You are pregnant and looking for a name for your child. Much research has now been done into names. Perhaps the results are something to take into account. Lower social classes more often choose exotic names, while higher educated people often choose a traditional name. In 2019, Emma was the most popular name for girls and Noah was the most popular name for a boy. The more common your first name, the more advantage it can provide at school and work. Disadvantage: you are not the only one with that name. Boys’ names have remained roughly the same over the past century, while more and more girls’ names are being created. It turns out that we are unconsciously more tolerant when it comes to unusual girl names. That would come from the traditional idea that men have to have a serious career.
Girl with ‘boy’s name’
Girls who are given a boy’s name, such as Alex , appear to be twice as likely to choose a technical study. This is probably because these girls are considered tougher from an early age and therefore start to behave tougher.
Boy with ‘maiden name’
Men with feminine names, such as Leslie , appear to have a lot of self-control. This is probably because they have received a lot of criticism in their youth, so they are better able to let it slide.
Name
The more common your name, the more popular you are at school. Teachers also tend to evaluate students with common names more positively.
Just as later in life employers are more likely to hire applicants with a well-known first name. Traditional names in particular evoke a positive association. Women with a sexy name seem to have a harder time rising to the top.
Differences in trends
There appear to be regional differences in the choice of first name. For example, people from Brabant like short names, people from South Holland like foreign names and people from Groningen like names that are no longer fashionable, such as Marieke.
Trendy names are time-bound. This way you can reasonably estimate how old a person is. Martijn will be in his mid-thirties. A disadvantage: there is a good chance that there are currently more children named Milan who are in the same class.
Inspiration
Research has shown that lower social classes are inspired by actors and pop stars. As a result, they also choose exotic names more often. Think of the Britneys currently walking around the Netherlands. Higher social classes are more likely to choose a traditional name, while middle-class people choose a top ten name.
Girls with names ending in ijn or e more often come from affluent backgrounds. Boys with names ending in y or ie come from less educated families. This also applies to girls whose first name ends in a.
English
Children with names with English spelling often come from lower backgrounds. If the first name comes from the French language, the environment is a lot higher.
In England itself, people with names with royal associations are considered successful and intelligent. James and Elizabeth are at the top of the list of successful names. The most attractive names are girl names ending in ie and short boy names. For example, Sophie and Ryan are at the top of the list of attractive names, George and Ann are at the bottom.
The Netherlands
The top ten most popular names of 2019 in the Netherlands were for a girl:
- Emma
- Mila
- Sophie
- Zoe
- Julia
- Tess
- Sara
- Anna
- Evi
- Saar
- Zoe
The most popular names for a boy are:
- Noah
- Zane
- Lucas
- Levi
- Shem
- Finn
- Liam
- James
- Milan
- Luke
Little difference with 2015. Back then the ten most popular names for a girl were:
- Emma
- Julia
- Sophie
- Anna
- Mila
- Eva
- Tess
- Lotte
- Sara
- Zoe
The most popular names for a boy in 2015 were:
- Liam
- Shem
- Lucas
- Luke
- Noah
- Milan
- Zane
- Levi
- Finn
- Jesse
De Volkskrant investigated what the most popular names would have been in 2015 if all variant spellings were added together. That resulted in a different top ten.
For the girls:
- Sarah (Sarah, Zara)
- Sophie (Sofie)
- Anna (Anne)
- Lisa (Liza, Lise, Lize)
- Emma
- Evi (Evy, Evie)
- Fenna (Fenne)
- Julia
- Nora (Norah)
- Isa (Iza, Ize, Ise)
And for the boys:
- Luuk (Luc, Luke)
- Lucas (Luke)
- Liam
- Milan (Mylan)
- Finn (Fynn)
- Shem
- Levi (Levy)
- Noah
- Zane
- Mohamed (Muhammad, Muhammad, Mohammad)
Popular first names in 1900 to 1920
Research by Familieband.nl into many family trees shows that the most popular first names have changed considerably over the past century. The most popular girls’ names in the period 1900-1920 were:
- Mary
- Johanna
- Cornelia
- Anna
- Elizabeth
The most popular first names for boys in 1900-1920 were:
- Jan
- Henry
- Johannes
- William
- Cornelis
Popular names 1988 to 2008
The most popular first names in the period 1988-2008 were also collected from the same family tree research. For girls these are:
- Sanne
- Michelle
- Lisa
- Laura
- Annette
The most popular boys’ names in 1988 – 2008 are:
- Kevin
- Tim
- Thomas
- Mike
- Rick