So i’m from [name_f]England[/name_f] and I’ve always been interested in the differences in names between the USA and UK (england specifically) So I picked out the most popular baby name for each letter according to NB’s 2018 list from both countries and included their popularity ranking. Which name list do you prefer and which names surprised you?? (boys edition):
How interesting to compare them side by side! I think I prefer the American list, but they’re both really nice.
I never realized how popular [name_m]Arthur[/name_m] was in the UK! I’ve also never heard of [name_m]Umar[/name_m]- it reminds me of [name_m]Omar[/name_m], which ranks somewhere in the 200s here in the US, I think? I just looked and [name_m]Umar[/name_m] has never ranked in the US, which is interesting seeing as it’s relatively common in the UK.
Yes I’ve heard of quite a few Arthurs actually. I think it might be the connection with the [name_u]Royal[/name_u] Family. [name_m]Prince[/name_m] [name_m]Louis[/name_m] is [name_m]Louis[/name_m] [name_m]Arthur[/name_m] [name_m]Charles[/name_m] (i believe) so that’s probably helped [name_m]Arthur[/name_m] go up in popularity.
I’ve never met an [name_m]Umar[/name_m] personally and was more familiar with [name_m]Omar[/name_m] as well. The full UK list for boys especially had a lot more Arabic names compared to the US which surprised me actually.
I think i also prefer the US boy list but I definitely prefer the UK list for girls.
UK wins for me - I assume this is [name_f]England[/name_f] and [name_m]Wales[/name_m]’ list?
UK wins: [name_m]Arthur[/name_m], [name_u]Charlie[/name_u], [name_m]Edward[/name_m], [name_u]George[/name_u], [name_m]Leo[/name_m], [name_m]Muhammad[/name_m], [name_m]Patrick[/name_m], [name_m]Reuben[/name_m], [name_m]Umar[/name_m], [name_m]Vincent[/name_m], [name_m]Xander[/name_m]
US wins: [name_u]Finn[/name_u], [name_m]Henry[/name_m], [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_m]Theodore[/name_m]
Of these, the ones I actively like are: [name_m]Arthur[/name_m], [name_m]Edward[/name_m], [name_u]George[/name_u], [name_m]Henry[/name_m], [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_m]Patrick[/name_m], [name_m]Theodore[/name_m] & [name_m]Vincent[/name_m]. I also like [name_m]Muhammad[/name_m] but am not the right culture for it to be usable.
Once again UK wins for me (shock!) but some of my overall favourites ([name_m]Theodore[/name_m], [name_u]James[/name_u], [name_m]Elijah[/name_m]) were on the US side!
@emelfem Yes! [name_f]England[/name_f] and [name_m]Wales[/name_m]. I believe [name_f]Scotland[/name_f] has their own list and Northern [name_f]Ireland[/name_f] is included in the [name_f]Ireland[/name_f] top 1000. Although I do feel it would be good to see a specifically Welsh list as they have so many traditionally Welsh names that I love and I’m sure they must be way more popular in [name_m]Wales[/name_m] than in [name_f]England[/name_f].
I think it’s interesting how many of the names are the same for each, the ones that are different definitely highlight the stylistic difference between us both though. I hadn’t heard of [name_m]Umar[/name_m] before but I think I prefer its softer sound to [name_m]Omar[/name_m]. The fair few Arabic names in the UK list didn’t really surprise me as there is a large Muslim population here (if all of [name_m]Muhammad[/name_m]’s spellings were combined, it would be the #1 boy name!).
With seven UK preferences and eight US, it’s a pretty even split for me.
I think this list really shows how much proportionally higher the Muslim population is in the UK, which is so interesting, I love how name trends can map demographic data.
