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Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Names We Choose For Ourselves

Or changing names by deed poll. As reported in the Daily Telegraph today


Record numbers change names by deed poll

A record 46,000 people changed their names by deed poll this year, including one man now called Happy Adjustable Spanners after losing a drunken bet.

 

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Seasonal Names

This is a short post. If I write this at the start, then it will be and I will not get carried away.


Yes, it is the Christmas season, which brings me onto thinking about seasonal names and whether one should use them - I'm thinking of naming a child born on Christmas day or in the Christmas season a name such as Noel, Holly or Emmanuel etc., or Pascale at Easter and so on. Should it be done? It gives a name significance to their special birth date for sure, but is it too expected..tacky almost - that the parents are only giving the name because of the birth date rather than choosing a name that they love. Naming can be a process fraught with emotion, and perhaps using a seasonal name takes away the difficulty of choosing a 'beloved' name by both parents. 

Should one use a 'seasonal' name if one is not born on that day? It's a double problem, you see - a Noel sounds a little tacky and overly expected on Christmas day, but is misplaced on any other day of the year. One can extend it to names such as Summer and Autumn - season names - that hold the same problem - a Summer born in winter can be a little strange. Alternatively, if one loves a name, then should one be bound by propriety?  Yes, that does lead onto the question of how far one should take someone else's views intoa ccount when choosing a name. I'm not going into depth on this subject, lest to say - they should neither be completely ignored, nor followed to the extent that 0ne forgets one's own loves.

So, seasonal names. If this hasn't become clear from this post, my own view is choose the names that you love, and if you love a name because it fits in with the season and because of the meaning/sound/origin/flow etc., then that's fine, but don't choose a name solely because of its seasonal connections.
 
Merry Christmas!

And the final Victorian Smiths post is coming soon...

Saturday, November 22, 2008

New Background and Some Other News

Yes, the background is now vaguely orange themed. I've been fiddling with the text colours as they were very pale at the start. However, getting a blog theme from an outside site means that they end up with the annoying 'get our backgrounds' thing at the top. It's also shifted the links to the bottom.


I have changed the links a little, so I would just like to highlight why I've chosen them here (and they're in alphabetical order to avoid favouritism):

Appellation Mountain: Really interesting blog that explores in quite considerable depth a different name each day. Also has links to a couple of other name blogs, but they are fairly new so will wait to see how they prove themselves.

Baby Name Map: Seriously useful tool this, type in a name and it gives you the popularity all over the world (it's not complete but has all the core places). Very good also for spatial awareness eg seeing where in the US a name is popular.

Baby Name Wizard: Very insightful blog with the Name Voyager (very interesting popularity graph), NameMapper (spatial over time) and Namipedia (encyclopedia of names, possibly the weak spot of this site - it's very new so not tried and tested). Problem? Exceedingly US-centric. 

Baby Names World: The names database on this site was having a complete rehaul when it was bought by Nickelodeon. It used to be very good and becoming better, now it's stuck at very good. Tends to have interesting facts not found elsewhere, and the pronunciation key is useful.

Behind the Name: Generally thought to be the best, most reliable names dictionary site on the net. Not really aimed at parents, which is part of its appeal. On the right hand side of each name entry, there is a little list of useful links for popularity, related names etc. Message boards also populated by more serious 'name nerds'.

CM Yonge's History of Christian Names  ebook 1 and 2: Click on 2 to get two, click on 1 for one. 1 isn't a complete view. CM Yonge is widely credited as one of the first people to seriously tackle names from a more etymological view. Whilst this book is very outdated, and some of her etymologies are plain wrong, it is an interesting look at a Victorian view of Christian names. On the ebook trend, one may also be interested in Sophy Moody's 'What is your Name?' published not long after Yonge. 

England and Wales Statistics: From National Statistics, the official source, the top 100 girls and boys names in England and Wales for the past 5 years.

England and Wales Top 2000: A downloadable file that has (or claims to have) the top 2000 girls and boys names and number of births for 2007. Useful. Wish I had known about it when constructing my top 10 of English-speaking world.

Free BMD: I used this extensively when creating the Victorian Smiths series. Useful for family history and counting names in the Victorian period/

Nameberry: Fairly new name site, by Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz - authors of the popular 'Beyond Jennifer and Jason' series and others. I wouldn't go there for etymologies, but some of their views are entertaining and it's always good to have a new, regularly updated name blog to read.

Portuguese Approved Names: A while ago I did a series looking at 5 names, and one of the criteria was 'approved in Portugal' - basically, if the name isn't on this list then you're going to have a hard time trying to persuade the Portuguese authorities to let you name your baby that. Also just an interesting source for Portuguese names.

US Statistics: The SSA (government) site with the top 1000 names for each year, and can find out how a name has risen in popularity over time.

US top 1000 organised by sound: One of the limitations of the SSA site is that it lists each spelling of a name, and doesn't take account of shared sounds. And so Aidan's huge popularity is masked by the fact that there are 10 different spellings. So this is useful. 

Wikipedia's list of most popular given names: One of, if not the best, things about this page is the list of links at the bottom - saves me from placing all the links here. As it's Wikipedia, some of the top 10s may be a little wonky, so going by the official government sites listed then you can be sure to get more accurate stats.


On an aside, a new post on the Victorian Smiths may be coming soon. Have found the top 20 from 1881 census and so will be looking at how that compares with the Victorian Smiths

Saturday, September 13, 2008

The Victorian Smiths - an overview

The Victorian Smiths changed in their naming habits between March 1840 and Dec 1909. Though Mary stayed steadfast at the top throughout most of the Victorian era, by Edwardian times it had been overtaken by Florence, with Doris snipping at its heels.

The number of girls given the top names also decreased - Mary's best period was 1860-4 when 3248 Smiths were named Mary. By 1905, the top name, Florence, charted merely 1250 births. This is an even bigger decrease when you look at the population statistics for England in that time. In 1861, the population of England was almost 18.8 million, by 1901 it was 30.5 million and in 1911 it was 33.6 million. This population growth did not come merely from immigrants - born elsewhere so that their birth and name records would not be counted - it came from more children surviving infancy and so breeding more children to survive infancy - an improvement in healthcare and sanitation, without contraception.

