Middle name stats

It seems that middle name stats are not available for the UK or the USA at least - why is this? Rhetorical question of course, I don’t expect anyone to know, but it’s kind of frustrating for name nerding purposes. I wonder what the top 100 would look like for middle names instead of first names - what do you think based on your intuition?

[name_f]Do[/name_f] you think there would be much overlap? More overlap for boys rather than girls perhaps? Would we see a definite style shift between the two top 100s, my instincts tell me that perhaps, since middle names are quite often family names, the middle name list would tend more towards traditional names. Maybe there are some names that just work better in the middle slot for reasons of length / rhythm - wdyt?

Iceland has pretty bad data for baby names - the actual lists they compile and issue are interesting but completely erratic (see Error - Hagstofa). BUT it is so good for population data. I can find out exactly how many people are named any given name, for first names and middle names or combinations, and when they were all born (so if I were super-dedicated I could work it out myself).* And their addresses for that matter, but I don’t care about that. Some names seem to be really much “middle names”, e.g. 368 people have Þór for a first name, but 6381 for a middle name, making it the most popular male middle name, but it’s never ever going to make the top 100 first names.

[name_f]Do[/name_f] you think there are names like that in your countries, that don’t rate on the existing popularity lists but would be really prominent if there were middle name data?

  • e.g. there are 490 people in the country with the same first name as my bf, 897 with the same middle name and 4 who have that exact combo. None of those have the same patronymic, so my bf is literally the only one in the world with his entire name.

Yes, I can guarantee you that here in the states in girls middle names right now are either “[name_f]Marie[/name_f]” or “[name_f]Bella[/name_f].”

I can’t even tell you how many baby announcements are “X [name_f]Marie[/name_f]” or “X [name_f]Bella[/name_f].” In the dozens, I think.

In my native Spain, I don’t even know, they seem to be all over the place.

I had a list of all the 7th graders in my school, and a lot of the middle names lean traditional. [name_m]Even[/name_m] students with names that are very urban, they come with middle names like [name_f]Annemarie[/name_f]. There were a few off the wall ones, like [name_m]Borne[/name_m] [name_u]Freedom[/name_u] (kid you not!) and a favorite of mine from the list was a girl with the middle name [name_u]Remy[/name_u].

I’d love to see middle name stats! I think they’d be very different. The popular names would be common of course, alongside staunch classics. I’m willing to bet [name_f]Anne[/name_f], [name_f]Jane[/name_f], [name_f]Rose[/name_f] and [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] will be high-ranking for girls and [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_m]Jack[/name_m], [name_m]William[/name_m] and [name_m]John[/name_m] for boys, because they work well with pretty much any name (and parents who go for the more trendy/unique names tend to have a more grounded middle.) I think dated names would also be quite popular, e.g. people wanting to honour grandad [name_m]Brian[/name_m] and grandma [name_f]Sheila[/name_f], but thinking they’re too dated for the FN spot. As for names that are more prominent as middles, I reckon declining classics like [name_m]Peter[/name_m], [name_f]Catherine[/name_f], [name_m]Richard[/name_m], [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] etc would be much higher.

[name_f]Elea[/name_f] at BBN compiles the data from UK Times and Telegraph birth annoucements and she ranks the popularity of middle names. Skewed sample, but interesting nonetheless: Name Data - British Baby Names

I’m willing to bet that in the US [name_f]Rose[/name_f] and [name_f]Grace[/name_f] are in the top 5 if not top two spots for girl middle names. [name_f]Marie[/name_f] seems a little dated, I know it was popular for my generation but it works well with anything so I’m sure it’s still used pretty often…especially in the south? Oh and [name_f]Mae[/name_f], [name_f]May[/name_f], [name_u]June[/name_u] and [name_f]Jane[/name_f], and Anne. Most boy names I’ve discovered work well in the middle, not so with most girl names.

I feel like girls often have middle names in common in the US. [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] is probably still a common middle name, although I know it was really popular in the 80s. If I’m guessing a girl’s name and they were born around 88 I will always guess [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] first. It was that common in my area. I think [name_u]Lynn[/name_u] and [name_f]Marie[/name_f] are probably up there at the top as middle names too.

I don’t know many baby boys, but I think [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] and [name_u]James[/name_u] might still be a common. It still seems like guys have more variety when it comes to middle names than girls, which is interesting since I feel like it’s the opposite when it comes to first names.