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

Whoops missed the boys!

Steven
Andrew
Adam
Ben
Nick
Aaron
Tom

Born 71 - outer London. I went to a Co-Ed primary but a girls secondary.

Girls:
Sarah
Karen
Samantha
Maria
Jackie
Dawn
Susan
Rachel
Michelle

Boys:
David
Matthew
Nicholas
Michael
Graham
Mark
Paul

I think there were four Karens and Four Matthews in my primary classes, and three Davids.

At 52, I have five close friends about my age, called Karen.

I've never met another woman with my name but my friend knows one

Born in mid 1970s, grew up in North Yorkshire

Sarah, Nicola, Joanne, Louise, Helen, Michelle, Andrea, Vicky

Andrew, David, Steven, Chris, Nick, Lee, Carl, Simon, Jonathan

Up north, child of the 70's:

Sharon
Tracy
Susan
Karen
Julie
Michelle
Angela
Debbie
Joanne

Stephen
Michael
John
Andrew
Paul
Ian
David
Carl

Oh and Stephen, Andrew and Emma and Rebecca - we're all in our 50s now

90s

the repeat names were:
emily
emma
sophie
rebecca
rachel

matt
tom
james
joshua
william

Late ‘70s London…

Emma
Sarah
Louise
Michelle
Joanne
Lisa
Catherine
Karen
Amanda
Claire
Alison

Mark
Daniel
David
Paul
Andrew
Michael
Stephen

Born in the 70s in Scotland

Lisa
Sharon
Lee
Kirsty/Kirsten
Lorna
Heather
Gillian
Mhairi

Colin
Cameron
Graham
Stuart
Alasdair
Grant
Murray
David

And so many Katies and Catherine variations

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

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

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

Where were you?

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

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

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

90's primary school
Kayleigh
Zoe
Claire
Jess
Hannah
Sarah

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

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.

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

Compared to Dd now
Zara
Isobel/ Isabella
Isla
Riley

Boys
Seth
Seb
Logan
Oscar
Jude

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.

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

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)

And millions of Helens too.

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

Early 90s Midlands. Most popular were

Girls
Rebecca
Laura
Lucy
Samantha
Jessica
Kimberley

Boys
Robert
Samuel
Thomas
James
Joshua
Callum