
25 | Philip | 25= | Deborah | |
26 | Michael | 25= | Judith | |
27 | Hugh | 27= | Esther | |
28 | Joshua | 27= | Joanna | |
29 | Anthony | 29= | Amy | |
30 | Ralph | 29= | Marjorie | |
31 | Andrew | 29= | Phoebe | |
32 | David | 32 | Jenny | |
33 | Simon | 33= | Barbara | |
34 | Roger | 33= | Bridget | |
35 | Alexander | 35 | Fanny | |
36 | Jacob | 36 | Lucy | |
37 | Laurence | 37= | Betty | |
38 | Moses | 37= | Eliza | |
39 | Nathaniel | 37= | Nancy | |
40 | Walter | 40 | Emma | |
41 | Aaron | 41 | Charlotte | |
42 | Jeremy | 42= | Dinah | |
43 | Owen | 42= | Sally | |
44 | Mark | 44= | Harriet | |
45 | Timothy | 44= | Jemima | |
46 | Adam | 44= | Kitty | |
47 | Martin | 44= | Mary Ann | |
48 | Josiah | 48= | Caroline | |
49 | Luke | 48= | Peggy | |
50 | Harry | 48= | Sophia |
Please note: Statutory birth registrations in England and Wales came into effect mid-1837 so there is no official data prior to this. Dunkling does not explain where the above data is taken from or how large the data range is. Is it from a single parish? A whole county? Several parishes across England and Wales?
However, the top half of this list, at least, is very similar to Smith-Bannister's top 50 for 1690-1700 from forty English parishes, taken from "family reconstitution data and evidence from records of baptism (sometimes birth) detailed in parish registers and a sample size of 122,710."
Notable differences appear in the bottom half of the lists, especially the female names:-
Names in Smith-Bannister's top 50 (1690-1700), but not in Dunkling's top 50 (1700):
Jonas (#36), Cornelius (#39), Cuthbert (#43), Solomon #43), Rose (#26), Thomasin (#28), Joyce (#31), Abigail (#34), Patience (#34), Hester* (#36), Mercy (#38), Wilmot (#38), Christian (#41), Easter* (#41), Rosamund (#41), Beatrice (#46), Edith (#46), Grisel (#46), Ursula (#46)
* Dunkling may have combined Hester and Easter with Esther.
Names in Dunklings top 50 (above) but not in Smith-Bannister's top 50 (1690-1700):
Hugh* (#27) Nathaniel* (#39), Aaron* (#41), Jeremy* (#42),Owen† (#43), Mark*, Martin* (#47), Josiah* (#48), Luke* (#49), Harry‡ (#50) Jenny‡ (#32), Fanny‡ (#35), Betty‡ (#37), Eliza‡ (#37), Nancy‡ (#37), Emma* (#40), Charlotte (#41), Sally‡ (#42), Harriet (#44), Jemima (#44), Kitty‡ (#44), Mary Ann‡ (#44), Caroline (#48), Peggy‡ (#48), Sophia (#48)
* All of these names appear in earlier years for Smith-Bannister's rankings so were certainly in use.
† Smith-Bannister only looks at English data; Owen was most likely from Welsh data Dunkling gathered.
‡ Smith-Bannister may have combined these diminutives with their parent-forms (Henry, Jane, Frances, Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah, Catherine and Margaret)
Posted at 06:39 PM in Historic Names, Popularity Ranking, Top names in England | Permalink | Comments (6)
1877 - the year Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India, Anna Sewell's novel Black Beauty was published, and the first Test cricket match between England and Australia too place.
Below is a selection of names from the GRO Birth Records for England and Wales in 1877. All are first names and middle names — the surnames are not included unless indicated by 'sn' — and have been checked against other records for accuracy.
Abdala Albert |
Abbavenna |
Fun facts:
For a look back at previous years' "Finds from" posts, click on the category links below ↓
Posted at 11:19 AM in Historic Names, Uncommon and Unusual | Permalink | Comments (8)
Here are 20 names for girls and for boys which were unexpectedly common during the Middle Ages.
