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Names

Most popular baby names of 1956 in England and Wales

In 1956, the most popular names in England and Wales were Susan for girls and David for boys. Here are the top 100, with how many babies got each name. The counts for England and Wales before 1996 come from a sample of local birth records, so they are much smaller than the real number of babies. The order is what matters.

← 19551957 →

Girls

  1. 1Susan3,308
  2. 2Christine1,689
  3. 3Janet1,596
  4. 4Linda1,333
  5. 5Margaret1,055
  6. 6Patricia1,047
  7. 7Ann910
  8. 8Carol890
  9. 9Julie867
  10. 10Karen862
  11. 11Gillian802
  12. 12Jacqueline789
  13. 13Anne752
  14. 14Elaine749
  15. 15Barbara692
  16. 16Elizabeth682
  17. 17Sandra670
  18. 18Jane631
  19. 19Pauline627
  20. 20Angela623
  21. 21Lynn621
  22. 22Mary615
  23. 23Helen578
  24. 24Pamela551
  25. 25Catherine543
  26. 26Sheila523
  27. 27Lesley522
  28. 28Denise516
  29. 29Diane496
  30. 30Yvonne453
  31. 31Kathleen427
  32. 32Valerie425
  33. 33Judith409
  34. 34Janice402
  35. 35Shirley398
  36. 36Carole378
  37. 37Lynne367
  38. 38Joan365
  39. 39Lorraine362
  40. 40Wendy359
  41. 41Maureen343
  42. 42Alison340
  43. 43Sharon334
  44. 44Jennifer300
  45. 45Kathryn299
  46. 46Gail295
  47. 47Leslie289
  48. 48June288
  49. 49Lynda262
  50. 50Beverley259
  51. 51Brenda259
  52. 52Eileen242
  53. 53Ruth230
  54. 54Marie226
  55. 55Jill225
  56. 56Heather209
  57. 57Rosemary204
  58. 58Hilary203
  59. 59Sylvia199
  60. 60Julia197
  61. 61Maria196
  62. 62Irene193
  63. 63Joyce189
  64. 64Deborah185
  65. 65Dorothy172
  66. 66Jeanette169
  67. 67Hazel162
  68. 68Dawn161
  69. 69Annette160
  70. 70Sarah154
  71. 71Caroline147
  72. 72Teresa144
  73. 73Frances139
  74. 74Josephine138
  75. 75Rita136
  76. 76Sally136
  77. 77Kim135
  78. 78Bernadette133
  79. 79Janette131
  80. 80Paula126
  81. 81Robin126
  82. 82Anita124
  83. 83Andrea116
  84. 84Carolyn114
  85. 85Christina114
  86. 86Jayne113
  87. 87Fiona112
  88. 88Geraldine102
  89. 89Amanda98
  90. 90Marion97
  91. 91Joy95
  92. 92Dianne89
  93. 93Doreen89
  94. 94Cheryl87
  95. 95Diana85
  96. 96Kay84
  97. 97Veronica80
  98. 98Jillian78
  99. 99Stephanie76
  100. 100Norma73

Boys

  1. 1David3,841
  2. 2John3,344
  3. 3Stephen2,975
  4. 4Peter2,269
  5. 5Michael2,265
  6. 6Paul2,236
  7. 7Robert1,441
  8. 8Ian1,278
  9. 9Anthony1,276
  10. 10Alan1,201
  11. 11Philip1,145
  12. 12Christopher1,128
  13. 13Andrew1,056
  14. 14James920
  15. 15Steven832
  16. 16Kevin814
  17. 17William787
  18. 18Brian759
  19. 19Martin754
  20. 20Keith701
  21. 21Graham675
  22. 22Richard607
  23. 23Mark546
  24. 24Jean511
  25. 25Colin495
  26. 26Thomas495
  27. 27Gary472
  28. 28Kenneth471
  29. 29Geoffrey420
  30. 30Nigel397
  31. 31Neil390
  32. 32Terence383
  33. 33Raymond369
  34. 34Derek347
  35. 35Malcolm333
  36. 36Barry329
  37. 37Roy303
  38. 38Joseph285
  39. 39George279
  40. 40Nicholas274
  41. 41Trevor271
  42. 42Jeffrey257
  43. 43Simon253
  44. 44Stuart249
  45. 45Ronald235
  46. 46Timothy232
  47. 47Edward230
  48. 48Roger227
  49. 49Eric195
  50. 50Adrian193
  51. 51Bernard192
  52. 52Patrick191
  53. 53Gordon189
  54. 54Charles183
  55. 55Phillip181
  56. 56Clive171
  57. 57Allan167
  58. 58Howard159
  59. 59Garry158
  60. 60Francis151
  61. 61Jonathan148
  62. 62Martyn134
  63. 63Dennis132
  64. 64Frank132
  65. 65Norman131
  66. 66Carl126
  67. 67Arthur118
  68. 68Donald115
  69. 69Gerard113
  70. 70Frederick106
  71. 71Glyn100
  72. 72Gerald95
  73. 73Leonard91
  74. 74Russell89
  75. 75Stewart89
  76. 76Vincent89
  77. 77Wayne87
  78. 78Stanley86
  79. 79Jeremy84
  80. 80Bryan83
  81. 81Antony82
  82. 82Gareth82
  83. 83Douglas78
  84. 84Harry78
  85. 85Glenn76
  86. 86Alexander73
  87. 87Daniel72
  88. 88Duncan72
  89. 89Albert67
  90. 90Shaun66
  91. 91Tony65
  92. 92Clifford64
  93. 93Harold64
  94. 94Julian60
  95. 95Henry58
  96. 96Lawrence58
  97. 97Graeme49
  98. 98Ernest48
  99. 99Alfred46
  100. 100Karl46

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Where the counts come from: the US from Social Security card records from 1880 (names given to at least 5 babies in a year; years before about 1937 count fewer people, because the cards started then), and before 1880 from Douglas Galbi's tables of a census sample. England and Wales from the Office for National Statistics from 1996, and before that from Stephen Bush's study of local birth records, a sample of about 120,000 births a year (CC BY 4.0). Scotland from National Records of Scotland. Northern Ireland from NISRA. France from INSEE, first names and last names. Italy from ISTAT (CC BY 4.0), the top 50 names a year. Berlin from the city's open data (CC BY 3.0 DE), counting only the first of a child's names. UK figures are Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence. US last names from the 2020 census, and before 1850 from the 1790 census. Irish last names from Robert Matheson's report on the births of 1890. Italian last names from the City of Florence (CC BY 4.0). Norwegian last names from Statistics Norway (CC BY 4.0).

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