Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1901 — NAMES THAT ARE POPULAR. [ARTICLE]

NAMES THAT ARE POPULAR.

That of William Lead# All Other# In the Favor of the Multitude. Parents display some queer notions of propriety in naming their children. Those of a religious turn of mind more frequently in former times than now search the scriptures before the baptismal ceremony. Parents in search of a fortune will label their luckless babes with the surname of the expected testator. But, nevertheless, the list of common English Christian names is a very small one. Out of every 100 fathers and mothers of male children some eightyfour limit their choice to fifteen familiar names. * ’ The favorite name Is undoubtedly William. In all ranks of society—in the peerage as in the workhouse —William is the commonest of male Christian names. Stop the first 1,000 men you meet in the street. No fewer than 170 are Williams. A long way behind come the Johns, closely followed by the Georges. Of every 1,000 men ninety-four are called John and ninety-two George. The next commonest name Is Thomas, which has seventy-four owners, while James claims seventy-two. Henry and Harry between them are seventy in number. Of these about one in four have received the name of Harry at the baptismal font. Following them come Frederick with fifty-seven. Charles with forty-eight, Alfred with forty-five and Albert some way behind with thirty-one. The popularity of Albert has arisen entirely from the personal popularity of our late Queen’s beloved consort. It was practically unknown in England before Queen Victoria’s marriage. The good old Saxon appellation of Edward is given to five anc( twenty out of every 1,000 citizens, Arthur and Robert having each twenty-three, while of the remainder of these 1,000 men you have accosted In the street seventeen are called Joseph and fifteen Herbert. So we have accounted for no fewer than 856 out of every 1,000 Englishmen, and they divide between them only fifteen out of the many hundreds, nay thousands, of names from which parents are at liberty to choose. Of the remaining 144 of our representative 1,000 a few, such as Richard, Percy, or Ernest, are claimed severally by two or three men, but all the rest are the sole and exclusive property of “one in I,ooo.”—Chicago Chronicle.