Do you know a Rebecca at Oxford, or are you a doctor named John?
Insights compiled using existing data from trade bodies, university databases and court records reveal there are several patterns to be found amongst the names of some of Britain’s highest achievers.
You will find a James and a Thomas at the country’s top universities, while Rebecca is the female achieving the most academic success, and is the most common name appearing at The University of Oxford and The University of Cambridge.
Women’s names ending in ‘a’ are also most likely to end up at a top university, with Anna and Emma appearing near the top of the list of student’s names.
Matthews are most likely to be found at The University of Cambridge while Alexander is probably at Oxford.
Williams see the most success in creative industries, often becoming artists and authors, and Kates have the most musical talent, receiving the most Brit Award nominees. Kate Tempest was the latest to enjoy Brit Award success when she was nominated for Best British Female Solo Artist at this year’s awards.
Chris and Laura are the sportiest of the bunch, being the most common names among British Olympians – Sir Chris Hoy being the prime example. Meanwhile, British professional footballers share shorter names, with Dan, Tom and Sam being the most common in the Premier League.
David is the professional-type, found in the UK’s top jobs, and is the leading name among British MPs, lawyers and millionaires. Davids are also the ones most likely to fight crime, appearing most frequently in the Met police officer records.
However, Mary is the richest woman in Britain, appearing most often in the Sunday Times Rich List, and topping the charts of authors’ names.
Steve and Peter are leading successful FTSE 100 companies while Alison tops the name charts among the list of FTSE 100 CEOs.
Kates are likely to have success in the musical field, like Scots singer KT Tunstall, born Kate Victoria Tunstall
It’s bad news for Richard as he is least likely to have business success in 2018 and has claimed insolvency the most in the last three months. And John is our most common criminal in the UK.
However, it’s not bad for all Johns as they are the most likely to be doctors, with more than 500 doctors in the UK sharing this name over any other. Sarah is the female equivalent with the most common female name among doctors, and Sarahs also make good journalists and lawyers.
It seems that the names we choose do not only reflect our personal preferences and family histories, but are heavily influenced by the people around us – especially those in notable positions. We may come to admire names based on others’ achievements without even really realising it, and a recent study by Yonat Zwebner and colleagues at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2017 found that we copy the appearance of others who share our name and try to match their accomplishments.
The information was put together by My Nametags, Britain’s leading manufacturer of durable sticker and iron-on labels. ‘Our work is centred around names and we were curious to find out more about the link between the names we are given and our chances of success,’ says managing director Lars B. Andersen, and interestingly, their research suggests there does seem to be a connection.
As producers of name labels, My Nametags are exposed to a lot of information about name trends and were not surprised by the fact that traditional names are still prevalent amongst the most successful individuals in the UK. But they are making new predictions based on their database which suggests that tomorrow’s high-flyers might include some newcomers, with Ava, Isla, Noah and Leo found to be the top growing names of this year.
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