Saturday, September 19, 2020

British vs. American, Part 2 (2019)

Last time we saw which names were the "most British"; now it's time for the "most American". 
First up: the most common American names that don't appear at all on the full UK lists (meaning they were given to at most 2 babies in England & Wales):

Girls:
  1. Raelynn
  2. Ximena
  3. Londyn
  4. Brynlee
  5. Journee
  6. Mckenna
  7. Brynn
  8. Madilyn
  9. Makenzie
  10. Raelyn
  11. Daleyza
  12. Gracelynn
  13. Tatum
  14. Lyric
  15. Remington
  16. Makenna
  17. Bristol
  18. Ryan
  19. Camryn
  20. Kinley

Boys:
  1. Barrett
  2. Brantley
  3. Remington
  4. Maximiliano
  5. Josue
  6. Beckham
  7. Jayceon
  8. Collin
  9. Jaxton
  10. Ezequiel
  11. Kashton
  12. Landen
  13. Derrick
  14. Abdiel
  15. Cannon
  16. Briggs
  17. Brycen
  18. Ryland
  19. Stetson
  20. Case

Really, Londyn isn't used in the UK? I'm shocked. :p

On to the "most American" names that were used in the UK last year.

Girls:
  1. Kinsley
  2. Emersyn
  3. Emery
  4. Finley
  5. Sawyer
  6. Allison
  7. Journey
  8. Genesis
  9. Jordyn
  10. Nayeli
  11. Gracelyn
  12. Haley
  13. Braelynn
  14. Ainsley
  15. Camila
  16. Emerson
  17. Alondra
  18. Kaylani
  19. Regina
  20. Magnolia

Boys:
  1. Waylon
  2. Paxton
  3. Nash
  4. Jesus
  5. Landon
  6. Easton
  7. Emiliano
  8. Weston
  9. Rhett
  10. Legend
  11. Graham
  12. Princeton
  13. Messiah
  14. Tucker
  15. Bryce
  16. Brooks
  17. Jamison
  18. Angel
  19. Esteban
  20. Everett

"Cowboy" names, unisex surnames, and Spanish names.  Yep, that sounds about right. I am a bit surprised by Allison, as it's a bit out-of-date in the US right now, but a quick search shows that (when it's used) Alison is the more common spelling in the UK. Interesting. 


Time for some mathematical witchcraft, I'm afraid.  The US Top 1000 accounts for about 2/3 of girls' names and 3/4 of boys' names, so for the next part I'm limiting the UK data by the same amount, due to the population size difference.   

So, if the previous lists were a bit too "out there" for you, here are the most American names from the UK Girls' Top 600 and Boys' Top 675.

Girls:
  1. Zoey
  2. Avery
  3. Brooklyn
  4. Addison
  5. Samantha
  6. Stella
  7. Natalie
  8. Jade
  9. Lillian
  10. Charlie
  11. Madeline
  12. Katherine
  13. Riley
  14. Audrey
  15. Taylor
  16. Bailey
  17. Everleigh
  18. Brianna
  19. Morgan
  20. Everly

Boys:
  1. Maverick
  2. Ian
  3. Nolan
  4. Silas
  5. Brayden
  6. Emmett
  7. Wyatt
  8. Mateo
  9. Julian
  10. Jayce
  11. King
  12. Santiago
  13. Calvin
  14. Ryder
  15. Justin
  16. Miguel
  17. Dean
  18. Jeremiah
  19. Declan
  20. Greyson

I'm surprised by quite a few of these, especially Stella, Lillian, Katherine, Audrey, Ian, Julian, as they don't strike me as overly American (I say, as an American).  I suspect it's again a difference in timing--names being popular in the US that are now outdated (or becoming outdated) in the UK. 
Also interesting--Charlie appears as a "most British" name on the US boys' list, but a "most American" name on the UK girls' list. 

And in case you're wondering, the "most American" girls' name, Zoey, is about 13x more common in the US than in the UK; while Maverick is about 14x more common. 


So far I've only looked at differences, but what about names we like equally? Here are the names given to about the same proportion of kids in both the US and the UK (excluding rarer names to avoid weirdness).

Girls:
  1. Karina (US#570, UK#469)
  2. Dalia (US#1041, UK#864)
  3. Louise (US#686, UK#562)
  4. Sophia (US#4, UK#7)
  5. Saanvi (US#1032, UK#864)
  6. Nala (US#677, UK#554)
  7. Evelyn (US#10, UK#20)
  8. Isabel (US#135, UK#142)
  9. Penelope (US#22, UK#41)
  10. Anna (US#63, UK#82)
  11. Artemis (US#1006, UK#838)
  12. Maeve (US#244, UK#218)
  13. Amarah (US#1159, UK#980)
  14. Meadow (US#496, UK#402)
  15. Casey (US#896, UK#770)
  16. Mina (US#682, UK#574)
  17. Greta (US#635, UK#532)
  18. Paige (US#226, UK#206)
  19. Aria (US#20, UK#42)
  20. Melania (US#1149, UK#1017)

Boys:
  1. Logan (US#16, UK#29)
  2. Erik (US#384, UK#329)
  3. Myles (US#144, UK#123)
  4. Sebastian (US#18, UK#34)
  5. Lawrence (US#536, UK#443)
  6. Ezra (US#49, UK#60)
  7. Maximus (US#228, UK#181)
  8. Keanu (US#630, UK#518)
  9. Solomon (US#415, UK#341)
  10. Enzo (US#218, UK#181)
  11. Dylan (US#39, UK#54)
  12. Keegan (US#429, UK#369)
  13. Lucas (US#8, UK#25)
  14. James (US#6, UK#22)
  15. Samuel (US#22, UK#41)
  16. Romeo (US#346, UK#283)
  17. Phoenix (US#257, UK#201)
  18. Rafael (US#261, UK#203)
  19. Bradley (US#254, UK#219)
  20. Fabian (US#393, UK#323)
Such a wide variety of styles! And all pretty nice, too. :)

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