MailOnline's new search tool shows whether your name is dying out or increasing in popularity. Powered with official data, it breaks down the top 100 most common names given to boys and girls born in England and Wales since 1904. Up until 1994, the data is recorded in 10-year intervals.
This then switches to yearly from 1996, when the Office for National Statistics (ONS) began tracking the topic annually. William was, according to the figures, the most common name given to boys in 1904. Yet it was toppled by John in 1914 which remained top of the charts until 1954 when David overtook it in the popularity rankings.
Nowadays, barely any boys are named John. Just 334 were given the name in 2023. For girls, Mary dominated the charts in the early 1900s. Margaret held top spot until 1954, before being outpaced by Susan (1954 and 1964) and later Sarah (1974 and 1984). Rebecca was the most common name for girls in 1994.
In recent times, MailOnline's analysis shows that Jack dominated the name battle in England and Wales. Jack ranked top every single year from 1996 up until 2009, when it was knocked into second place by Oliver. Oliver, meanwhile, was the king of the 2010s. It ranked top ten times between 2009 and 2020 and came second twice to Harry in 2011 and 2012.
Chloe took the crown for six consecutive years (1997-2002) and faded out of the top ten by 2011. That year marked the started of the dominance of both Amelia and Olivia, which accounted for every first and second ranking from 2011 until the most recent set of data released last week.