My main source for these names comes from George Redmond's Christian Names in Local and Family History in which he ranks 1000 names from ten counties in the poll taxes between 1377 and 1381.
Julian
The Latin Julianus and Juliana both became Julian in vernacular Middle English. So, just like Philip was a name for both boys and girls in the Middle Ages, so too was Julian.
Julian, however, managed to race ahead in usage for girls thanks to Saint Julian of Norwich (1342-1416), an anchoress and theologian.
The female Julian was also found as Gillian, perhaps to distinguish it from the masculine form.
In Edmond's ranking, Julian was #11 for women in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Amice
Amice was the vernacular form of the Latin Amicia, most likely derived from the Latin amicus "friend." A saint Amicia was venerated in Brittany which may explain some of its popularity.
In Edmond's ranking, Amice was #16 for women in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Sybil
In Ancient Greece and Rome, sibyls were female prophets who were thought to possess divine foresight. In the Middle Ages, the name was spelled Sibyl or Sibley and even developed the diminutives Sibb and Sibot.
In Edmond's ranking, Sybil was #21 for women in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Felice
Felice and Felis were the vernacular forms of the Late Roman name Felicia, derived from the Latin felix "lucky, fortunate."
Felice was the lady love of Guy of Warwick, the legendary hero of English and French chivalric Romance. There was also a third century saint with the name.
Felice later became much confused with Phyllis.
In Edmond's ranking, Felice was joint #22 for women in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Christian
Like Julian, Christian was another unisex medieval name that was more common for girls. Both Christianus and Christiana can be found in the Latin records, but both had the vernacular form of Christian.
In Edmond's ranking, Christian was joint #22 for women in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Avice
Avice was introduced to Britain by the Normans from the older Germanic name Aveza. It's origins aren't clear, but it could be derived from Ava, or as a form of Hawis (from Hadewidis "battle + wide"). It could also be derived from the Latin Avitia "ancestral" via the Roman family name Avitus.
During the Middle Ages, Avice became associated with the Latin avis "bird," and eventually the spelling Avis became the usual form.
In Edmond's ranking, Avis was #23 for women in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Isolde
Most likely thanks to the popular Romance of Tristan and Isolde, Isolde was quite popular for girls in the Middle Ages, though most likely girls by the name were called Isot or Isaut in everyday.
In Edmond's ranking, Isolde was #26 for women in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Petronille
Petronilla was the name of a 1st century Roman martyr and considered to be the feminine form of Peter. Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine's sister Alix was known as Petronilla during her childhood.
Eventually, the vernacular form Pernell / Parnell developed. However, this vernacular form later came to be used to refer to a priest's concubine, which may explain why it declined in use by the 17th century.
In Edmond's ranking, Petronille was #28 for women in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Lettice
The vernacular form of Leticia (Latin laetitia "joy, happiness") which was also found in the Old French form Lece. In some cases, the diminutive form Lecelina lead to the surname Lesley.
The traditional English pronunciation of Lettice is LET-iss much like 'lettuce'.
In Edmond's ranking, Lettice was #32 for women in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Idony
Derived from a Norse goddess of Spring, Idony was quite common in the Middle Ages. It was Latinised as Idonia or Idonea, the latter of which matches the Latin idoneus meaning "suitable."
Lady Idonia de Clifford was the daughter of Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford (1274-1314), 1st Lord Warden of the Marches, responsible for defending the English border with Scotland. Her granddaughter, Lady Idoine Neville, was the great aunt of Edward IV and Richard III.
In Edmond's ranking, Idony was #35 for women in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Benedict
Saintly and popely Benedict was well used in the Middle Ages and led to the vernacular form Benet.
The feminine Benedicta also became Benet, which means both boys and girls answered to the name. It was, however, more commonly used for boys.
In Edmond's ranking, Benedict was #31 for men in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Jena
In the poll taxes, we find the mysterious occurrence of Jena for men. Jen and Jan were short forms of Jehan, the Old French form of Johannes (John), so it's most likely that Jena represents this.
