Baby Names & Parental Income: The British Data

Methodology & Sources

Name Data

Top 50 names by gender from Office for National Statistics (ONS), England & Wales birth registrations 2023.

Income Scores (1–100)

Evidence-based ordinal scores derived from:

• Sutton Trust (2014) — The Name Game: analysis of first names by attendance at UK independent schools.
• ONS Longitudinal Study (2019) — deprivation-linked naming patterns in England & Wales.
• UK Household Below Average Income (HBAI) survey — demographic composition of name cohorts.

Limitations

• Scores are ordinal estimates, not absolute income figures in pounds sterling.
• England & Wales data does not include Scotland or Northern Ireland.
• Name–income associations shift over time as names move in and out of fashion across class groups.

Data enquiries: press@media.primespotpr.com

Name Database

Name origin, meaning, and cross-country frequency data sourced from babynames.help — the largest open baby-name database covering 190,000+ names across 40 countries (April 2026).

Story Angles for Journalists

This dataset is free to use with attribution to babynames.help. Press enquiries: press@media.primespotpr.com

Britain's Class System, Written in Baby Names

Theodore, Arabella, and Hugo have always felt "posh" — and the income data backs it up. Can you predict a family's postcode from their baby's name alone? According to this data, better than chance.

The Sutton Trust in Miniature

Private school research has long shown that certain names dominate selective admissions. This dataset extends that analysis to all births in England and Wales — showing the pattern starts at birth registration, not at the school gates.

The Name Divide Since Thatcher

The gap between high-income and low-income naming choices has widened since the 1980s. Today's data shows it at its starkest. Which names have shifted tiers over two generations?

Regional Britain: Do Northern Names Differ?

ONS data covers England and Wales but doesn't break down by region. Is there a Northern/Southern naming divide that the national figures obscure? A compelling follow-up investigation.

What Class-Conscious Britain Won't Discuss

The UK is uniquely uncomfortable talking about class. Yet naming patterns expose it more clearly here than almost anywhere else. Interviewing parents across income brackets about their choices makes for a revealing — and gently provocative — feature.