Top 3 of the most popular male and female names in the UK and their meanings

Dear fellows, here is a list of the most common names that British people give to their children. Let’s learn their etymology and meaning. Our articles will not only trigger your progress in studying the English language, but also improve your knowledge about the country itself.

A survey, based on the parents’ choice of names of over 3 million newborns in the UK, aims to show the most common names used.

The name “Oscar” appears to be the most widely-used male name in the United Kingdom for this year. We find its etymology in the Old English language, the Old German language and the Old Scandinavian languages, but it is believed that its present-day form is rooted in the Ireland mythology. The two literal meanings of the word “Oscar” are as follows: “God’s spear” and “Roes’ friend”.

The second most popular name in the chart is “Lucas”. It has Greek roots and a Latin equivalent which is “Lucanuss”. The two meanings of the word “Lucas” are “brigh, light”, but also “a person from Lucania” (a place in South Italy).

The third most widely used male name by the Brits is “Jack”. It is connected with the old names Jankin, Jenkin and Jakin, each of which means “John”. “Jack” is also connected with the French name Jacques and the literal meanings are as follows: “Yahveh is blessing”, “Yahveh is merciful”, while the metaphorical meaning is “God save us!”.

That was a list of some of the most widely-spread male names in Britain. Let us read the most popular female names.

Top 1 in the chart is the name “Emiliya”, which is spelled in many different ways. The male equivalent of this name is “Emil” and the roots come from Aemilius – a wealthy and influential clan in the Roman Empire. “Emiliya” means “tenacious”, “a person with greatest desire to succeed”. Perhaps some of our readers may connect the name and its meaning with the popular HBO series “Game of Thrones”, starring Emilia Clarke.

The second listed name in the chart is “Lilly”. It is in fact the short form of the name Elizabetha, which has its roots in the Hebrew language, i.e. the name Elisheba. The literal meaning is “God is abundance”, “Oath of God”, and “sheba” means both “oath” and symbolizes number 7 – the number of abundance.

The third most widely-used name in the UK is “Sophia” (both written as “Sofia” and “Sophia”). For the Bulgarian people it is a significant name, because it is the capital’s name and the Greek roots show us that the literal meaning of the word is “wisdom”.

To summarize, it becomes evident that all of the names mentioned above hide their roots in ancient history and the United Kingdom is closely connected with the world and European history, religion, and way of living.

Dear friends of Training Centre “Raya” – London, it would be our greatest pleasure if you keep on following our blog, because you will certainly find out peculiar new articles and you will enrich your knowledge not only in the English language, but also in the English culture, history and today’s life of our host country. See you soon!

Author: Iveta Radeva