Mary fell from favour as first name for Scots over a century, researchers find

Mary was Scotland’s most popular name for girls and women a century ago, researchers have found, but naming baby girls after the mother of Jesus has fallen out of favour with new mums.

Tallying up the top names from the 4.8 million people recorded north of the border on June 19 1921, almost 300,000 women and girls shared the name with the Virgin Mary, the National Records of Scotland found.

And another name associated with Christmas, Joseph, did not fare any better. In 1921 it was the 13th most popular name for males but by 2021 just 77 babies received the name – making it the 76th most popular boys’ name.

But the top name for men and boys in June 1921 was biblical, with almost 350,000 John’s recorded in Scotland.

But in the century since the range of names has changed markedly, said Gerry Donnelly, who leads the Scotland’s People project at the NRS.

“By comparing the top 10 first names from the 1921 census with babies born in 2021, there are a few similarities but only for male names,” Mr Donnelly said.

“This reflects the trends in recent decades towards much more variation in the names we see.”

It means 1921’s top women’s names of Mary, Margaret and Elizabeth have made way for the top baby girl names of Olivia, Emily and Isla in 2021 as mothers seemingly shun the more traditional names.

None of the names which are in the top 10 for the 1921 census featured in the most popular baby girls names 100 years on.

Isabella, which was sixth most popular in 1921, was 32nd for babies born last year with 121 registrations of girls with that name.

For men and boys it is a slightly different story.

Comparing the first names of all males in the 1921 census with the names of baby boys born in 2021, James and Alexander are still in the top 10 and the most popular name for boys is Jack – historically a nickname for John.

Charlie and Archie are also high in the 2021 list, derivatives of Charles and Archibald which were common in 1921.

Thomas remains a popular name. It came in at 19th last year and wassixth in the 1921 census.

But Daniel, which was the 20th in 1921, has fallen out of favour, with just 125 baby boys given the name in 2021, making it the 38th most popular.

Mr Donnelly said: “Our counts suggest that more than half of the people recorded in Scotland’s Census in 1921 had one of the top 10 names for males and females.”

Individual records from the census are kept confidential for 100 years, but the information can now be searched at the Scotland’s People family history website.

“Finding out what names were in your family can be surprising but it’s likely you will find some Marys and Johns,” said Mr Donnelly, who is Scotland’s People lead at the NRS.

The website now has all the records from the 1921 census online to search, allowing Scots to find their grandparents, great-grandparents or even earlier generations and see where they were living and what work they had.

“It’s a fascinating glimpse into the lives of a generation that did so much to build the world we live in today,” Mr Donnelly said.