Kevin Schurer
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), in 2023 – the latest year for which information has been published – the top five most popular babies’ names for boys were, in descending rank order, Muhammad, Noah, Oliver, George and Leo, and for girls, Olivia Amelia, Isla, Lily and Freya. With the exception of George, such a list of names would have been appeared strange 50 years ago, and almost unthinkable a century ago.
Tags: names, naming practices, parish registers, poll tax, popular names, social history
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