The most popular name in Britain is not what you think it is
Sorry guys
‘John Smith’ is the most common name in Britain, right?
It’s the first that springs to mind when giving a fictitious person a name. It’s the British Equivalent of ‘John Doe’. It’s what Doctor Who‘s human alias is, for goodness’ sake. So you can imagine our dismay when we learned that we’d been getting it wrong for our entire lives. Guys, John Smith is not the most popular name in the country at all.
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There are in fact two names that rank higher on the popularity scale, FYI. John Smith is actually only the third most popular name in the country, while David Jones (David Bowie’s real name) comes in second place. We know, we can’t believe it either.
Taking the top spot is good old David Smith. Probably John’s brother, cousin, dad, or whatever.
The news comes from a recent analysis of the Open Register by GBG for The Telegraph to find the top 100 most popular names in the country. The list of the most popular names is dominated by people with the lass name ‘Smith’ (no surprises there), or the first name ‘David’.
Interestingly, women’s names are reported as being far more diverse, only making up 17 of the 100, but the top ten is still made up entirely or Smiths or Joneses. Below is the break down of the most popular men and women’s names in Britain according to the Open Register.
It’s true what they say, you learn something new every day.
The top 10 most common names
David Smith – 6,163
David Jones – 5,959
John Smith – 4,742
Michael Smith – 4,321
David Williams – 4,292
Paul Smith – 3,904
Andrew Smith – 3,700
David Brown – 3,393
Robert Smith – 3,386
Peter Smith – 3,218
The top 10 most common female names
Susan Smith – 3,172
Margaret Smith – 3,086
Susan Jones – 2,365
Margaret Jones – 2,356
Patricia Smith – 1,993
Sarah Smith – 1,870
Elizabeth Smith – 1,843
Sarah Jones – 1,794
Christine Smith – 1,746
Mary Smith – 1,719