In Edmond's ranking, Jena was joint #40 for men in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Madok / Eyvyn / Griffin
Madok, Eyvyn and Griffin were not uncommon in the Middle Ages in the Welsh-English borders. They were all anglicised forms of the common Welsh names Madoc (Madog), Evan (Ieuan) and Griffith (Gruffudd) which were used in Welsh nobility.
In Edmond's ranking, Madok, Eyvyn and Griffin were joint #43 for men in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Maurice
Saint Maurice was a 3rd-century Roman soldier who became a patron saint of infantry soldiers. His cult was a popular one in the Middle Ages.
The name was brought over to Britain by the Nomans and became commonly spelled Morris.
In Edmond's ranking, Maurice was joint #43 for men in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Hamond
Hamond and Hamon were the English forms of the Germanic names Haimo "home" and Haimund "home + protection."
Shakespeare used one of the diminutive forms, Hamnet, for his son, and another, Hamlet, for the titular character of his famous play.
In Edmond's ranking, Hamond was joint #43 for men in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Stacey
Stacey, or Stacy, was the diminutive form of Stace, itself the medieval English vernacular form of Eustace. Saint Eustace was a 2nd-century Roman martyr whose cult was popular in the Middle Ages.
In Edmond's ranking, Stacey was joint #43 for men in the 1377-81 poll taxes.
Posted at 02:45 PM in Historic Names | Permalink | Comments (10)
Following on from Top 200 Most Popular Names in England and Wales in 1840 Part 1, here are the same rankings but with different spellings combined.
For ease I have listed the most common form of the name as the total entry -- e.g. Catherine is listed here for Catherine, Catharine, Cathrine, Katherine and Katharine as it was the most common spelling.
To see how common the different spellings were, you can check Part 1 for an individual rank for each name.
The top ranks, for the most part, remain unchanged. It is the lower ranks that see the most shift. Overall, there was much more movement with the girls' names than the boys'. The top 100 barely shifts for the boys with the notable exception of Sidney (up from #80 to #66), Morris (#104 to #76) and Feargus (#97 to #121 - thanks to Feargus O'Connor).
For the girls' top 100, Catherine, Susannah, Eleanor, Betsy, Joanna, Kezia, Thirza, Jessie, Marian, Theresa, Emeline, Bessy and Sabina make noticeable shifts upwards.
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Statistics compiled by Eleanor Nickerson at britishbabynames.com
No unauthorised copying without credit or permission.
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Names in bold are those that have moved into the top 200 when spellings are combined.
Posted at 09:29 PM in Data Analysis and Statistics, Historic Names, Popularity Ranking, Research | Permalink | Comments (2)
Below are the compiled rankings for the most popular births in England and Wales in 1840 from the England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915. As the birth index runs from 1838, this is the last rankings of the series. You can see the complete set from 1840-1900 here.
Spelling Variants
One thing that sets 1840 apart from later years is the sheer number of spelling variations.
Let's take my own name, Eleanor, for example. Back in 1870 (and 1880, 1890 etc), only Eleanor ranked in the top 200, with alternate spellings ranking below. In 1840, however, the top 200 contained Eleanor, Elinor, Ellinor, Elenor and Ellenor.
The main reason for the wider number of spelling variants is that spelling was less standardised back in 1840. it was also often regional. Ellinor and Ellin, for example, were almost exclusively registered in Wales.
To remain consistent with the previous rankings from 1850-1900, the rank below lists individual spellings separately. Part 2, will show combined spellings.
Popular Culture Names in 1840
With the exception of 1900, during the Boer War, when patriot names were popular, Victoria rarely ranked in the top 100. It was below the top 150 in 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 and 1890.
However, 1840 was the year of Queen Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. So the names Victoria and Albert were in popular use, and even Alexandrina, Albertina and Brittania saw rises below the top 200.
Many boys in 1840 were given the first or middle name Feargus (or Fergus) in honour of Chartist Feargus O'Connor.
A lot of boys and girls had "Feargus O'Connor" as middle names (e.g. Jane Fergus O'Connor Mellard) and several boys were simply called "Feargus O'Connor." Surnames of Chartists appear to have been popularly used as middle names in this year -- Frost, Binns, Williams -- and often several together e.g. Rosa Emmett O'Connor Frost Wadworth and O'Connor Frost McDougall Dawson.