However, I understand that the birth records take into account the births of children who never reached maturity (eg died age 2) and so does not exactly correlate with the population growth (and I think my data also included Scotland and Wales). However, the change is shown over the generations - if one generation has five children (all baptised, all included in my data) but two die before having children of their own, and then the three go on to have five children each then I will note twenty names overall. But if none of the children die, and they all have five children then that gives thirty names overall. So there should be some effect on the names.

Basically, the reduction of Mary (and the top names' in general) popularity from 3000 births to 1000 births is even more dramatic considering that there should be more births.

Anyway, onto graphs. I wanted to see if names that peaked in the same decades had the same arcs of popularity. I think that the graphs speak for themselves.

1840s: Maria (blue), Jane (red) and Caroline (green).



1850s: Eliza (dark blue, diamonds), Hannah (red), Martha (green), Emma (purple) and Harriet (light blue, stars)



1860s: Mary (blue), Elizabeth (red), Sarah (green) and Fanny (purple).




1870s: Emily (dark blue, diamonds), Louisa (red, squares), Catherine (green, triangles), Charlotte (purple, x), Isabella (light blue, star), Ann (orange, circle), Alice (light blue, line), Ada (red, straight), Margaret (green, straight), Clara (purple, diamond), Kate (light blue, square), Frances (orange, triangle), Lucy (light blue, cross), Isabel (pink, cross) and Eleanor (light green, circle).




1880s: Ellen (dark blue), Rosa (red), Ruth (green), Beatrice (purple), Maud (light blue) and Bertha (orange).



1890s: Annie (dark blue, diamond), Ethel (red, square), Mabel (green, triangle), Daisy (purple), Florence (light blue, star), Edith (orange), Elsie (light blue, line), Lily (pink) and Nell (green). Eh, ok something to point out - they all start from nothing.



1900s: Dorothy (dark blue, diamond), Rose (red), May (green, triangle), Jessie (purple, cross), Doris (light blue, star), Gladys (orange), Winifred (light blue, line), Hilda (pink), Ivy (green, straight), Violet (purple, diamond) and Olive (light blue, square). Like 1890s, these come from nothing to their dizzy heights of popularity.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

The Victorian/Edwardian Smiths in the 1900s

What this is all about. Data.

1900-4:

1 Mary
2 Florence
3 Ann
4 Annie
5 Edith
6 Alice
7 Elsie
8 Doris
9 Dorothy
10 Elizabeth

So Mary has regained or reassured her top position, pushing Florence down into #2. No change until #7 where Elizabeth has slipped down to #10. Ethel has slipped down to #11 and Doris has jumped up from #21 to #9.

A little note before we go onto peakers. It is about Eliza. Whilst we have seen, to an extent, the fall of Mary and Elizabeth, the fall of Eliza has not yet been documented. Eliza was #7 in the 1840s, and remained in the top 10 in the 1850s. By the 1900s, Eliza has the least number of births of any of the names that is seriously being studied (Victoria was merely to see how the name did, and I thought Joan would end up with many more births). Eliza has been pushed away to make room for Elsie and has followed Elizabeth down in popularity - just a little more dramatically. Fun graph (the numbers are the numbers of Eliza Smith births, years along the bottom):

Anyway, onto the peakers: Dorothy, Rose, May and Jessie.

Dorothy was a new entry to the top 10 in 1895-9, and has already been eclipsed by Doris. A Greek name, once pronounced with a hard 't' rather than a 'f/th' sound. Dorothy was fairly popular in the 16th century - it appears on the Redmonds lists consistently between #10-#15 from 1550-1700 so it was fairly antiquated by the Victorian age, and in 1840-4 had been reduced to 25 Dorothy Smith births. I consider Dorothea to be the more Georgian of the Dorothy names - it was borne by George I's wife Sophia Dorothea of Celle, and by his daughter Sophia Dorothea of Prussia. Anyway, back to Dorothy - a notable 19th century bearer was Dorothy Wordsworth (b. 1771), sister of the poet William and author of the Grasmere Journal.

Rose is another in that long line of Victorian flower names. It was previously used (Norman times onwards) as a German name meaning 'horse' or 'fame', but close to the Victorian age it was used much more for the flower rather than the meaning. It's Middle Ages usage may also be due to its association with the Virgin Mary (and may account for its decline in the 16th century onwards in Protestant England, and revival as simply a flower name). Borne by author Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter Rose Wilder Lane (b. 1886) and novelist Rose Macauley (b. 1881) - whose first novel was published in 1906. More on Rose.

May - both a month name, and a nickname for Mary and Margaret etc. which contributed to its popularity (Mary and Margaret both being popular Victorian names). Also a nature name - the hawthorn is also known as the may, mayblossom or maythorn as it flowers in the month of May. In 1900-4, Mary or May of Teck was the Duchess of York then Princess of Wales, and from 1910 she was the Queen of England. May was a childhood nickname that survived to adulthood - relating to her birth month.

Today, Jessie is best known as a nickname for Jessica. However, in Victorian times it was more frequently used as a Scottish diminutive of Janet or Jean then adopted as an independent name in its own right. It was used in literature, Withycombe notes that its early uses in England were as characters in Charlotte Brontë's Shirley (pub. 1849) and Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford (pub. 1851-3), though there appear to be no particularly notable bearers of the name in the Victorian period.

1905-9:
1 Florence
2 Mary
3 Doris
4 Ann
5 Edith
6 Dorothy
7 Elsie
8 Annie
9 Alice
10 Gladys

You know the 1895 list that I said appeared groundbreaking but wasn't? This 1905 list appears groundbreaking and is. Florence has overtaken Mary with 34 more Florence Smiths being born than Mary Smith. More than that is the rather meteoric rise of Doris - #21 in 1895-9, #9 in 1900-4 and now #3. Elsewehere there is a lot of movement: Edith is into #5 with Annie slipping down to #8, Dorothy up to #5, Alice down to #9, Elizabeth leaving the top 10 to #11, and Gladys rising from #12 to #10.

I was vaguely interested in what would happen for 1910-4 if these birth numbers continued the same way. So I subtracted (or added) the change between 1900-4 and 1905-9 to the 1905-9 numbers and got this:
1 Doris
2 Florence
3 Mary
4 Dorothy
5 Gladys
6 Ann
7 Edith
8 Winifred
9 Elsie
10 Ivy
I'm not saying that that is how the top 10 does look for 1910-4- names do tend to slow down in popularity after a large leap, but I do think that it's quite likely that Doris overtook Florence in some time over that period. This list looks totally different to what I would call the traditionalism of 1840-4.

