"Names like John, James, Elizabeth, and Mary once dominated the UK's classrooms and playgrounds. But scientists now say these traditional favourites could be dying out. A new study shows that parents are increasingly looking for the most unique names for their children as they turn their backs on traditional favourites. And it isn't just British babies whose names are getting more unusual, as researchers found that parents around the world are following the same trend."
"Instead, Professor Yuji Ogihara, of Aoyama Gakuin University, compared historical naming data from several countries. This revealed that unique names have become more frequent in Germany, the US, France, Japan, China, and Indonesia. Exactly how this quest for uniqueness appears varies from country to country, and changes based on naming conventions. For instance, Professor Ogihara says that people in Japan pay more attention to how a name is read, while people in China are more concerned about how the name is written."
Traditional names such as John, James, Elizabeth, and Mary are declining in popularity. Parents are increasingly selecting uncommon or unique names for their children, reducing the frequency of shared popular names. Historical naming data from multiple countries show rising proportions of unique names in Germany, the US, France, Japan, China, and Indonesia. Cultural naming conventions influence how uniqueness is expressed, with greater attention to pronunciation in Japan and to written characters in China. An interactive tool can report a name's 2024 birth counts, current popularity, change from its heyday, and peak chart position.
Read at Mail Online
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