Issues and Discounted Names
It should be noted that the data is not without its flaws. Births were originally recorded by a registrar (in their own handwriting) which were later written up into the register. Some names are invariably recorded incorrectly and it is impossible to know where the mistake was made. Also, I have been compiling the ranks myself, and while I have endeavoured to record the number of names as accurately as possible I am also liable to human error. This, however, should not affect the rankings very much overall.
The register also doesn't record sex so it can be hard to determine how many were male or female -- especially surnames or seasonal names like Christmas, Easter and Valentine. Jesse is a male Biblical name, but was also sometimes a spelling variant/mistake for female Jessie. Tamer can be a variant of Biblical Tamar, but the census also has a few males with the name. As a guide, I looked to census records for the distribution of gender.
Many babies in 1840 were registered simply as "Male" or "Female." Perhaps it was to avoid a fine, or because of high infant mortality rates. Either way, I have not included these 'names' in the rankings.
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Statistics compiled by Eleanor Nickerson at britishbabynames.com
No unauthorised copying without credit or permission.
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Posted at 02:51 PM in Data Analysis and Statistics, Historic Names, Popularity Ranking, Research | Permalink | Comments (6)
1876 - the year that Queen Victoria became "Empress of India" and Scottish inventor Alexander Graham Bell filed a patent for the telephone.
Below is a selection of names from the GRO Birth Records for England and Wales in 1876. All are first names and middle names — the surnames are not included unless indicated by 'sn' — and have been checked against other records for accuracy.
Abednego Harvey |
Achsah Ann |
For a look back at previous years' "Finds from" posts, click on the category links below ↓
Posted at 09:04 PM in Historic Names, Uncommon and Unusual | Permalink | Comments (9)
Below are the compiled rankings for the most popular births in England and Wales in 1850 from the England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915.
Disclaimer: It should be noted that the data is not without its flaws. Births were originally recorded by a registrar (in their own handwriting) which were later written up into the register. Some names are invariably recorded incorrectly and it is impossible to know where the mistake was made. Also, I have been compiling the ranks myself, and while I have endeavored to record the number of names as accurately as possible I am also liable to human error. This, however, should not affect the rankings very much overall.
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Statistics compiled by Eleanor Nickerson at britishbabynames.com
No unauthorised copying without credit or permission.
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These rankings are incredibly "top heavy". Far more so than today. There were over 50,000 boys named William or girls named Mary in 1850. Compare that to the mere 6941 boys named Oliver and 5158 girls named Amelia in 2015 and we can see that the difference is massive -- especially when we take into account the smaller population size back in 1850.
In 1850, 226,944 girls and 260,775 boys were given a name in the top 20.
However, only 57,954 girls and 38,885 boys were given a name that ranked between #21- #200.
So, while it's tempting to imagine a bevy of Victorian children running around with the names Tryphena, Hephzibah, Ursula, Watkin, Hezekiah and Shadrach, these were very much in the minority in a world dominated by William, John, Mary and Elizabeth.
The top six names for both genders remains unchanged from 1850 to 1860. However, what is most notable is how much higher Old Testament names -- Moses, Jabez, Emanuel, Jonas, Solomon, Elisha, Thirza, Deborah, Dinah, Judith -- ranked in 1850 compared with later decades, while the likes of Percy, Harold, Herbert, Ada, Beatrice and Maud, were yet to catch on as they did by the end of the century.
Posted at 08:41 PM in Data Analysis and Statistics, Historic Names, Popularity Ranking, Research | Permalink | Comments (8)
In 1875, The Times newspaper published the first daily weather map, London's sewer system was completed after 30 years of construction, and Captain Matthew Webb was the first person to swim the English Channel
Below is a selection of names from the GRO Birth Records for England and Wales in 1875. All are first names and middle names — the surnames are not included unless indicated by 'sn' — and have been checked against other records for accuracy.
Albion Phoenix |
Adriana Katie |
For a look back at previous years' "Finds from" posts, click on the category links below ↓
Posted at 09:21 PM in Historic Names, Uncommon and Unusual | Permalink | Comments (2)
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