Genes Reunited Blog
Welcome to the new Genes Reunited blog!
- We regularly add blogs covering a variety of topics. You can add your own comments at the bottom.
- The Genes Reunited Team will be writing blogs and keeping you up to date with changes happening on the site.
- In the future we hope to have guest bloggers that will be able to give you tips and advice as to how to trace your family history.
- The blogs will have various privacy settings, so that you can choose who you share your blog with.
Official Blogs
The British Newspaper Archive
Read about historical events at the time they were happening. Perhaps you'll discover your ancestor in their local newspaper?
Is Harper Seven really a unique name?
At Genes Reunited we recently analysed our 750 million records and discovered that celebrities are not as original as they make think when it comes to naming their offspring! Our research showed that unusual baby names such as Suri, Cruz and Apple have been recorded for over 150 years.
The rather unusual names of David and Victoria’s children have all appeared in the UK censuses before. In the 1881 Census a Brooklyn was recorded and since 1841 someone has carried the name Cruz four times. This is also the case with their brother Romeo, namesake of one of Shakespeare's most famous protagonists, who appears 294 times between 1841 and 1911
Yesterday Victoria and David Beckham named their fourth child and first daughter Harper Seven. Separately both names have appeared before in our fully indexed birth records, with the name Harper appearing 3,155 times and even the name Seven appeared 110 times.
Another celebrity couple who went down the unusual name route is Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow who named their daughter Apple. Whilst unheard of in modern times, it was used over a hundred years ago with the name appearing in the 1861, 1871 and 1911 censuses. Apple has grown in popularity, appearing 76 times in the birth records.
Although celebrities continuously opt for unusual names, a recent poll shows that 79% of people prefer traditional names in favour of something more unusual.
Below we have compiled a top ten of the most popular girls and boy’s names of all time.
Do you have an unusual name? Or do you think that traditional names are more sensible when naming a child?
Top 10 boys’ and girls’ names of all time
| Girl | Boy | |
| 1 | Mary | John |
| 2 | Elizabeth | William |
| 3 | Sarah | Thomas |
| 4 | Ann | James |
| 5 | Margaret | George |
| 6 | Jane | Robert |
| 7 | Alice | Charles |
| 8 | Hannah | Joseph |
| 9 | Emma | Henry |
| 10 | Ellen | David |
Comments
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This is rather interesting, out of the 3,155 Harper's in the fully indexed birth records, 2,563 of them are males!
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14105747
"Harper has become an increasingly popular name in the US, where the family are now based. It was the 887th most popular for a girl in 2004 but rose to 119 last year." |
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I bet you cant find my name, Huia, in any old census! It is not too uncommon in New Zealand though. It is a Maori name of a now-extinct bird. My sisters were also given Maori bird names, although our ancestry is all from England, at least as far back as I have researched.
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I have a grand aunt Alkeda on my tree (known as Keda) . She was from Yorkshire and married my grandfather's brother. They emigrated to Australia in the 1920's. I haven't come across any other Alkedas. There is a St Alkeda church in Yorkshire.and also a St Alkedas Well.
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I have a very unusual name in my family tree. Never heard it before - Kevenepuck. A girls name. Is there another person of that name?
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I have a very unusual name in my family tree. Never heard it before - Kevenepuck. A girls name. Is there another person of that name?
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The most unusual name I have come across was on my boyfriends side, a man by the name of Hippolyte Artus. His country of origin is unknown amd he died in tje 1840's.
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My late father in law's middle name was Vernor. Not Vernon, with an N, but Vernor, with an R. I've yet to find anyone else with this name. Has anyone here come across it?
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