Anyway, onto the peakers. There are a lots - mainly because some of them may have peaked in later decades, but as they have not been studied then it is difficult to tell. They are: Doris, Gladys, Winifred, Hilda, Ivy, Violet and Olive. To be honest, to me most of these names sound like 'grandmother' names (not Ivy or Violet) - names that haven't been revived. I suppose that is due to being the most 'recent' of the list, and may not have peaked for another 10 years - placing them into the grandmother age range.

Doris is the Edwardian (post 1905, I doubt that I can get away with calling the era Victorian any more) skyrocketer. Doris seems to have come to popularity for a number of reasons - a more 'modern' sounding version of Dorothy, it is a Greek nymph name, a combination of Dorothy and Phyllis (or Iris/Francis/Alice etc.), and an alternative to Dorcas/Dorcis. There doesn't seem to be steadfast reason why Doris became popular.

Gladys is a Welsh name, used in Wales since the Norman Conquest but only taken up in England in the late 19th century. Featured in some (minor - never widely popular) literature - Puck by Ouida (pub. 1870), Gladys of Harlech by Welsh novelist Anne Beale (pub. 1858) and Gladys by Edith M Dauglish (all from Dunkling and Gosling). Continued in popularity until the 1930s and then pretty much disappeared.

Winifred is the second Welsh name - from Gwenfrewi. Used in Wales, but not in England until the 16th century. Most of the Winifreds listed on Wikipedia seem to be born prior to 1905-9 so it's interesting to see it peaking in this 5 year period. Winifred is a name that comes from very few births until 1870 to 771 in 1905-9.

Hilda reminds me of Ethel - a short form of the variety of 'Hild' names (Hildegard, Hildred etc) but unlike Ethel it was actually used independently prior to the 19th/20th century - an example being St Hilda of Whitby, and in the Whitby area it seems that Hilda was continually despite dying out elsewhere in England in the 13th century. Revived in the 19th century - Dunkling and Gosling attribute this revival to Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Marble Faun (pub. 1860), of which Hilda is a main character, whilst Withycombe attributes it to the Tractarian revival of Anglo-Saxon names. The reality is that it is probably a mixture of both influences - but the first Hilda Smith was born in 1860-4 (in Halifax, quite a way from Whitby) soon after the publication of Hawthorne's novel. For more on Hilda see here.

I am going to tackle Ivy, Violet and Olive together. Victorian flower names that began the period with very few births and end with much, much more. Ivy is the 'newest' of the three names - not being used at all prior to the Victorian age. Violet was used in Scotland from the 16th century onwards. Olive is related to Livia - used in Roman times, and Olivia - used by Shakespeare, and Oliva - a saints name, and was used sparingly from the 16th century onwards. It was not until the 19th century that it became anywhere near 'common' or 'recognised'. For more on Ivy see this earlier post. And for Olive - here.

And that is it. I think there will be a final post on this subject (with graphs hooray) and then finished!

Thursday, September 04, 2008

The Victorian Smiths in the 1890s

1890-4:
What this is all about. Data.

Top 10:

1 Mary
2 Ann
3 Florence
4 Annie
5 Elizabeth
6 Edith
7 Alice
8 Ethel
9 Sarah
10 Elsie

Lots of change here. The previous top 4 had Elizabeth and Alice as 3 and 4. These have now been pushed down to 5 and 7 - replaced with Florence (from 5) and Annie (from 7) - a swap. Ethel has entered the top 10 at #8, as has Elsie at #10. Sarah has fallen from 6 to 9, and Ellen and Emily have left the top 10 - though E is still the most popular letter.

A few peakers this time: Annie, Ethel, Mabel and Daisy - a manageable amount to go through. I have reacquired Withycombe from the library, and so can again consult that book's wisdom.

Annie is instantly recognisable as a nickname or diminutive - of Ann (the oxymoron being that Annie - the nickname of Ann - is actually longer than the name it is nicknaming) or of Anna or other 'An-' names. It doesn't really seem to be used independently as a name until the 19th century, and does fall in with the 'nickname' trend of the time - along with Elsie, Nell, Jessie, Kate and Fanny. As Annie has had the most popular thus far of any of the 'nicknames', it can be considered the most 'successful' - Ann (and Anna) are popular names, and unlike Elizabeth - where there are many nicknames - Annie is the easiest and most obvious of the Ann nicknames and so the most commonly used- coupled with the popularity of Ann, making it popular. (A note on Anna - as it is only one letter off Ann, I believe that it was counted, along with Anne, on the BMD counts and that is why it is not noted in these lists - so the popularity of Ann may have increased due to the inclusion of Anna). A few books (Pickering's Penguin Dictionary, in particular) link Annie's 19th century popularity to the Scottish song 'Annie Laurie' popularised in the 1830s. The modern association of the red-headed orphan Annie originated with the 'Little Orphan Annie' comic strips, started in 1924 (though the concept for the title came from the 1885 poem 'Little Orphant Annie'. Another 19th century association is social reformer Annie Besant (b. 1847).

Ethel is a name that is rather maligned in 2008 - a grandmother name on par with Gertrude and Bertha, that hasn't yet reached that vintage chic that Edith now seems to embody. Ethel is indeed a dimunitive - of all those great Angl0-Saxon Ethel-/Aethel- names eg Æthelthryth, Æthelswith, Ethelfleda and Æthelgiva. A little OTT, even for the Victorian Anglo-Saxon revival. I can also (and this is mere speculation) see Ethel as an alternative to Elizabeth. Anyway, it was used several times in literature in the mid-19th century - by Thackeray in The Newcomes (1855) and CM Yonge's The Daisy Chain (1856). Yonge went on to write History of Christian Names in 1884, though she barely mentions Ethel.

Mabel is next. A Medieval name that was never exceedingly popular in Medieval times, that Withycombe states had a resurgence in the late 19th century - as seen here. Once pronounced to rhyme with 'gabble', but now to rhyme with 'able'. Borne by illustrator Mabel Lucie Attwell (b. 1879). Annie Besant, named earlier, also called her daughter Mabel.

