By Eleanor Nickerson

With the 2016 England and Wales data fresh off the press, it’s always interesting to have a look at how this data compares to that of our American cousins.

Though we share many many names in common thanks to our common language and celebrity/media influences, it’s the names that divide us that offer the most fascinating insight.

When first glancing at the two lists, some differences are immediately apparent:

Gender-divide

Ashley, Avery, Brooklyn, Charlie, Emerson, Finley, Frankie, Harley, Jamie, Mackenzie/Mckenzie, Marley, Morgan, Quinn, Reagan, Riley and Taylor are all more popular for girls than boys in the US, but in England and Wales all are more commonly used for boys than girls.

Cultural influences

Many Spanish names are happily seated in the American rankings, while the England & Wales ranks showcase Muslim and Polish names.

Name endings

One thing that stands out in the England & Wales ranks is the number of names (for either gender) that end in ie/y. For girls there are 112 names in the E&W Top 500 compared with 86 in the US. For boys, 75 end in ie/y in the E&W top 500 compared with 29 in the US top 500.

In the US ranks, it’s the names that end in -yn/-ynn for girls (32 in the US top 500 compared with 5 in E&W top 500) and to a lesser extent –on for boys (57 in the US top 500 and 32 in E&W)

Names in the 2016 US Top 100 only:

Boys Girls 16 AIDEN* 57 CAMERON 79 COOPER 23 OWEN* 58 JEREMIAH 80 GAVIN 28 JOHN 59 MATEO 81 CARSON 30 ANTHONY 59 ADRIAN 82 JAXSON* 33 WYATT 61 HUDSON 84 JASON 34 ANDREW 62 ROBERT 86 CHASE 36 CHRISTOPHER 63 NICHOLAS 87 PARKER 37 GRAYSON 64 BRAYDEN 88 XAVIER 39 JULIAN 65 NOLAN 89 KEVIN 42 LEVI 66 EASTON 92 AYDEN 45 HUNTER 67 JORDAN 92 ELIAS 46 CHRISTIAN 68 COLTON 94 BRYSON 47 ISAIAH 69 EVAN* 95 LEONARDO 50 LINCOLN 70 ANGEL 96 GREYSON 52 ELI* 71 ASHER 97 SAWYER 53 LANDON 72 DOMINIC 99 BRANDON 54 CONNOR* 76 JACE 100 BENTLEY 55 JOSIAH 77 JOSE 55 JONATHAN 78 IAN 15 MADISON 50 ALEXA 75 NEVAEH 16 AVERY 52 HAZEL 79 QUINN 22 RILEY 53 AALIYAH 81 PEYTON 25 AUBREY 54 ARIANA 82 MELANIE 26 ZOEY 55 CAROLINE 83 KYLIE 28 LILLIAN 58 GENESIS 84 AUBREE 29 ADDISON 59 KENNEDY 85 MACKENZIE 31 NATALIE 59 SADIE 86 KINSLEY 32 CAMILA 61 GABRIELLA 87 CORA 34 BROOKLYN 62 MADELYN 89 TAYLOR 36 NORA 63 ADELINE 90 KATHERINE 38 SAVANNAH 65 AUTUMN 91 MADELINE 39 AUDREY 66 AURORA* 92 GIANNA 40 CLAIRE 67 PIPER 92 ELIANA 42 SKYLAR 68 HAILEY 94 ELENA 44 SAMANTHA 69 ARIANNA 95 VIVIAN 45 STELLA 70 KAYLEE 97 REAGAN 46 PAISLEY 72 SERENITY 98 BRIANNA 49 ALLISON 74 NAOMI 100 FAITH*

* Aiden, Owen, Eli, Connor, Evan, Jaxson, Aurora and Faith rank in the individual top 100 for Wales, which suggests that Welsh parents are more attuned to American tastes than English parents.

