As if Peaches Honeyblossom, Pixie Frou-Frou and Fifi Trixibelle were not enough of a cross to bear, Britain now numbers among its youth 6 Gandalfs, 39 Gazzas, 2 Supermen and 36 Arsenals of both sexes.
Children, it appears, are in growing danger from their parents of name abuse. Among the worst reported cases are Dre, Tupac, Jay-Z and Snoop. These unfortunates, when they grow up, may well wonder why they were named after a variety of transient rap stars.
A survey of British birth certificates over the past 22 years by findmypast.com of naming children after pop, sporting or film stars, or even fictional characters, is alive and well. It is merely an updating of all those women who, having wept over Gone with the Wind in 1939, christened their sons Ashley and their daughters Scarlett.
It was all so much simpler in Elizabethan times, when three quarters of all Englishmen were named John, Thomas, William, Richard or Robert, and three quarters of all women were Elizabeth, Joan, Margaret, Anne, Alice, Agnes, Mary, Jane or Katherine.
According to the latest report from National Statistics, the most popular names for British newborn are Jack, Joshua and Thomas, and Jessica, Emily and Sophie.
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