Ever heard a name and thought, ‘Who would name their child that?’ Us too. And now it seems so few people are using certain names that they are now considered ‘critically endangered’.
A new list from parenting website BabyCentre has revealed all the names that have gone out of fashion in the UK this year. The first may not come as a surprise. After over a year of using ‘Karen’ as an insult, parents have apparently been put off from using it for their babies, with only four registered under that name in 2022.
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Another trend is names with ‘American vibes’, which have been steadily dropping in popularity since the 1970s and 1980s – meaning Farrahs, Staceys, Kellys, Barbies and Britneys have all had zero registrations this year. For boys, old-fashioned names like Brent, Quinton and Giles are also on the way out. A total of zero babies were called Cliff, Nigel and Harold.
But for those wanting to save Nigel’s legacy, all hope is not lost. Dwayne is an example of a name which saw a nil count in 2021, but got four new registrations this year. Same goes for Maude, which was given to a singular baby in 2022, having not been used once the year before. In need of the full list? Read on.
Endangered girls’ names
- Barbie
- Britney
- Carrie
- Deirdre
- Farrah
- Gail
- Gayatri
- Katrina
- Kelly
- Lindsey
- Shania
- Sheila
- Shirley
- Stacey
- Tegan
Endangered boys’ names
- Baxter
- Bill
- Brent
- Clement
- Cliff
- Giles
- Harold
- Kamran
- Maximillian
- Nigel
- Quinton
- Rashid
- Rhett
- Saul
- Wallace