Lauren Lees
Have you ever thought about how common your middle name is? Well, wonder no more as the most popular names have been revealed.
First names for babies are often inspired by anything from music to literature, TV show characters and pop culture references, friends, families, and more.
The most popular first names also seem to change more frequently with the times. For example, there are so many Gen X Jennifers, and not a lot of Gen Alpha Karens, due to that meme seemingly knocking the name out of style.
Some names are even in danger of going extinct. So if favoured first names change so constantly, why are middle names supposedly immune - with the same ones staying in the top spots for generations?
Advert
A study by Ancestry.co.uk revealed that dads are twice as likely to have a say in the middle name compared to the first name - 14 percent versus eight percent - ‘although both are most commonly chosen equally’. So, the middle name seems easier to agree on!
Middle names, though they seem commonplace now, have only really become popularised after World War I and II - usually they’re a passed relative's name, a tribute honouring the deceased.
The Ancestry survey notes the scale of this increase in popularity: “Rewind more than a century and just one in three people (37 percent) sported a middle name according to an audit of the 1911 census. Yet today, more than three-quarters of children are given second names (80 percent) and one in 10 new babies (11 percent) is given two or more middle names.”
Miriam Silverman, from Ancestry UK, claimed: “Middle names are less likely to follow popular culture and more likely reflect age-old traditions or names that were popular in our parents’ or grandparents’ generation - hence the very traditional makeup of today’s top 10 middle names.”
The list of names here definitely feels traditional, with an absence of inspiration from the modern world. This is a direct contrast to the predicted name trends for next year, where there appears to be a modern pop culture influence.
Yours may well be on there, and if not, there's a high chance a close family member or friend has one on the list...