Names in the 2016 E&W Top 100 only:

Boys Girls 2 HARRY 47 LOUIE 73 BLAKE 3 GEORGE 48 REUBEN 74 ELLIOTT 7 CHARLIE 49 ARLO 75 LEWIS 8 MUHAMMAD 50 HUGO 76 FREDERICK 10 OSCAR 52 LUCA 80 RORY 14 ALFIE 54 HARVEY 83 DEXTER 17 FREDDIE 55 HARLEY 84 ALEX 18 ARCHIE 55 REGGIE 87 KAI 23 EDWARD 57 TOMMY 88 ALBIE 25 MAX 58 JENSON 89 ELLIS 29 THEO 62 JUDE 90 BOBBY 30 ARTHUR 63 FRANKIE 92 LEON 31 MOHAMMED 64 ALBERT 94 JESSE 32 HARRISON 65 STANLEY 96 IBRAHIM 35 FINLEY 66 ELLIOT 98 JASPER 40 RILEY 68 MOHAMMAD 99 FELIX 41 TEDDY 69 OLLIE 100 FINN 45 JAKE 70 RONNIE 46 TOBY 71 LOUIS 4 ISLA 42 LOLA 72 LOTTIE 8 JESSICA 45 ELIZA 74 SUMMER 13 POPPY 46 ERIN 75 MARTHA 14 SOPHIE 49 HARRIET 76 HEIDI 16 EVIE 50 THEA 77 GRACIE 19 FREYA 51 MAISIE 79 MARYAM 20 FLORENCE 52 HOLLY 80 BEATRICE 21 ISABELLE 54 GEORGIA 82 DARCEY 22 DAISY 55 AMBER 83 MEGAN 24 PHOEBE 55 MOLLY 84 IRIS 25 MATILDA 59 JASMINE 85 LEXI 28 SIENNA 59 LILLY 86 ROBYN 31 ELSIE 61 ANNABELLE 87 AISHA 33 IVY 62 ROSE 89 FRANCESCA 34 MILLIE 64 AMELIE 90 SARA 35 ESME 68 ZARA 94 ARABELLA 36 ROSIE 69 MARIA 95 MADDISON 37 IMOGEN 70 NANCY 97 FELICITY 41 EMILIA 71 DARCIE 98 DARCY

It is interesting to note that 8 names in the Top 20 for boys in England and Wales do not feature at all in the US Top 100, but for the US, only one name in the top 20 (Aiden) does not appear at all in the E&W top 100. For girls, there are 6 names in the E&W top 20 compared with 2 in the US top 20. I’m not sure what conclusions we can draw from this, but it is a striking contrast.

Looking at just the Top 100 is illuminating, but it doesn’t paint a full picture. Leonardo, for example, is #95 in the US and #132 in E&W while Annabel is #61 in E&W and #105 in the US, which is hardly disparate use.

For a starker contrast, the following is a list of names which appear in the top 200 in the US but are outside of the top 500 in E&W – and vice versa.

Names in the 2016 US Top 200 / outside E&W top 500:

