If you look at your genealogy database for given names in England and Wales during the 19th century, you’ll notice that Mary, John, and William were the most common names. Mary was the most popular girl’s name. John was overtaken by William in 1840, as shown in table 3 in A New Account of Personalization and Effective Communication.
According to the FreeBMD compilation of 1840 birth registrations, the top ten names for boys were William, John, Thomas, James, George, Henry, Joseph, Charles, Robert, Edward, and Richard. I find it intriguing that my two-times-great-grandfather, William Henry Northwood, born in 1840, had a two-given name combination that often appeared during that time. I wondered if it was just an illusion.
Based on the 1840 FreeBMD birth compilation, here’s the top of the order of those more frequent boys’ names in combination:
Given Names, Count
– William Henry, 2111
– John William, 811
– William John, 650
– John Thomas, 634
– John Henry, 600
– George Henry, 563
– William Thomas, 542
– George William, 524
– William James, 513
– Thomas William, 421
While William is the top first name, Henry tops the second name list. It’s not surprising that William Henry ranked highly.
It wasn’t just in 1840; William Henry peaked as a combination in 1876 with 6,772 births registered, outranking William John and John William.
What made William Henry a popular choice? I don’t know and would love to hear your ideas.
I also wondered. My 2 paternal great-grandfathers were William Henry and Henry William. Both were 1st generation born in Canada in the 1850s, with their fathers born in Ireland.
conqueror and king… a powerful combination which avoids religious connotations
Bryan Cook, that’s an interesting thought and it had not occurred to me. Thanks and cheers, BT