Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

What were your peers called?

234 replies

Justinripley · 16/03/2023 11:05

Following on from another thread where a poster is the same age as myself but didn’t know anyone called Phoebe (yet I know of loads my age)

I thought it would be interesting to see what the most popular names in your year groups/friends were, depending on peoples locations.

So for example: I was born in the mid 90’s, South London and I grew up with loads of:

Sophia
Grace
Phoebe
Molly
Lily

Jack
Tom
Joe
Sam
Max

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
crossstitchingnana · 16/03/2023 21:28

Born late 60s

Girls:
Sharon
Tracy
Deborah
Karen
Susan
Rebecca
Paula
Jackie
Beverley

Boys:
Paul
David
Steven
Mark
Andrew
Gary

YuGiOh · 16/03/2023 21:23

Growing up in the ‘80’s

Girls

Sarah
Elizabeth
Emma
Karen
Donna
Dawn
Michelle
Kirsty
Nicola
Amanda
Tanya

Boys

Nick/Nicholas
Mark
Ian
Christopher
Richard
Paul
John
Thomas
Matthew
Adrian

fairtrauchled · 16/03/2023 21:22

Scotland 60s
Susan
Gillian
Lorraine
Karen
Fiona
Anne
Elaine
Linda
Alison
David
Kevin
Andrew
James
Colin
Kenneth
Ian

8lue8irds · 16/03/2023 21:01

North west late 70s

Gareth
Douglas
Paul
Ian
Jonathan
Matthew
Barry
Graham

Louise
Claire
Emma
Amanda
Lindsay
Joanna
Vicky
Jennifer
Samantha

Autienotnautie · 16/03/2023 20:51

North in the 80's

Kelly
Chrissy
Claire
Laura
Joanne
Lindsey
Debbie
Amanda
Sarah

Adam
Paul
Chris
Carl
Shawn
Jamie
Kevin
Steven

MagicClawHasNoChildren · 16/03/2023 20:50

In the north west - born in the late 80s (mixture of primary and secondary school and extracurriculars):

Boys:

Adam
Ashley
Benjamin
Brian
Christopher
Daniel
Daryl
David
Dean
Edward
James
Jocelyn
Joseph
Jonathan
Lee
Marc
Martin
Paul
Peter
Philip
Richard
Robert
Ryan
Thomas
Scott
Timothy

Girls:

Amanda
Amy
Anna
Charlotte
Emily
Emma
Hannah
Helen
Holly
Jennifer
Katy
Keely
Kelly
Laura
Lauren
Lee
Lisa
Lucy
Marion
Natalie
Natasha
Nicola
Pamela
Rachel
Rebecca
Rhiannon
Rosanna
Sarah
Sophie
Stephanie
Victoria

pingpongping · 16/03/2023 20:44

I was born mid 80s-
We had 2 Danielles and 4 Daniels in one class.

Other popular names-

Emma
Gemma
Stacey
Laura
Kelly
Carly
Lauren
Rachel
Louise
Kirsty

Matt
Joe
Ben
Chris
Jonathan
Mark
Lee
Paul
Sean

JeannieAlogy · 16/03/2023 20:36

Girls : Lisa, Sarah, Tina, Nicole, Melanie, Jane, Carol
Boys: Mark, Michael, Lee, Gary, Paul, Darren, David

PritiPatelsMaker · 16/03/2023 20:19

Oh gosh this is really aging!

Girls:

Donna
Dawn
Clare
Ruth
Lucy

Boys:

Tom
Christopher
Adrian
James

OtterAnimagus · 16/03/2023 20:14

Early 90s Midlands. Most popular were

Girls
Rebecca
Laura
Lucy
Samantha
Jessica
Kimberley

Boys
Robert
Samuel
Thomas
James
Joshua
Callum

Marytherose · 16/03/2023 20:05

In London, in the 50’s

girls I remember were
Pamela, Christine, Margaret, Elaine, Pauline, Lynn, Susan, Carol, Elizabeth, Jill, Brenda, Karen, Frances, Ruth, Patricia

boys were
Christopher, Robert, Kenneth, David, John, Ian, Paul

SybilWrites · 16/03/2023 19:40

And millions of Helens too.

