The US Social Security Administration has just released its list of most popular baby names in 2002. (Press release is here, access to the list is here.)
Are there similar lists online for other countries besides the United States? I’d be particularly interested in English-speaking countries such as Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and/or New Zealand.
I’m under the impression that some names (such as “Graham”) are much more popular in the UK than they are in the US (where it was #411 in 2002), but I don’t know of a good way to confirm that.
There are definitely names that are more English than others. My cousin named her little guy Nigel, which is very rare in the U.S. but I think it’s kind of like Billy in England.
Just down this page near the end are the lists for the 10 most popular babies’ names in New Zealand for the year ended September 2002. For the girls, it’s Jessica, followed by Olivia and Hannah. For the boys it’s Joshua, then Jack and Samuel.
From this site you can check the top 100 boys’ and girls’ names in England/Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Nigel doesn’t appear in this list at all and nor does Graham. FWIW I associate Nigel only with certain regions of England and for people above a certain age. I’ve only ever met one in my life. Graeme is the Scottish spelling, but that isn’t in the list for Scotland either. There are plenty of adults called Graham or Graeme though.
The Central Statistics Office in Ireland has this site, but the list provided only shows the top five names.
It certainly seems like “Jack” is a remarkably popular boy’s name in English-speaking countries outside of the US. In 2002. it ranked just 48th in the US (well up from #159 ten years previously, though). That same year, however, it was #1 in England, Wales, and Scotland; and #2 in Northern Ireland. “Jack” was also #1 in the Republic of Ireland in 2001 and #2 in New Zealand in 2002.
I wonder if “Jack” is usually just considered a nickname for “John” in the US, while in other countries it’s popular as a name in its own right. ("Jack and “John” were also discussed in this thread and this one.)