Faire Names
for English Folk:
Late Sixteenth Century English Names
by Chris Laning (SCA: Christian de Holacombe,
claning@igc.org)
(or at Renaissance Pleasure Faire: Mistress Christian Ashley)
3rd edition, 1 August 2000
Given Names
Men's given names
The list of the most common men's given names in England stayed
pretty nearly constant from the 1530s through 1700, especially the
top four or five names, though the exact order changed a bit. It's
notable how dominant the top few names are; the top five names
account for 70% of all men studied. The figures from Janell Lovelace
are:
| John | 29% |
| Thomas | 14% |
| William | 14% |
|
| Richard | 7% |
| Robert | 6% |
| Henry | 3% |
|
| Nicholas | 3% |
| Walter | 2% |
| Edward | 2% |
|
The top 50 men's names listed by Scott Smith-Bannister for the 1560s
and 1570s (a larger sample, with a more specific date focus) follow
this trend fairly well. In approximate order from most common to
least, they are:
| John | Francis | Andrew | Lawrence | Gregory | Fulke |
| Thomas | Nicholas | Humphrey | Roger | Nathaniel | Luke |
| William | Ralph | Leonard | Daniel | Abraham | Mathias |
| Robert | Christopher | Martin | Michael | Barnaby | Tobias |
| Richard | Anthony | Simon | Samuel | Geoffrey | Isaac |
| Henry | Matthew | Peter | Allen | Reynold | Jerome |
| George | Edmund | Philip | Charles | Arthur | Joseph |
| Edward | Walter | Stephen | Alexander | David | Rowland |
| James | Hugh |
Some additional, slightly less popular names are:
| Adam |
| Adrian |
| Ambrose |
| Avery |
|
| Bartholomew |
| Benedict |
| Bernard |
| Cuthbert |
|
| Gerard |
| Gilbert |
| Giles |
| Julian |
|
| Lancelot |
| Mark |
| Miles |
| Oliver |
|
| Oswyn |
| Piers |
| Solomon |
| Valentine |
|
Women's given names
The top five to ten women's given names are somewhat more variable
from decade to decade, and not quite so dominant. It takes nine names
rather than five to account for 70% of all women studied, and
Elizabeth, the most common women's name, is only about half as common
as John is for men. The figures from Janell Lovelace are:
| Elizabeth | 15% |
| Joan | 12% |
| Margaret | 11% |
| Anne | 9% |
|
| Alice | 8% |
| Agnes | 6% |
| Isabel | 4% |
| Jane | 3% |
|
| Mary | 3% |
| Katherine | 3% |
| Margery | 2% |
|
The top 50 women's names listed by Scott Smith-Bannister for the
1560s and 1570s follow this trend fairly well. In approximate order,
they are:
| Elizabeth | Catherine | Frances | Cecily | Millicent | Audrey |
| Joan | Elinor | Joyce | Frideswide | Rose | Helen |
| Margaret | Isabel | Bridget | Grace | Thomasin | Janet |
| Agnes | Dorothy | Christian | Amy | Fortune | Sybil |
| Alice | Margery | Edith | Barbara | Gillian | Ursula |
| Anne | Susanna | Emma | Rachel | Judith | Avis |
| Mary | Ellen | Lucy | Charity | Julian | Beatrice |
| Jane | Sarah | Martha | Mabel | Philippa | Blanche |
| Clemence | Marion |
Some additional, slightly less common women's names are:
| Ruth | Constance | Florence | Maria | Parnell |
| Wilmot | Denise | Josian | Maud | Rebecca |
| Christina | Ellen | Lettice | Mildred | Winifred |
© 1999, 2000 by Chris Laning (SCA: Lady Christian de Holacombe;
Renaissance Pleasure Faire: Mistress Christian Ashley). Unlimited reproduction of
this article in print or electronic media for nonprofit educational
purposes is permitted, provided it is reproduced in full including
this notice, and no money is charged beyond the cost of copying.
All other rights reserved.
Edited and published by Arval
Benicoeur