大象传媒

Do you have an endangered name?

Nigel the MonkeyImage source, Drusillas Park

A zoo in East Sussex has given a monkey that's at risk of going extinct a name to match - Nigel!

Drussilas Park's newest arrival is a cotton-top tamarin monkey, a species that is critically endangered.

The name Nigel is also becoming increasingly rare in the UK, so the keepers thought it would be fitting to dub the monkey with it.

Do you have an endangered name? Is it something rare or a bit out of the ordinary? Let us know in the comments!

Rare name or endangered name?

Image source, Twitter/@elonmusk
Image caption,

Elon Musk shared a picture of himself and his new son on social media

There are lots of names that are quite rare - celebrities for example like to give their babies unique names to stand out, like Elon Musk and Grimes' X 脝 A-12 (no, we don't know how to pronounce it either).

But there are some names that used to be incredibly popular in times gone by, that are now starting to die out.

Gary is a well-known one - despite there being many famous Garys, such as Lineker and Neville, it's very much fallen out of fashion in recent years.

Here's a list of some other names that you may not see as much of in your classrooms anymore:

Rare names
  • Glenda

  • Kerry

  • Clifford

  • Nigel

  • Norman

  • Leslie

  • Roger

  • Cicely

  • Julie

Info from the ONS

Fewer than five girls were given the names Glenda and Kerry every year since 2018, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Clifford, Nigel and Norman also fell out of favour in 2021, as ten or fewer boys took each name.

And Roger's popularity has dropped by more than half since 1996.

Image source, ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
Image caption,

The former number one tennis star Roger Federer doesn't have a very popular name anymore

Leslie is among the least popular girls names now, with fewer than seven babies given that name each year since 2018.

Cicely is also becoming rarer - only ten Cicelys were born in 2021.

And Julie's popularity has sunk as well, going from over 70 to under ten since 1996.

When it comes to the most popular names, Noah took the crown in 2021 for boys with 4525 babies being given that name. Its popularity has skyrocketed since 1996 - only 137 Noahs were born that year.

For girl's names, it was Olivia, a name that was given to 3649 babies in 2021. Olivia's popularity has remained fairly steady - in fact, 5250 Olivias were born in 1997 (although it was only the fourth most popular girl's name that year).

The results for 2022 haven't been fully released yet, but last summer the ONS announced that Lily and Muhummad were in the lead.

Names from popular culture - such as hit TV programmes - seem to have some influence over trends in baby names.

Image source, Disney Pixar
Image caption,

The coming-of-age animated film may have inspired a new generation of Lucas

After the release of Oscar-nominated Pixar film Luca, the popularity of that particular boys name rose sharply.

Around 500 more Lucas were born in 2021 (the year it came out) than 2020, making it the 28th most popular boys name that year.

Raya saw a small rise in the girls name chart after the animated epic tale of the warrior princess hit our screens.

We want to know - do you have a rare or endangered name? Are you the only person with your name in your class, or even in your school? Let us know in the comments!