SybilWrites · 16/03/2023 19:37

Born early 70s, Midlands

Loads of Sarahs - there were 4 in my class.
Catherines/Katies/Kates
Jo/Joanne/Joanna
Rachel
Rebecca
Nicola/Nicky
Lots of Liz's (Lizzy, Beth etc)
Deborah, Tracy, Karen, Sharon, were all rare by the time I was born
Alison very common

Boys:
Jonathan
Simon
Philip
Christopher
Loads of Pauls
Loads of Marks
Matthew
Nicholas
Andrew (loads)
Neil (lots)

orangetriangle · 16/03/2023 19:28

my niece is a child now and girls names are
Isabella
Alice
Willow
River
Meadow
Florence
Ruby
Emily
Jessica
Annabelle
Mia
Isabel
Lottie
Boys names are
Jacob
Reuben
Theo
Teddy
Arthur
Max
Milo
Phoenix
George
Stanley
Percy

Again in the south east of england

PlateBilledDuckyPerson · 16/03/2023 19:27

MajorCarolDanvers · 16/03/2023 19:11

Born in the 70s in Scotland

Lisa
Sharon
Lee
Kirsty/Kirsten
Lorna
Heather
Gillian
Mhairi

Colin
Cameron
Graham
Stuart
Alasdair
Grant
Murray
David

The regional variations in these lists are so interesting - in my 70s class (SW England) I think Lisa, Sharon and David are the only names on your list we had. We did have a Lee or two, but male not female.

Dumdumbetterrunrun · 16/03/2023 19:27

Compared to Dd now
Zara
Isobel/ Isabella
Isla
Riley

Boys
Seth
Seb
Logan
Oscar
Jude

hiredandsqueak · 16/03/2023 19:26

Born late 60s
Girls Julie Jane Sarah Sally Dawn Kim Karen Joanne Toni Janet
Boys Stephen David Peter Richard Neil Nigel Darren Gary Phillip Shane Mark

MadameSzyszkoBohusz · 16/03/2023 19:26

Born in the north east at the tail end of the 70s.

Girls:
Victoria (Vicky) x 4
Louise x 2
Lynne x 2
Helen x 2
Katherine (Kat/Cat) x 2
Lynsey x 2
Andrea
Claire
Elizabeth (Lizzy)
Jennifer (Jenny)
Amanda
Debra
Gemma
Emma

Boys:
John
Paul
John-Paul
Steven x 2
Darren
Michael x 2
Peter x 2
David
Aaron
Terry
Gary

Actually, boys are harder to remember as we tended to call them by their surname or a nickname.

Dumdumbetterrunrun · 16/03/2023 19:24

90's primary school
Kayleigh
Zoe
Claire
Jess
Hannah
Sarah

Boys
James
Michael
Tom
Ryan
Gary
Ben (sooo many Ben's)

orangetriangle · 16/03/2023 19:24

My daughter was a child in the late 90s early 2000 girls names were
Rebecca
Chloe
Sophie
Lily
Abigail
Hannah
Paige
Grace
Charlotte
Lucy
Boys were
Daniel
Sam
Nathan
George
James
Jake
Lewis
Luke

orangetriangle · 16/03/2023 19:20

I grew up in the south east in the 70s girls were
Claire
Debbie
Michelle
Karen
Joanne
Sharon
Lisa
Louise
Samantha
Tracey
Natalie
Julie
Boys were
Steven
Jason
Robert
David
Ian
Malcolm
Paul
John
Christopher
Trevor

itssquidstella · 16/03/2023 19:17

Midlands, born mid-80s, went to a school with a mixed working and lower middle class demographic.

Girls:
Joanne
Sarah
Angela
Claire
Louise

Boys:
Stephen
Daniel
Ben
Paul
Mark

Newnamenewname109870 · 16/03/2023 19:14

CharlotteDoyle · 16/03/2023 12:18

Early 80s, not UK.

The girls were Jennifer, Katie, Christina, Julie, Lauren, Amanda, Becky.

Every boy was called David.

Where were you?

Newnamenewname109870 · 16/03/2023 19:13

90s all girls have the middle name Grace, Rose, Louise or Marie

all boys have the middle name James. Nearly all of them 😂

Newnamenewname109870 · 16/03/2023 19:12

FlounderingFruitcake · 16/03/2023 11:33

London burbs, late 80s.
Girls- Catherine/Katherine, Rachel, Sarah, Emma, Emily, Louise, Lucy
Boys- Matt, Chris, Nick, Alex, Tom, Mike

I love how you can see the trend - your late eighties is matching my early nineties

Swipe left for the next trending thread