Boys Girls 53 LANDON 132 KINGSTON 188 BRYAN 64 BRAYDEN 134 JESUS 191 AVERY 65 NOLAN 136 EMMETT 193 AUGUST 66 EASTON 138 JAYCE 196 COLIN 68 COLTON 139 MAVERICK 197 WAYLON 70 ANGEL 140 BENNETT 200 KADEN 77 JOSE 141 GIOVANNI 78 IAN 143 MADDOX 80 GAVIN 146 BRYCE 94 BRYSON 149 RYKER 96 GREYSON 152 KING 97 SAWYER 155 BRANTLEY 114 EVERETT 162 MIGUEL 117 WESLEY 171 GRANT 119 SILAS 173 TUCKER 120 WESTON 178 GAEL 122 JUAN 179 GRAHAM 124 CAMDEN 181 ALEJANDRO 126 BRAXTON 184 JEREMY 128 JAMESON 185 ZAYDEN 130 CARLOS 186 KARTER 16 AVERY 105 RYLEE 160 VALERIE 26 ZOEY 108 HADLEY 161 EMERSON 29 ADDISON 116 BAILEY 162 JULIANA 32 CAMILA 118 XIMENA 165 MAKAYLA 40 CLAIRE 121 BRIELLE 167 MARIAH 49 ALLISON 124 ADALYNN 170 RYLEIGH 55 CAROLINE 128 ANDREA 171 ADALINE 58 GENESIS 130 EMERY 175 ANGELINA 59 KENNEDY 131 LONDON 177 REESE 62 MADELYN 132 KIMBERLY 180 LONDYN 63 ADELINE 133 MORGAN 182 PAYTON 68 HAILEY 137 TRINITY 184 ALAINA 70 KAYLEE 140 ARIEL 185 CHARLIE 72 SERENITY 141 ADALYN 189 FINLEY 85 MACKENZIE 146 JORDYN 193 KENDALL 86 KINSLEY 147 JOCELYN 194 DANIELA 92 GIANNA 150 TEAGAN 196 ADELYN 95 VIVIAN 151 VALERIA 198 BROOKLYNN 97 REAGAN 156 MCKENZIE 199 JULIETTE 98 BRIANNA 158 RAELYNN 200 JULIANNA 101 ASHLEY 159 LEILANI

Names in bold are outside of the top 2000 in E&W.

Names in the 2016 E&W Top 200 / outside US top 500:

Boys Girls 2 HARRY 88 ALBIE 162 ABDULLAH 14 ALFIE 90 BOBBY 165 ZAC 17 FREDDIE 102 JAMIE 168 FLYNN 18 ARCHIE 108 YUSUF 171 AHMED 31 MOHAMMED 110 CALLUM 172 YAHYA 41 TEDDY 111 ALFRED 173 REX 46 TOBY 112 RALPH 175 RAYAN 47 LOUIE 116 SONNY 183 WILFRED 48 REUBEN 122 AYAAN 184 VINNIE 55 HARLEY 127 BILLY 186 EESA 55 REGGIE 130 FINLAY 186 SAM 57 TOMMY 131 JOEY 188 MARLEY 58 JENSON 134 OAKLEY 191 OLLY 63 FRANKIE 136 RUPERT 191 SYED 65 STANLEY 137 MUSA 193 HAMZA 69 OLLIE 143 BAILEY 198 ROBIN 70 RONNIE 155 FILIP 75 LEWIS 158 JAKUB 76 FREDERICK 160 TED 13 POPPY 109 NIAMH 154 BETSY 20 FLORENCE 114 BONNIE 154 ZAHRA 35 ESME 115 ESMAE 158 ANNABEL 36 ROSIE 115 HOLLIE 159 INAAYA 37 IMOGEN 118 LARA 166 ELODIE 49 HARRIET 125 MOLLIE 168 BEATRIX 51 MAISIE 127 PIPPA 171 ZUZANNA 52 HOLLY 132 FRANKIE 178 KHADIJA 64 AMELIE 135 EDIE 178 PENNY 70 NANCY 136 ISOBEL 183 MAJA 71 DARCIE 137 ZAINAB 185 ALISHA 72 LOTTIE 140 TILLY 186 AOIFE 75 MARTHA 141 HANNA 188 GEORGINA 79 MARYAM 143 CONNIE 189 ROSA 80 BEATRICE 144 HALLIE 192 LOIS 86 ROBYN 145 SEREN 195 ALIZA 87 AISHA 147 MARNIE 198 ALEENA 98 DARCY 148 LILLIE 198 LIBBY 107 ORLA 152 SKYLA

Names in bold are outside of the Top 2000 in the US.

So a boy called Jenson is more likely to be British; a boy called Jameson is probably American. But we can always rely on Jackson to unite us.