Daisy - part of the late Victorian flower name trend. Also helped by the fact that it is a nickname for Margaret (marguerite being French for Daisy). Dunkling and Gosling also state that 'daisy' was a late Victorian nickname for an 'excellent person or thing' - certainly not something that would discourage use of the name. The song 'Daisy bell' was written in 1892, at the height of Daisy's popularity. Daisy Miller - a novella by Henry James, of which Daisy is the heroine, was written in 1878, and was an immediate and popular success.

1895-9:
1 Florence
2 Mary
3 Ann
4 Annie
5 Edith
6 Alice
7 Elizabeth
8 Elsie
9 Ethel
10 Dorothy

First, this list appears groundbreaking - Mary has been replaced at the top by Florence. But...looking at the data, Mary and Florence actually share the top spot - both having 1497 births, Florence is earlier in the alphabet so comes first. Anyway, Florence is extremely popular and has risen from #3. Mary has also fallen from it's untouchable spot in the mid-1850s where it had over 3000 births, down to merely 1500. Elizabeth has slipped down to #7 from #5, and is now far from her #2 and 3 spot held until 1890 - quite a fast fall. Edith and Alice are both pushed up by Elizabeth's fall. Elsie is up to #8 and Ethel is already falling, down to #9. Dorothy is a new entry at #10 (from #12) and Sarah has departed from the top 10, for the first time, to #16.

Quite a few peakers for this period: Florence, Edith, Elsie, Lily, Nell and Victoria.

Florence was really the anme that started this whole study for me - I had known that it was popular in the late Victorian period, but I had wanted to know HOW popular, and to compare it with names like Mary, Elizabeth, nicknames like Annie and Elsie, Anglo-Saxon revivals such as Edith and Ethel, and florals like Daisy and Lily. The most famous Florence, and the woman to whom it's popularity is attributed, is Florence Nightingale - the 'Lady with the Lamp'. Prior to her, it is fairly uncommon: see below:
Nightingale became famous during the Crimean war - 1854-6. I had, prior to this research, assumed that Florence had become popular very, very quickly after the war, but this graph shows that the growth in popularity was quite gradual. Aside from Nightingale, Florence had been used by some as the Anglicised form of the Irish name Finian - as in Florence MacCarthy.

Edith is a name that is experiencing a revival in the UK at the moment - it has a certain 'vintage chic', mainly aided by it's nickname Edie. An Anglo-Saxon name, like Ethel though actually used then. Edith survived into the Middle Ages, but was gradually phased out from the 16th to 18th century. It appears on only one of Redmonds' lists - 1538-49 at #10. It experienced a revival in the 19th century as part of the trend for Anglo-Saxon names. The majority of its bearers had their accomplishmeents after the Victorian period, but Edith (E.) Nesbit (b. 1858) published 'The Story of the Treasure-Seekers' in 1898/9 and (probably her most famous work) 'The Railway Children' in 1906.

Elsie is a nickname for Elizabeth from the Scottish name Elspeth (Elisabeth-Elspeth-Elspie-Elsie). Dunkling and Gosling state that it has been used independently since the 18th century, and was reintroduced into England in the 1870s. It was used by Oliver Wendell Holmes in his 1861 novel Elsie Venner but I can find very little information on this novel so I doubt that it was a complete and lasting bestseller.

Lily is both a flower name and so fits in with the late Victorian trend for flower names, and Lily is a nickname for Elizabeth - or, more strictly, Lillian is a nickname for Elizabeth and Lily is a nickname for Lillian. Lilies also had the Christian association of being symbols of purity. Phew. Like Edith, all of Lily's notable bearers made their impact after the Victorian period. There was, however, a popular music hall song Lily of Laguna that was written in 1898.

Nell is a nickname for Ellen - which has been seen on the top 10 lists for previous decades, and for Helen and Eleanor. Nell Gwynne, mistress of Charles II, is probably its most famous bearer. In Victorian times, it was also known as the heroine of Charles Dickens' book The Old Curiosity Shop, published 1840-1. However, this does not seem to have had an immediate effect (if any) of the Victorian naming habits - no Nell Smiths were born until 1855-60.

Victoria is a name that I have slipped in. It does not actually 'qualify' to be in the lists as it has much fewer than 1000 births - only 216 but I wanted to see how the popularity of the monarch's name changed throughout her reign. Victoria experiences a true peak in popularity from 1885-1905 - indeed this was the part of Victoria's reign when she was most celebrated - with her Golden Jubilee in 1887, Diamond Jubilee in 1897 (which falls in this post's time period) and death in 1901. It took fifty years for Victoria's subjects to embrace her name, and it never soared to the heights of her contemporary Florence Nightingale, but indeed, it did change over her reign.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

An apology

1890s Smiths should be coming soon. Have been quite busy with other projects, but do now have some time and renewed enthusiasm for the project. If anyone wants to request/suggest any posts that I could write afterwards, then please feel free to comment.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The Victorian Smiths in the 1880s

Click here for what this is about. Data here.

1880-4:
Top 10:

1 Mary
2 Ann
3 Elizabeth
4 Alice
5 Florence
6 Sarah
7 Annie
8 Edith
9 Ellen
10 Emily

Sarah has been displaced at #4 by Alice. Florence has continued her rise up, and Annie has been pushed down to #7. There are no new entries, though Ethel has shot from #21 to #12, and Gertrude from #23 to #16. This is also the first 5 year period when all the names chosen have at least one birth.

And now onto the peakers. There are much fewer this time - just top ten staple Ellen, and Rosa and Ruth.

Ellen was used fairly interchangeably with Helen in Medieval times, to the point that it was overused and thus judged a name for the lower classes. The 19th century marked a revival for Ellen. It does not appear on any of the Redmonds lists. A notable example from the 19th century is actress Ellen Terry, though considering that Ellen was in the top 10 for many years in this period, it is interesting that there are not more bearers. This may be a result of it being used principally by the 'lower' classes and thus more difficult for its numerous bearers to become famous.

Rosa is, I believe, the first of the 'botanical' names that came to the fore at the end of the 19th century. Rosa doesn't quite follow the same path- most of these botanical names (Daisy, Lily, Rose, Olive, Violet, Ivy) are unheard of at the beginning of the period, and highly popular by the end. Rosa follows a fairly bell shaped curve - uncommon to more common to uncommon again. Rosa is the Latinate form of Rose, and Withycombe notes that it came into use in the 19th century. Used by Dickens in 'David Copperfield' (not a good depiction) and 'Bleak House' (a better depiction).

