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Baby names

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

Original poster

What were the most popular names at your school?

62 replies

jasminnie · 01/06/2025 07:13

I am a 1995 baby and the most popular names at my school were:

Jack
Sophie
Sarah
Emily
Benjamin
Samuel
Megan
Grace
Joshua
Hannah
Daniel

What were yours?

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crossstitchingnana · 01/06/2025 17:19

Boys
Mark
Stephen
Paul
Gary
Andrew

Girls
Rebecca
Karen
Michelle
Amanda
Susan/Suzanne

70s-80s

Firebird83 · 01/06/2025 17:15

My brother who is 3 years younger had lots of Jacks, Joshuas, Laurens and Hannahs in his class

AnnaQuayInTheUk · 01/06/2025 17:14

I was at school in the late 70s/early 80s. All girls school. Popular names were

Alison
Helen
Catherine
Mary
Jane
Louise
Emma

Firebird83 · 01/06/2025 17:12

Emma (usually with middle name Louise!)
Emily
Sarah
Laura
Victoria
Charlotte
Kate
Abigail
Sophie
Rachel
Amy
Rebecca

James
Matthew
Daniel
Christopher
Andrew
Benjamin
Joseph
Luke
Thomas
Nicholas
Samuel

Early 90s

Mummblebee · 01/06/2025 12:53

1991
Laura

AnneMarieW · 01/06/2025 12:39

Secondary girls school in the 90’s. A good proportion of my class of 28 girls was a Katherine variant (we had a Catherine, Katherine, Katheryn, Katie and a Kate) as well as couple of Sarah’s and a couple of Joanna’s (but that one admittedly was random as I think there was only one other in the whole school - that why parents worrying about popularity in names doesn’t always work!). Across the school year there were also multiple Lucy’s and Amy’s.

AllAroundMyGarden · 01/06/2025 12:35

Laura, Karen, Michelle and Tracey

Kevin, Stephen, Colin, Jason, Mark

MissyB1 · 01/06/2025 12:35

Late 70s early 80s

Sarah
Karen
Julia
Veronica
Rachel
Sharon
Marie
Theresa

Lisbeth50 · 01/06/2025 12:31

Sarah, Nicola, Julie, Emma, Joanne, Claire/Clare, Lisa

Chris, David, Shaun, Michael, Mark, Paul

MaryTheTurtle · 01/06/2025 12:24

Started secondary school 1984 there were Lisa, Emma and Kelly’s.

Avantiagain · 01/06/2025 12:18

And Joanne and Karen.

Avantiagain · 01/06/2025 12:15

Early 70s

Lisa
Michelle
Kim
Helen
Amanda
Tina
Deborah
Tracy

Gary
Mark
Steven
Ian
David
Michael
Peter
Jason

Catandsquirrel · 01/06/2025 10:15

Mid 80s born lots of Sarahs, Rachels, Lucys, Amys, Catherine variants, Rebeccas, Claires, Jenny, Hannah, Laura

Boys Steven, Peter, Oliver, Matthew, James, Tom, Jack (before it really got big), David, Adam, Luke, Gregory, Daniel, Mark, Jonathan

A lot of classic and biblical names really. Gemma , Bradley and Lauren a bit more trend led

ThePussy · 01/06/2025 10:05

Sarah
Catherine
Emma
Karen
Sharon
Tracey
Teresa
Joanne
Lucy
Victoria
Nicola
Helen
Jackie

Tim
Christopher
Steven
Andrew
James
Paul
Ian
Peter
Carl

ToadRage · 01/06/2025 10:03

I was born in '86 so started school in '90.
Thinking back to what names there was more than one of in my class;

Claire
Catherine/Katherine
Oliver
Laura
Matthew
Daniel
James
Timothy

I noticed very early on that a huge amount of girls my age have Louise as their middle name and I can't to this day work out why there was a massive surge in that name as a middle name in 86/87. I haven't seen such popularity in any other age group with any other name but it was like a vast majority of girls of my age had the middle name of Louise.

Gagamama2 · 01/06/2025 09:59

at school 1989-2000

multiple laura, Katherine/catherine/kate/katie, and Claire/clare in my year at secondary, maybe 6 of each.

samantha, Charlotte, Natalie, Amy also popular.

daniel, James, samuel, Wayne, Matthew, Richard, Benjamin for boys. Always shortened to Dan, Jamie, sam, Matt, rich, Ben

it’s funny how limited kids names were back then! I feel like you get all sorts now (and rightly so)

BlossomIsSoPretty · 01/06/2025 09:51

Sharon
Tracey
Linda
Paula
Karen

Michael
David
John
Mark

luckylavender · 01/06/2025 08:22

I forgot Sally

2025mustbebetter · 01/06/2025 08:05

1977 baby
Lucy
Donna
Deborah
Karen
Kelly
Claire
Sarah

Maddy70 · 01/06/2025 08:02

Susan
Tracy
Dawn
Linda
Claire
Wayne
Stewart
Ian
Gary
Stephen

Mumofgirls2017 · 01/06/2025 07:57

born late 80s

christopher
matthew
william
david
james
andrew
benjamin
thomas
robert
alexander

sarah
laura
hannah
emma
lucy
jessica
rebecca
rachel
jennifer
catherine/ Katie/ kate
elizabeth
alexandra
charlotte
amy
caroline
victoria
louise
nicola
georgina

Moreteaandchocolate · 01/06/2025 07:54

Born late 70’s

Sarah
Karen
Claire
Emma
Helen
Joanne
Nicola

Mark
Timothy
David
James
Matthew
Steven
Andrew

Thewalrusandthecarpenter · 01/06/2025 07:39

Sarah
Nicola
Claire
Tracey
Michelle
Sharon
Joanna
Kate
Alison
Rebecca

BoleynMemories13 · 01/06/2025 07:39

Late 80s baby, at primary in the 90s and secondary in the 00s. We're late 30s now:-

Sarah
Laura
Rachel/Rachael
Claire/Clare
Amy
Emma
Samantha (Sam)
Rebecca (Becky/Becca/Bec)
Danielle
Michelle
Gemma
Hayley
Charlotte
Nicola
Victoria (Vicky/Vic)

Daniel
Michael
Matthew
Steven/Stephen
David
Christopher (Chris)
Robert
James/Jamie
Andrew (Andy)
Lee
Jason
Craig
Carl/Karl
Timothy (Tim)

I've only put in brackets the name which were always inevitably shortened. Obviously some of the others were too, depending on individual preference.

GinJeanie · 01/06/2025 07:34

Sarah
Helen
Claire
Rachel
Lindsey
Donna
Jackie
Vicky
Alison
Gemma
Tracy

David
Stephen
Matthew
Jonathan
Paul
Mark
Barry
Chris
Jamie
Anthony
Gary
Simon
Keith

1970s