The names that disappeared
Linda was given to 99,686 American babies in 1947. Seventy years later, 404. What happened to the names of a whole generation, and why Britain is quietly bringing some of them back.
Read itBlog
We hold the official American and British birth records side by side, going back to 1880. Every so often we find something in them worth writing down.
The names Britain and America can't agree on
Albie is given to 1,702 babies a year in England and Wales and 16 in America. Freddie is a top ten name here and outside the top thousand there. Two countries, one language, and two very different ideas of what a baby should be called.
Read itThe names that came back
In 1920 Mildred was the sixth most popular girls’ name in America and Evelyn was twelfth. Today Evelyn is eighth and Mildred is given to 83 babies a year. Of the 65 names that peaked in the 1920s, nine made it back to the top 100. Which ones, how long it took, and why Britain brought back a different set.
Read itThe names rising in Britain
Nivan rose 3,653 places in England and Wales last year. That is three babies becoming eighteen. Counted properly, the real risers of 2025 are Gia, Eliana, Caelan and Bear, half of them arriving from America and half going the other way. And the biggest fall is a name that was in the top 20.
Read itThe names parents give and then stop giving
Dewey was the 19th most popular boys’ name in America in 1898. Ten years later it had lost 93% of its share. Chelsea did the same in the 1990s, and Alexa is doing it now: 32nd in 2015, outside the top 1,000 in 2025. The fastest falls in 129 years of records, why they are getting faster, and a warning for anyone putting a nickname on the birth certificate.
Read itThe boys' names that became girls' names
Leslie was a boys’ name in America for 65 years. In 1946 more girls got it than boys, and they never gave it back. We found 28 names that crossed since 1880, and in 15 of them the boys’ version had its best year after the girls had taken it. Going the other way, two. And in England and Wales, Riley, Morgan and Taylor have not crossed at all.
Read itThe spelling wars
In 2008 the most popular boys’ name in America was Jacob, given to 22,507 boys. That same year 31,158 boys were given one of 23 spellings of Aidan, and the commonest of them was 16th. How one sound became the real number one without ever appearing at the top of the list, why the original spelling is now the one that is losing, and the girls’ name that is quietly number one in both countries.
Read itOne in how many
In 1880 one American boy in twelve was called John. In 2017 the most popular boys’ name, Liam, went to one boy in 98. It took 16 names to cover half of all boys born in 1880 and 128 by 2008, and for girls 43 became 311. What popular actually means now, why the 1950s were the most crowded years on record, and why the hundredth name is doing better than ever.
Read itTop 100 in one country, nowhere in the other
Of the 100 most popular boys’ names in England and Wales, 58 are not in America’s top 100, and nine are not in its top 1,000. Freddie is tenth here and went to 76 American boys. Walker is 78th in America and went to nine boys here. Why America’s top 20 is full of British names and Britain’s is not full of American ones, the short forms, surnames and Spanish names that never cross, and the classics one country kept and the other let go.
Read itThe Muhammad question
Muhammad is the most popular boys’ name in England and Wales, given to 5,957 boys in 2025 against Noah’s 4,075. Add its eleven spellings together and it is 9,263, one boy in every 30, more than Noah and Leo combined. In America the same name is 239th. How the official number one is counted, why spelling matters more for this name than for any other in the top 100, and why last year’s rise was almost all spelling.
Read itTop 100 in both countries, opposite ends
Arthur is the fifth most popular boys’ name in England and Wales and 87th in America. Emma is third in America and 85th here. 92 names are in the top 100 on both sides of the Atlantic, and only three sit at the same rank. The shared names the two countries rank furthest apart, why the ones Britain likes more are the ones America is catching up on, and why the ones America likes more are the ones Britain is letting go.
Read itThe girls' number one that is not Olivia
Olivia is the most popular girls’ name in England and Wales, given to 2,386 girls in 2025. Sophia is 13th and Sofia 17th, and together with their smaller spellings they are 3,108. Count every name by sound rather than spelling and Olivia is third, behind Lily as well. Four names leave the top 20 and four come in, in both countries, and in America a girls’ name with 34 spellings and no single one inside the top 100 is really the 16th most popular in the country.
Read itThe boys' number one that is not Liam
Liam is the most popular boys’ name in America, given to 18,728 boys in 2017. Jackson was 20th. Add Jaxon, Jaxson and sixteen smaller spellings and it is 23,882, five thousand more than Liam. Counted by sound, three names leave the American top 20 and three come in, one of them with 39 spellings and its best one at 98th. In England and Wales one name comes in and one goes out, and the reason so little moves is the finding.
Read itThe spellings that swapped places
In 2017, 725 American boys were called Philip and 725 were called Phillip. Philip led for 80 years, Phillip for the next 56, and now Philip is back in front. Of 25 old names with two spellings, 16 changed which one led, in two quite different ways. And Britain still leads with Stephen, Catherine and Caitlin, three spellings America gave up.