Ruth is a solid Biblical name, and one of my own favourites. Used in particular by the Puritans - as a Biblical name, and as a virtue name - ruth meaning compassion. Revived in the Victorian era particularly due to its use by various novelists and poets - Elizabeth Gaskell's novel 'Ruth' was published in 1853, and Dunkling and Gosling note that poems were written by William Wordsworth, Thomas Hood and Felicia Hemans about Ruth. The popularity of Ruth Smith doesn't really change over the period - starts with 56 births, ends with 97 and peaks at 122 - so that's less than 100. The increase could merely be due to population increase. More on Ruth.

1885-9:
Top 10:
1 Mary
2 Ann
3 Elizabeth
4 Florence
5 Alice
6 Annie
7 Edith
8 Ethel
9 Sarah
10 Ellen

So, no change at the top here. But Florence slips in at #4, pushing Alice down. I noted Ethel's rise last time (a name much maligned today), and here it goes into the top 10 at a comfortable 8. Sarah is declining now, Edith is up to #7. Outside the top 10, I have noted the rise of Lily from #19 to #14.

Another manageable number of peaking names this time - Beatrice, Maud and Bertha.

Starting with Beatrice. Used in the 12th and 13th centuries, fell out of favour and revived in the mid 19th century, probably as a result of Queen Victoria naming her youngest daughter Beatrice - prior to 1857, birth of Princess Beatrice, there was one Smith named Beatrice, following it experienced a time of revival. Outside of Princess Beatrice, there are several literary bearers - Beatrice Portinari - who guides the reader through Paradise in Dante's 'Divine Comedy' and was based upon a real person, and Beatrice in Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing'.

Going on with Maud. This contracted form of Matilda was, to an extent, used interchangeably with Matilda in the Medieval period - 'Queen' Matilda or Maud was the daughter of Henry I and challenged King Stephen for the English throne. Withycombe puts its revival down to the Tennyson poem 'Maud', published 1855, and it is also associated with the song 'Come into the garden, Maud'. Used by Edward VII and Queen Alexandra for their youngest daughter, born 1869, who later became the Queen of Norway (from 1905).

And now Bertha, which has received a fairly bad press recently. I suppose, naming a World War One artillery gun 'Big Bertha' doesn't do much to help the popularity of a name. However, prior to that Bertha was a name used since at least Norman times in Britain, declined in the late Medieval period, and was revived by the Victorians.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

The Victorian Smiths in the 1870s

Post 5. To find out what this is all about, go here. Data.

1874-9:
Top 10:

1 Mary
2 Ann
3 Elizabeth
4 Sarah
5 Alice
6 Annie
7 Emily
8 Ellen
9 Emma
10 Jane

Ann has pushed past both Elizabeth and Sarah to be #2, Annie has gone up to #6. Emma has fallen down to #9.

There are quite a few names that peaked in this period, so I apologize about the length of this post, and apologize if some of the less popular names do not get the amount of exposure that they truly deserve. So the 'peaking' names are Emily, Louisa, Charlotte, Catherine and Isabella. Phew!

Start with Emily, as it's in the top 10. A Georgian name, one could say, as Withycombe states that it's rise to prominence came with George II's daughter Amelia being nicknamed Princess Emily. Borne by two notable unmarried writers - Emily Brontë and Emily Dickinson (though I don't think that Dickinson would have had much effect at the time, her poetry was not published until later).

Onto Louisa, it's 1870s peak is mentioned by Pickering in the Penguin Dictionary of First Names. Louisa is the Latinate form of Louise, whose bringing to prominence in England is usually attributed to Louise de Kérouaille, French mistress of Charles II. The name had been used in France for longer as a female form for Louis - eg Louise of Savoy, mother of 16th century French king Francis (or François) I. Louise was also the name given by Queen Victoria to her fourth daughter - Louise Caroline Alberta. Most of Louisas 'important bearers' seem to be Americans - author Louisa May Alcott and Louisa Adams - wife of American President John Quincy Adams - are the most prominent.

Charlotte is another very 'Georgian' name. It is French in immediate origin (ends up tracing back to Old German, but Charlotte is a French form) and the one of the first 'English' bearers was a French woman - Charlotte de la Tremoüille who married James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby. However, its popularity really took off with the marriage of King George III to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1761. I assume that she was named after her father, who was a Charles. Anyway, Charlotte and George III added to the British contingent of Charlottes with their own daughter - Charlotte, later Queen of Württemberg. Their son, George VI, also had a Charlotte who, had it not been from her early death in childbirth, would have become Queen regnant of Britain. I think it's also necessary to mention the author Charlotte Brontë, born in the Georgian period but not famous until late 1840s. The fact that Charlotte has its peak in the 1870s rather than the 1840s or 50s does surprise me slightly and this may be a result of increased population by that time. Charlotte does have a fairly steady popularity until the 1870s, after which it declines noticeably.

Catherine. This was a name that I was surprised didn't have higher popularity. Whenever anyone mentions 'timeless' names my own mind leaps to Mary, Ann, Margaret, Elizabeth and Catherine. But it appears in Victorian times Catherine experienced popularity similar to Charlotte and Lucy rather than the very popular Mary and Elizabeth. From 1550 to 1700, Catherine or Katherine lingered around #10. Most of the influential bearers of the name of Catherine were much earlier than Victorian times - the 3 Catherine wives of Henry VIII - of Aragon, Howard and Parr, the French queen Catherine de' Medici, and Catherine the Great of Russia (died 1796 so closest to Victorian times). A contemporary Victorian bearer could be considered as Catherine Booth, wife of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army.

Isabella is a name that is currently receiving a lot of attention, in Victorian times it had a fairly steady popularity among the Smiths - having a range of less than 100 births. The Queen of Spain at the beginning of the Victorian period was Isabella II, though she abdicated in 1868. It is the Latinate form of Isabel. Historically borne by several 'strong' queens - Isabella of Castile and Isabella of France, wife of Edward II of England - 'she-wolf of France'.

1875-9:
Top 10:
1 Mary
2 Ann
3 Elizabeth
4 Sarah
5 Alice
6 Annie
7 Florence
8 Edith
9 Ellen
10 Emily

No changes to the top 6, but two new interesting entries at 7 and 8. I see this as the emergence of the names that will define the late Victorian period - Florence and Edith. This also marks the disappearance of Jane from the top 10 and Emma - they are now down at #13 and 14.

