What were your peers called?

[Justinripley]

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

The names in the 90s are the same as those in their 40s now, those in the 80s are the same as the people in their 50s you know now...

There are so many posts the same and the names are the same on the official recorded data. We had less unusual names and less diversity of names in my schools in the 1990s.

Yes, but there are regional variations and it can be harder to find the data for these. Also, if you went to an independent school, or an international school, your list could be noticeably different from most.

Except for the 20% of boys who have James as their first name…

When I was a child in the 80s, most girls, had Jane or Louise as a middle name (including me). The 100 Sarahs I knew were all called Sarah Jane or Sarah Louise. I am exaggerating, but only a tiny bit.

I was born mid 80s in south England.

Girls were: Leanne, Kelly, Kerry (bloody loads of those), Laura, Sarah, Samantha, Katie, Claire. Almost always.

Boys were: Christopher, David, Andrew, Daniel, Adam, Lee, Steven. Again, almost always.

My name appears in loads of these lists, regardless of decade or location. I suppose that must mean it’s a classic!

Mid 70s NW

claire, Catherine/Katherine, Sarah, Nicola, Vicky,Jenny, Rachel, Lindsey, Becky, Helen, Joanne
(At least 3 of each in my school year)

Robert, Jonathan, Mark, Andrew, Richard, Michael, Ian, Steven, Chris, Neil,

Born mid 70's ' Up North'

Michael
John
Jonathan
Lee
Paul
Stephen

Louise
Emma
Nicola
Helen
Michelle

80s/90s Dublin - Leanne, Róisín, Sophie, Ciara, Aisling, Alison...

SE mid 50s
Mary
Linda
Susan
Sara (h)
Amanda
Elizabeth
Jane
Vanessa
Dillys
Sandra

Gary
Brian
John
James
Trevor
Adrian
Terry
Tony
Paul
Neil