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Top English Boys’ Names
Top English Boys’ Names
Feb 13, 2025 5:55 PM

  Yesterday we took a look at the long-delayed UK Office for National Statistics’ list of most popular girls’ names in England and Wales for 2008–and now it’s the boys’ turn.  We see many similar patterns across the gender divide, though perhaps even more names in the boy’ column that are less familiar in the US.

  The top ten names are:

  JACK–#1 for the 13th consecutive year

  2. OLIVER*

  3. THOMAS

  4. HARRY— relecting the popularity of both the younger prince + Harry Potter

  5. JOSHUA

  6. ALFIE–the name of a perpetually popular BBC TV character

  7. CHARLIE

  8. DANIEL

  9. JAMES

  10. WILLIAM

  *Note must be made though, that the ONS, like our Social Security Administration, ranks each spelling of a name separately, and if all the spellings of the name Mohammed were totalled, that name would rank in second place, reflecting Britain‘s growing ethnic diversity.

  As with their sisters, there are a number of male baby names in the UK top 100 that don’t even appear in the US top 1000 at all.  These include:

  ALFIE

  ARCHIE

  HARVEY

  THEO

  FREDDIE

  LOUIE

  EWAN

  ZAK

  Here again, an astonishing number of nickname names–60%! — a couple of which it’s difficult to imagine catching a Virgin trans-Atlantic flight and landing over here–certainly true in the case of Louie.  Another that pops out is Harvey, an upscale Brit favorite rarely considered in the US (except, of course, by some bold nameberryites).

  There are some other top English boys’ names that rank much higher up–the followng  are not even in the Top 500 in the US–though some have the potential of catching on:

  HARRY

  LEWIS

  CALLUM

  FINLEY

  RHYS

  TOBY

  BEN

  LEON–popular all over EuropeHARLEY

  KIAN

  KIERAN

  BAILEY (now used more for girls in the US)REUBEN

  ELLIS

  BILLY

  Those new to the Top 100 in 2008 following substantial  leaps:

  KIAN — up 436 placesRILEY — up 306 placesJAYDEN — up 281 places (and proving that the cultural exchange works both ways)ASHTON — up 264LOGAN — up 195THEO — up 172LUCA — up 135BLAKE — up 105

  And, once again, to complete the picture, here are the top names on neighboring lists:

  SCOTLAND

  JACK

  LEWIS

  DANIEL

  LIAM

  JAMES

  NORTHERN IRELAND

  JACK

  MATTHEW

  DANIEL

  JAMES

  RYAN

  For the full list of the British/Wales top 100, go to: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15282

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