There are so many names that peak in this period, so again, I apologise for the length of this post. Ann, Alice, Ada, Margaret, Clara, Kate, Frances, Lucy, Isabel and Eleanor. So, lets get on with it.

Ann. I have examined most of the Biblical background to Ann in Hannah. Anne or Ann was consistently #3 in the period 1600-1700, and only rose up a few places from 1550 to reach this spot. Most of the royal Anns are from the period 1450 to 1650 - Anne of Brittany, Anne of Cleves and Anne Boleyn - wives of Henry VIII, Anne of Denmark - wife of James I of England and VI of Scotland, Anne of Austria - wife of Louis XIII of France and mother of Louis XIV, the 'Sun King'. In Britain, Queen Anne reigned from 1702 to 14, and was the last of the Stuart dynasty. Closer to the Victorian period, it was borne by Ann Radcliffe - Gothic author and author Anne Brontë.

Alice. A name that was fairly prominent in the Medieval period, though was later overshadowed by more 'religious' names - Mary, Ann, Elizabeth. George Redmonds lists Alice as the most popular name in the period 1377-81, and it appears as #3 in 1550-9, then declining into the lower echelons of the top 10, and finally as #12 in 1690-1700. As seen here, Alice has risen into the #5 spot. Withycombe states that the name was regarded as old-fashioned and country in the 17th century, but was revived in the 19th century. For a more modern example, I'm thinking Abigail - fell out of favour in the 19th century as a maid's name, but is now experiencing a strong revival in the USA. Anyway, 19th century examples of use include Queen Victoria's second daughter, Alice of Hesse, born 1843, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll, published in 1865 - the Alice being named after Alice Liddell, born 1852, and the Australian town of Alice Springs - formed due to the opening of the Overland Telegraph Line in 1872, and the discovery of alluvial gold in 1887, 100km to the east of the town. Alice Bell (born roughly 1837) was the wife of Charles Todd, who helped set up the telegraph lines. More on Alice.

Ada. Personally, I associate Ada with Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron, who described Charles Babbage's early 'computer' - the analytical engine. Ada was a name imported by the Germans - through the Georgian kings, a name in it's own right and a nickname for Adelaide - the name of William IV's wife. More on Ada.
Margaret. I consider Margaret to be a heavyweight timeless name - along with Elizabeth, Mary, Ann and Catherine. However, it's probably the name that is on the periphery of that group. It's heavy consonants have not translated wonderfully into this new Millenium, but is still experiencing use due to its variety of nicknames - Maggie, Margie, Peggy, Megan etc. Early use was due to its popularity as a non-Biblical religious name - borne by the childbirth patron saint Margaret of Antioch. It experienced especial use in Scotland where it was borne by the 11th century Scottish queen St Margaret. Withycombe states that Margaret was out of fashion in the 16th to 18th centuries, and revived in the 19th century. Margaret's high point in the Redmonds lists were from 1580-99 when it was #2, below Elizabeth. Fro, 1660-1700 it was #6. It appears as #10 in 1860-4, but by 1875-9 is #12.

Clara. Latin form of Clare, according to Withycombe arrived in England in the 13th century as both Clara and Clare (I think the assumption that Clares were called Clara on Latin documents, similar to Marys being Marias). Clara then came into fashion in the 19th century - there are a few sympathetic characters in Dickens' David Copperfield (published 1850) named Clara.

Kate. Nickname for Catherine, a common nickname in the 16th and 17th centuries, and then revived again in the middle of the Victorian period. At the beginning of the period, Kate has very few usages - not unknown but there is a big difference between 11 and 413 births, by the end it has declined from its peak.

Frances. I have been through Fanny, so Frances is fairly similar. Appeared in the Tudor period, often used to honour a male Francis (eg Frances Brandon in honour of her godfather Francis I of France). In the Redmonds list, Frances appears at the bottom - around #18 from 1600-1700. Its highest point is #13 in 1690-1700.

Lucy. Became popular due to St Lucy of Syracuse, a popular Medieval saint - so popular in Medieval times. Dunkling and Gosling state that it had a peak in Britain in the 1870s - obviously supported by this Smith data, and this was followed a generation later in USA (which does beg the question - how long is a generation?). Most of the notable bearers I can find are pre- or post-Victorian - Lucy Lockit in 'The Beggar's Opera' - first performed in 1728, Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of the 'Anne of Green Gables' series - born 1868 but 'Green Gables' was not published until 1908, and Lucy Westenra from Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' - just in the period by 4
years as published in 1897.

Isabel. Having recently read 'The Portrait of a Lady' by Henry James, I associate this name with Isabel Archer. Obviously the name has a history prior to 1880-81 when that novel was serialised. Came to England in the 12th century, and used interchangeably with Isabella and Elizabeth until 16th century. On the Redmonds list, Isabel is #10 from 1560-1600, and then declines from 1600 to 1700 to the bottom half of the top 20. More on Isabel.
Eleanor. Traditionally considered to have been brought to England by Eleanor of Aquitaine, and popularised by Eleanor (or Leonor) of Castile. Eleanor pops up and down between 10 and 20 in the Redmonds lists from 1550-1700, making it difficult to make and solid conclusions there. With the Smiths, Eleanor stays fairly consistently 'popular' (or more 'recognisable' - not super-popular, not uncommon) gaining less than 100 births between its trough and peak. More on Eleanor.

The Victorian Smiths in the 1860s

Post 4 - to find out what this is about go here. Data is here.

1860-4:
Top 10:

1 Mary
2 Elizabeth
3 Sarah
4 Ann
5 Alice
6 Emma
7 Ellen
8 Jane
9 Emily
10 Margaret

A few changes here, Alice continues its rise up: into 5th position, and Jane tumbles to #9. Margaret joins the top 10 as Eliza leaves.

The top 3 names peak in these years. As I've already discussed Mary and Elizabeth, I will go through Sarah.

