Most Common Names

    • Source: Names and Naming Patterns in England, 1538 - 1700, Appendix C, Scott Smith-Bannister, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1997.

What follows are lists of the most common boys and girls names in forty English parishes during the decades specified. It is supposed to contain the top fifty names of each decade but it didn't quite turn out that way (but it's close). I am also assuming he includes all variant spellings under the standardised spellings.

I have only reproduced the three decades from 1600 - 1629 as being the most likely decades in which Civil War era personas would be born. The lists in the original tables include the years 1538 - 1700 for anyone interested in names outside what I have reproduced.

The lists are in order of popularity (although some names were ties I see no reason to be that picky about reproducing the actual rankings).

most.common.names