Although things changed more slowly in the past, there were fashions in names then as now. In England, from about 500 A.D. to 1150, the names in general use were Anglo Saxon, such as Alfred, Athelstan, Edmund, Harold and Wulfstan for men; Aethelflaed, Eadgyth, Frideswide and Mildred for women. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, although the mass of the people was still of Anglo Saxon or English origin, within a few generations they had adopted Norman French names. For men, John, Thomas, William and Robert became the most commonly used and have remained so. In the early medieval period, popular women’s names were Judith, Matilda and Eleanor. Later, in the Middle Ages, Isabel and Margery also came into vogue. By about 1500, among the most frequently used names for girls were Elizabeth, Anne, Mary and Joan, and, again, they have remained popular to the present day.

From about 1590 onward, the religious groups—usually referred to as Puritans—began giving their children names that reflected their beliefs. For girls, Charity, Faith and Mercy were common. Repentance and Temperance were also used. Praise God Barebones was a well-known Parliamentarian in the English Civil War period of the 1640s and 1650s. About 1600, Puritan parents named their sons And Truth Shall Prevayl, Joy From Above Hope, Freegift, Nostrength, Suretrust, Comfort, Rest and Increase.

Other unusual names in the seventeenth century were Aquila, Ceraphin, Cherubin and Philemon for men; Audrian, Idden and Parnell (a form of Penelope) for women. Benedict (often shortened to Bennet), Christian, Emlyn, Julian and Silvester were used for both boys and girls. Until the late seventeenth century, names were often Latinized in written documents, so Mary appeared as Maria and John as Johannes. Geoffrey, Giles and Joyce were written as Galfridus, Egidius and Jocosa.

In the eighteenth century, the Hanoverian monarchy brought new German names such as Augusta, Caroline, Charlotte and Sophia. Rebecca and Sarah were also very common among the middle and lower classes in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.

Before the late eighteenth century, it was very unusual for people to have more than one Christian name or forename. The custom of giving more than one name began about 1790 among the upper and middle classes, and by the nineteenth centery had spread down into the working classes. In some parts of England, especially the North, it was often the second given name, rather than the first, which was used in everyday life.

In the Victorian period, some old English names such as Alfred and Edith began resurfacing. Late in Victoria’s reign, her name and that of her consort, Albert, also became fashionable. In 1887 and 1897, the years of the Queen’s Gold and Diamond Jubilees, some little girls were named Victoria Jubilee. Florence—after Florence Nightingale, the heroine of the Crimean War—became popular during the late 1850s.

Until the twentieth century, it was almost invariable that the eldest son was named after his father and the eldest daughter after her mother. It was especially prevalent in gentry families for the eldest son to be given the same name generation after generation. At all levels of society, the second son would very often be named for his paternal grandfather, the third son for his maternal grandfather. Younger children would be named after other family members.

In times when it was unusual for more than five or six children in a family to survive infancy, the immediate family circle provided sufficient names. If parents gave a child a name which was not that of another family member, there was probably some particular significance about it—perhaps a local dignitary they wanted to compliment, or a political or religious point they wanted to make. It was only in the late nineteenth century—when more children began to survive and families of eight, ten, or even twelve were not uncommon—that a need for a wider range of names, and more unusual ones, began to appear. Flower and jewel names such as Violet, Ivy, Beryl and Ruby began gaining popularity about this time and into the 1930s.

At all levels of society, names were almost always abbreviated. Among their friends and families, Elizabeth, Katherine and Margaret were probably known as Eliza, Lizzie or Betsy; Kate or Kitty; Meg or Peggy. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Daisy and Pearl were also common alternatives to Margaret. Even shorter names were commonly altered—Ann to Nan or Nancy; Mary to Molly or Polly; Helen to Nell or Nellie; Sarah to Sal or Sally. Among men, John would be known as Jack, Richard as Dick, and Henry as Harry or Hal.

All the above applies only to names commonly used in England. The Scots (Angus, Ian, Donald, Duncan) the Welsh (Ivor, Rhys, Owen) and the Irish (Patrick, Conor, Dermot) all had, and still have, their own set of names, and while some, such as Alexander and David, have always been fairly common in England, generally, until this century, there was not much crossover between the English and Celtic cultures.

And this doesn’t begin to touch on the subject of surnames....