I'm not entirely sure whether with the surname 'Smith' if Sarah is over or underrepresented. On one hand Smiths may have chosen not to use Sarah to avoid alliteration, on the other hand, they could have chosen Sarah directly to get alliteration. Sarah is an Old Testament classic, Withycombe states that she arrived in England in the 12th century (along with other Hebrew/Biblical names - Mary, Anna, Elizabeth), but really took hold after the Reformation and return to more Biblical names. According to Redmonds' lists, Sarah rose from outside the top 20 from about 1570-9 to the #4 name 1660-1700. These lists show Sarah in the #3 spot, swapping places with Anne from Redmonds' lists (interestingly, Anne is rather underrepresented in the BMD lists, with 'Ann' having more births attributed to it. This may be because an Ann search also includes Annes (as Susan searches include Susannah)). Sarah is unusual in that there aren't very many bearers - particularly ignored in royal families, the only notable person of 'rank' was Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough and friend of Queen Anne. There are a few historical actresses- Sarah Bernhardt (who wasn't really famous until 1870s, so would have had little effect on the name's popularity in the 1860s, though may have attributed to its decline) and Sarah Siddons, an 18th century actress.

1865-9:
Top 10:
1 Mary
2 Elizabeth
3 Ann
4 Sarah
5 Alice
6 Emma
7 Jane
8 Emily
9 Ellen
10 Annie

Ann replaces Sarah at #3, Ellen drops down to #9, and Annie rises 5 places to replace Margaret at #10 (Margaret is at #11).

A name that experiences a steady rise, but never hits the top 10 is Fanny, and this name peaks in this period.

Fanny is a nickname for Frances, which has been rendered unusable in more recent years due to its usage as slang for various parts of a person (depending on American and British usage) not really wanted as a first name. However, it was fairly common in Victorian and Regency times and at this point was more popular than Frances itself. To me, Fanny has several more notable bearers than Sarah - Fanny (Frances) Burney, 18th century diarist and novelist, Fanny Brawne - beloved of poet John Keats, Fanny Adams - murder victim in 1867 - middle of this period, which may have led to the name's decline, and Fanny Price, heroine of Jane Austen's 'Mansfield Park'.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Victorian Smiths in the 1850s

This is post 3. To find out what this is all about, go here.

1850-4:
Top 10:

1 Mary
2 Elizabeth
3 Sarah
4 Ann
5 Jane
6 Emma
7 Ellen
8 Eliza
9 Hannah
10 Emily


A few changes here - Ellen has risen in the list to #7, and Emily has replaced Harriet as #10.

There are three major names that peak in these years (and apologies, I missed out Caroline from 1845-9: it's a Regency/Georgian name, brought to England by the Georgians and borne by 2 Georgian queens - Caroline of Ansbach and of Brunswick). Anyway, the three major names are Eliza, Hannah and Martha (which each time lies just outside of the top 10).

Eliza is a nickname of Elizabeth, the most popular of these nicknames. Rose to prominence in the 18th century, in the 19th century use of other forms of Elizabeth (Lizzie, Betty, Bess) became more popular leading to a general decline in the popularity of Eliza.

Hannah emerged with Puritanism in the mid-1600s (1630 according to the Redmonds list). The Puritans encouraged a return to Old Testament names - Hannah is the mother of Samuel. It is also a neat link between Catholicism and Puritanism - St Anne is represented more in Catholicism as the Mother of the Virgin Mary, such un-Biblical affirmations were rejected by the Puritans. Hannah also ties Old and New Testament - with Hannah, mother of Samuel and Anna, old woman at the temple with baby Jesus.

Martha - another Biblical name, sister of Mary and Lazarus, and friend of Jesus. Emerged after Reformation with return to more Biblical names. It was possibly experiencing more popularity in USA at the turn of the 19th century, due to Martha Washington (wife of George).

1855-9:
1 Mary
2 Elizabeth
3 Sarah
4 Ann
5 Emma
6 Jane
7 Alice
8 Ellen
9 Emily
10 Eliza

A few changes here - Jane is replaced in the #5 spot by Emma. Alice goes in at #7, and Hannah leaves the top 10.

The two names that peaked in these years were Emma and Harriet. I'm going to start with Harriet, as it is interesting me. Harriet has been eclipsed in the top 10 by other names, but it peaks now. Harriet is in the vein of the early Victorian/Georgian feminisations of male names - Charlotte and Caroline, Georgiana or Henrietta spring to mind, taken up in the 17th century, popularised in the 18th, declined in the 19th, disappeared in the 20th century...reappearing in the 21st?

Emma - very much in vogue at the moment, peaked in 1854-9 as well. Emma has quite a long, non-Biblical history. It was brought to England by the Normans (well, slightly earlier but by a Norman): Emma of Normandy married both Ethelred the Unready and Cnut/Canute. Withycombe puts Emma's 18th century revival down to Matthew Prior's poem 'Henry and Emma' - written 1709 or 18. Later literary 'Emma's include Jane Austen's Emma Woodhouse, and Gustave Flaubert's Madame (Emma) Bovary, which was published between 1856 and 7. It is also associated with Emma Hamilton, mistress of Lord Nelson.

The Victorian Smiths in the 1840s

This is post 2. For more information about what this is all about try going here.

Ok, the 1840s are the beginning of the study. I divided it up into two sections - Mar 1840 to Dec 1844, and Mar 1845 to Dec 1849 (this is when the birth indexes were published). I will look at these two parts separately.

1840-44:
The top 10:

1 Mary
2 Sarah
3 Elizabeth
4 Ann
5 Jane
6 Emma
7 Eliza
8 Hannah
9 Ellen
10 Harriet

Mary as #1 is going to get rather boring. It stays there until nearly the end of the period studied. A list I have from Christian Names in Local and Family History by George Redmonds (at least I think it is), lists Elizabeth as the most popular name in England from 1550 to 1649, when it is replaced by Mary (the lists go up to 1700). Mary's relative lack of popularity during those years is usually credited as a result of the Reformation, when Marianism was eradicated from the English church in favour of more Protestant values, and the unpopularity of 'Bloody' Mary Tudor. 1660 was the beginning of the Restoration of Charles II - a time much more favourable towards Catholics - Charles II converted to Catholicism upon his deathbed, and James II lost the throne due to his refusal to revoke his Catholic faith, this may account for Mary's revival .

The only name on my list that has its peak in 1840-4 is Maria. EG Withycombe's Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names states that Maria came into vogue in the 18th century (1700s) and thus was declining by the beginning of 1840s. At this time, the pronunciation mah-rye-ah would have been as recognised as the more commonly used today pronunciation of mah-ree-ah.