Read itThe names nobody respells
Thirteen names have been in America’s top 100 in every year we hold since 1880, and every one of them is spelled one way. Of the top 100 boys’ names of 1990, the ones with a single spelling were three times as likely to still be there in 2025. Whether the spelling is the reason, why Jessica fell anyway, and why Britain hardly respells at all.
Read itFreddie or Freddy: the pet names that changed their ending
In 2025, 2,526 boys in England and Wales were called Freddie and 135 were called Freddy. America spelled it Freddie too, until 1989. Of 55 American names that end in an ee sound and have had a real contest over the spelling, 17 swapped -ie for -y and only two went the other way. Then the girls took up -i, then -ee and -eigh. Now the -ie is coming back, on the names Britain already uses.
Read itC or K? The old names kept their C
In 2017, 9,753 American boys were called Carter and 2,273 were called Karter. In England and Wales it was 536 to 35. We matched 58 names that can start with a C or a K. Of the 27 that were around before 1900, the C leads on 24 in America and 26 in Britain. The newer names go K nearly half the time, mostly the ones that start with a kay or kai sound. And Britain reaches for the K less often than America does.
Read itJ for boys, A for girls: the letters baby names start with
In 1880 one American boy in five had a name starting with J, mostly John, James and Joseph. In 1980 it was still one in five, from Jason, Joshua and Justin. J has led every year we hold. Girls have had six letters at the top in the same time, and A has led since 1979. In England and Wales A leads for boys and girls alike, and J comes fifth.
Read itGirls in America, boys in Britain
In 2017, 3,143 American babies were called Finley and 59% of them were girls. In England and Wales in 2025 it went to 1,733 boys and six girls. We found 27 names that are mostly girls in America and mostly boys here, Charlie, Riley, Oakley and Marley among them. Going the other way, two. When America moved, and the one big name that may be swinging back.
Read itN for boys, A for girls: the letters baby names end with
In 2008, 340 of the 1,000 most popular boys’ names in America ended in N, and more than one American boy in three had one. In 1880 it was 15%, and most of those boys were John. N has led every year since 1963, and A has led for girls since 1937. In England and Wales the girls agree, but no boys’ name above 27th ends in N. And in America the top ten boys’ names no longer include a single one ending in N.
Read itThe names Britain really shares between boys and girls
In 2025, 282 girls and 274 boys in England and Wales were called Remi. Of 1,471 names given to 50 or more babies here, only 49 go to at least one baby in four of each sex, and about one baby in 60 has one. Most of them are girls’ names in America, and America’s own shared names are boys’ names here. Only ten are shared in both countries.
Read itBrittany to Ivy: how baby names got long, then short
In 1989 more than one American girl in five got a name of eight letters or more: Brittany, Samantha, Jennifer, Stephanie. It was the longest year in our records, a full letter longer than 1881. Since then names have been getting shorter. In England and Wales one baby in four now has a name of four letters or fewer, and the average girl’s name is as short as an American girl’s was in 1907.
Read itAmerica’s newest names, and what Britain makes of them
Ailany went from 855th to 14th in America in two years. In England and Wales in 2025, four girls got it. Of the 457 names that joined America’s top 1,000 since 2015, the ten that have climbed highest went to 185 babies here between them. The ones Britain does use, it uses far more: Florence is 5th here and 391st there.
Read itIvy-Rose, Elsie-Mae, Arlo-James: Britain’s double names
One girl in 33 born in England and Wales in 2025 has a hyphen in her first name. More girls got Rose as the second half of a double name than were called Olivia, the number one. Not one double name makes the top 250.
Read itLily, Poppy, Ivy: the girls named after flowers
Three of the ten most popular girls’ names in England and Wales are plants, and one girl in 17 born in 2025 was named after one. America’s flower years were the 1890s, when one girl in 28 got a plant name, and Heather alone was one girl in 64 in 1975. Poppy is 29 times as common here as there.
Read itGrace, Hope, Destiny: the girls named after virtues
One American girl in 47 has a name that is a word for a virtue, a feeling or a blessing. In England and Wales it is one in 86, and nearly half of them are Grace. Britain’s virtue names are the old words, Grace, Felicity, Hope and Faith. America’s are Genesis, Serenity, Trinity and Destiny, words that were not names before the 1970s. Genesis is 37 times as common there as here.
Read itPearl, Crystal, Ruby: the girls named after jewels
In 1982 Crystal was the ninth most popular girls’ name in America, and one American girl in 51 was named after a gemstone. Since 1880 five different jewels have led: Pearl, then Ruby, Crystal, Amber and Jade. Britain’s jewel is Ruby, 38th here and twice as common per head as in America. America’s is Jade, eight times as common there.
Read itFreddie, not Frederick: the nicknames on Britain’s birth certificates
One boy in ten born in England and Wales last year was registered under a pet name: Freddie, Archie, Alfie, Albie, Charlie. In America it is one boy in 134. But America did this first. In 1947 one American boy in eleven was a Larry, a Jerry, a Billy or a Bobby, and in 1881 one American girl in six was a Minnie, an Annie or a Nellie. Where the nicknames went, and which of Britain’s are crossing the Atlantic now.
Read it