# Name popularity outside the US **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 9, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-popularity-outside-the-us/174172 "2003-05-09T18:38:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-popularity-outside-the-us/174172/1 "2003-05-09T18:38:52Z")
The US Social Security Administration has just released its list of most popular baby names in 2002. (Press release is [here](http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/baby-names-pr.htm), access to the list is [here](http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/).) 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. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-popularity-outside-the-us/174172/2 "2003-05-09T18:45:44Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-popularity-outside-the-us/174172/3 "2003-05-09T19:12:05Z")
Just down [this page near the end](http://www.stats.govt.nz/domino/external/pasfull/pasfull.nsf/7cf46ae26dcb6800cc256a62000a2248/4c2567ef00247c6acc256c6400055daf?OpenDocument) 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. ---
**Author:** ![keithnmick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90db22/32.png) [@keithnmick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keithnmick)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-popularity-outside-the-us/174172/4 "2003-05-09T19:15:45Z")
You don’t meet too many English guys called “Randy”. It would be the same as calling your boy “Horny” in the US. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-popularity-outside-the-us/174172/5 "2003-05-09T19:44:51Z")
From [this site](http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=184) 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](http://www.cso.ie/pressreleases/babies00.html), but the list provided only shows the top five names. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-popularity-outside-the-us/174172/6 "2003-05-09T20:07:12Z")
Denmark Year 2003: [http://www.dst.dk/dst/dst.asp?o\_id=3746](http://www.dst.dk/dst/dst.asp?o_id=3746) The first column holds boys first names, the second girls first names, the last surnames. And here is for year 2000: Girls [http://www.netdoktor.dk/boern/toppiger.htm](http://www.netdoktor.dk/boern/toppiger.htm) Boys: [http://www.netdoktor.dk/boern/topdrenge.htm](http://www.netdoktor.dk/boern/topdrenge.htm) ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-popularity-outside-the-us/174172/7 "2003-05-09T20:32:52Z")
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](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=124149) and this [one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=7747).)