1845-9:
1 Mary
2 Elizabeth
3 Sarah
4 Ann
5 Jane
6 Emma
7 Eliza
8 Hannah
9 Ellen
10 Harriet

I don't think that there are any new additions to the top 10 in this 5 year period, though Elizabeth and Sarah have swapped places. Adding all the Elizas to Elizabeth does not make Elizabeth overtake Mary, but does assure its position above Sarah. Elizabeth's real peak was in the 16th and 17th century -Withycombe states it as providing 16% of all female births in 1560, and over 20% by 1600 - a position that Mary would later hold. Elizabeth's popularity in the 16th century can be attributed to a succession of English queens - Elizabeth Woodville, Elizabeth of York, and, mostly importantly, Elizabeth I Tudor.

Jane (and Maria, though that has already been studied) peaked 1845 to 9. It had already overtaken Joan (which by 19th century is uncommon) around 1600, coming to prominence in England with Henry VIII's third wife Jane Seymour, and Lady Jane Grey who was nominated by Henry VIII's son Edward VI as his heir, instead of his Catholic sister Mary. Whilst it is easy to say that Jane Grey was named after Jane Seymour being born 1536/7 around the time of Jane Seymour's marriage, Jane was already associated the Grey family - as borne by Jane Shore, mistress of Thomas Grey, Jane Grey's great-grandfather . As with most popular names, Jane fell down the class system, so that by the mid-19th century - according to Withycombe - it was associated with maidservants. 1847, right in the middle of this period, was the publication of one of literature's most famous Janes - 'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Brontë, which I believe was a success almost immediately.

Data- click tabs at top to see 1840 and 1845 data.

The Victorian Smiths

There are going to be a few posts (for clarity) upon this subject. This is post 1.

Frustrated by the lack of data on the British popularity of certain names in Victorian times (strictly 1837-1901). I decided to conduct my own preliminary research. Using the count feature on Free BMD's site to gain the number of births for a five year period, starting at March 1840, and ending at December 1909 - each data going from eg Mar 1840 to Dec 1844 and so on. I used the surname Smith with each of the names researched, as Smith is famously the most popular surname in the UK, in 1881 1.56% of the UK's residents had the surname Smith. The limitation of using this name is that 98% of the the bearers were English, and so it does not take into account Scottish and Welsh trends. Surnames I have chosen if I choose to investigate this further that end up covering most of the UK are Williams (for Wales), White (for South England), Campbell (NW Scotland), Wilson (S Scotland and N England) and Taylor (Central England).

Onto Smith.
As Female Names tend to change more and quicker (a great example of the staidness of male names is Michael being #1 in US for almost 50 years), I chose to focus upon these female names. This also feeds in to my interest in the development of Florence as a name -I'm sure I will post what I have researched on Florence one day, but currently I am finding this study of Victorian names much more inspirational.

I sat with my book of names, and keyed each of the possible names into the free BMD index for 1840 to 1909. Any name that had more than 1500 hits got examined for each of the five year periods. The majority of names examined showed some sort of progression - from popular to less popular, unheard of to common or the complete works - unpopular-popular-unpopular (or the opposite). Something that has to be taken into account with the figures is the high population grwoth that occurred during the Victorian period due to (simply) industrialisation, improved healthcare and still the mindset of needing large families. Thus any increase in number of births may be due to the natural increase in population. A few names that did not seem to show much of a dramatic increase or decrease were: Catherine, Eleanor, Frances, Isabel, Isabella and Lucy.

The following posts will go through the 'decades' looking at the most popular names, and those that experienced peaks during those years.

For the data collected, please feel free to go here

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Most Popular Boys' Names in English-speaking World

With the release of the US's top 1000, I thought it was time to bring this back: the most popular names in the English-speaking world released for 2007.

Countries/stats used: England & Wales, Australia (New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia), New Zealand, Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia), Northern Ireland, Scotland and USA. I couldn't find 2007 stats for the other 'English speaking' areas (eg Republic of Ireland).

This is the first top 20 list, and does not include the mammoth influence of the USA, full stats here:

JACK
JOSHUA
THOMAS
WILLIAM
DANIEL
JAMES
OLIVER
ETHAN
SAMUEL
RYAN
MATTHEW
BENJAMIN
JACOB
HARRY
CHARLIE
ALEXANDER
LIAM
DYLAN
TYLER

Now Jack had over 6500 births in England (most number of births of the countries not including USA), and ended up with approximately 11500 births, 2000 more than the rest. The highest ranking name not in the English list is Lachlan at #61 with 1983 births.

For the 'including US' list, I added all names up to the top 50 and names previously mentioned in other countries' popularity lists, with more than 500 instances. Giving:

JOSHUA
JACOB
ETHAN
DANIEL
WILLIAM
MICHAEL
MATTHEW
ALEXANDER
JAMES
JACK
RYAN
CHRISTOPHER
JOSEPH
NOAH
Anthony
ANDREW
SAMUEL
DAVID
BENJAMIN

1) Jacob is not on top! The US's popular name is not the English speaking world's most popular name. Joshua ranks in 4th in the US, but it's world popularity propels it to the top.

2) Jack is pushed down to #11 by a proportionally small number of American's choosing this name.

3) Other non-US entries to this top 20 are:
Samuel and Benjamin


Just a few other lists: Australia's combined top 20:
JACK
JOSHUA
THOMAS
Lachlan
WILLIAM
ETHAN
Cooper
SAMUEL
RYAN
JAMES
RILEY
NOAH
OLIVER
DANIEL
LUCAS
BENJAMIN
LIAM
ALEXANDER
JACOB


Canada's combined top 20 (not including Quebec, or other areas that did not provide 07 data):

ETHAN
MATTHEW
JACOB
JOSHUA
RYAN
ALEXANDER
BENJAMIN
OWEN
DANIEL
NOAH
LIAM
NATHAN
WILLIAM
Nicholas
LUCAS
LOGAN
SAMUEL
JACK
MICHAEL


And the UK (combing England & Wales, Scotland and N Ireland):
JACK
THOMAS
OLIVER
JOSHUA
DANIEL
HARRY
JAMES
CHARLIE
WILLIAM
ALFIE
LEWIS
SAMUEL
JOSEPH
GEORGE
ETHAN
BENJAMIN
DYLAN
MATTHEW
RYAN

More statistical versions of these lists can be found here