It’s rather obvious that I might have been interested in baby names lately, but I thought some readers may be interested in the Office for National Statistics’ compilations of the top 100 boys’ and girls’ names by decade 1904-1994:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/baby-names–england-and-wales/1904-1994/index.html
The site also has more recent lists:
We chose traditional names for our son reflecting both sides of the family but it has been interesting to trace even those names up and down the charts. His first name has only just regained the popularity it had in the early 20th century while his middle name fell out of the top 100 altogether in the new millennium, despite riding high for all of the previous century.
Of course, had he been a girl, the middle name would have been one on the verge of extinction. Perhaps if he’s lucky enough to have a sister one day we’ll still have a chance to use it!
