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Wednesday, September 16, 2020

British vs. American, Part 1 (2019)

Both the US and UK datasets are out now; it's time to have some fun comparing data!  Always fascinating to see what trends are the same, and which are completely different. :)

First things first, here are the most popular names in England & Wales that don't appear at all on the US lists (meaning they were given at most to 4 babies in the US last year). 

Girls:
  1. Amelia-Rose
  2. Isla-Rose
  3. Ella-Rose
  4. Ivy-Rose
  5. Ava-Rose
  6. Ffion
  7. Bella-Rose
  8. Ava-Mae
  9. Lily-Rose
  10. Oliwia
  11. Lily-Mae
  12. Olivia-Rose
  13. Gracie-Mae
  14. Harper-Rose
  15. Dolcie
  16. Ella-Mae
  17. Fearne
  18. Isla-Mae
  19. Ellie-Mae
  20. Wiktoria
Oh, hyphens, how I love you. In the US, those would appear either as first and middle, or as a smash-name (e.g. Ameliarose), so we have to do something about that.  In previous years, I simply removed all hyphenated names entirely, but this year I decided to treat the British data as it would appear in the American data, and list the names accordingly:

 

Hyphenated names
as smash-names

First names only

1.

Ffion

Dolcie

2.

Oliwia

Ffion

3.

Harper-Rose / Harperrose

Oliwia

4.

Dolcie

Fearne

5.

Fearne

Wiktoria

6.

Wiktoria

Orlaith

7.

Elsie-Mae / Elsiemae

Ferne

8.

Orlaith

Nancie

9.

Evie-Rose / Evierose

Bethan

10.

Sienna-Rose / Siennarose

Esmai

11.

Ferne

Leja

12.

Evie-Mae / Eviemae

Miruna

13.

Nancie

Dotty

14.

Isla-Grace / Islagrace

Xanthe

15.

Lily-May / Lilymay

Lowri

16.

Willow-Rose / Willowrose

Ioana

17.

Gracie-May / Graciemay

Kornelia

18.

Lilly-May / Lillymay

Eleri

19.

Bethan

Bluebell

20.

Ava-May / Avamay

Florrie


So, the first column of names are the most common British girls' names that weren't used in the US, if we treat all hyphenated names as smash-names; the second is if we simply chop off the second name and add all the hyphenated names with the same first element together (so Dolcie, Dolcie-Mae, Dolcie-Rose, etc, are all combined into 'Dolcie'). 

Boys:
  1. Bertie
  2. Ralphie
  3. Teddie
  4. Osian
  5. Harri
  6. Dougie
  7. Hughie
  8. Oliwier
  9. Tomos
  10. Rares
  11. Ianis
  12. Wiktor
  13. Ralphy
  14. Tommy-Lee
  15. Tudor
  16. Wilf
  17. Frazer
  18. Seb
  19. Aronas
  20. Gethin
Interestingly, I did the same thing with the boys' list, and not much changed: if Tommy-Lee et al. are included in Tommy, the names below it shift up, adding Gruffydd at #20.  I was fairly sure the hyphenated trend was mostly for girls, but this pretty much confirms it. ;)

On to the "most British" names that do appear in the US data.

Girls:

 

Hyphenated names
as smash-names

First names only

1.

Isla-Rose / Islarose

Darcey

2.

Darcey

Orla

3.

Orla

Darcie

4.

Isla-Mae / Islamae

Ottilie

5.

Darcie

Jorgie

6.

Ottilie

Alicja

7.

Alicja

Kitty

8.

Ivy-Mae / Ivymae

Neave

9.

Neave

Hettie

10.

Kitty

Eadie

11.

Jorgie

Marnie

12.

Hettie

Pola

13.

Amelia-Rose / Ameliarose

Seren

14.

Lilly-Rose / Lillyrose

Arla

15.

Gracie-Mae / Graciemae

Alys

16.

Pola

Andreea

17.

Eadie

Dollie

18.

Seren

Pixie

19.

Ava-Mae / Avamae

Niamh

20.

Alys

Anwen



Boys:
  1. Albie
  2. Alfie
  3. Vinnie
  4. Fraser
  5. Rupert
  6. Freddie
  7. Barney
  8. Barnaby
  9. Rafferty
  10. Reggie
  11. Woody
  12. Olly
  13. Wilfred
  14. Ioan
  15. Teddy
  16. Matei
  17. Alby
  18. Lennie
  19. Dawid
  20. Franciszek
(for the boys', there's no significant change with the different tallying methods)

We see a lot more Eastern European influence in the UK lists than in the US, that's for sure. I wish Albie/Alby would catch on in the US. So cute. 
And while Welsh names might be favorites among American name nerds, it really doesn't seem to have transferred to the US in general. 

Just because I could, I also did a quick tally of which names appeared most in hyphenated names:
First element: Ivy (22 combinations), Elsie (18), Olivia, Harper (both 17), Ava (16)
Second element: Rose (293 combinations), Mae (152), Rae (133), Grace (99), May (94)


Want that British flair, but with names that are a bit more common in the US? Here are the names proportionally more common in the UK, from the American Top 1000:

Girls:

 

Hyphenated names
as smash-names

First names only

1.

Florence

Florence

2.

Harriet

Rosie

3.

Rosie

Harriet

4.

Poppy

Poppy

5.

Nancy

Nancy

6.

Matilda

Evie

7.

Evie

Bonnie

8.

Bonnie

Matilda

9.

Amelie

Amelie

10.

Martha

Nellie

11.

Esme

Esme

12.

Phoebe

Martha

13.

Elodie

Jessica

14.

Freya

Elodie

15.

Jessica

Erin

16.

Erin

Lara

17.

Nellie

Holly

18.

Elsie

Zainab

19.

Lara

Beatrix

20.

Maisie

Frankie



Boys:
  1. Harry
  2. Archie
  3. Reuben
  4. Tommy
  5. Louie
  6. Toby
  7. Mohammed
  8. Ronnie
  9. Bobby
  10. Muhammad
  11. Harley
  12. Stanley
  13. Alfred
  14. Hugo
  15. Albert
  16. Arthur
  17. Charlie
  18. Oscar
  19. Billy
  20. Mohammad
I should point out that there are zero names in the US Top 1000 that are separated into hyphenated names in the UK data. The two girls lists differ because multiple names counted separately in the first list combine into one entry for the second, changing up the rankings. Harriet, for instance, only appears in one double-name: Harriet-Rose, while Rosie is the first element in over a dozen. 

Interesting how several names that are generally considered"outdated" in the US are apparently now common (or still common?) in the UK--Nancy, Jessica, Erin, Stanley, etc. 

Just how more popular are these names in the UK?  Accounting for population size difference, Florence is about 42x more common for new babies in the UK than in the US, while Harry is a whopping 54x more common!


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