Source: The Mercury, 6 January, 1997, p.5 Source: The Mercury, 6 January, 1997, p.5
IF your name is Sarah or Joshua, you won't feel out of place when starting school in five years. Of the babies named in The Mercury classified advertise- ments last year, Sarah and Joshua topped the list. Clive Pearce, from Dromedary, regularly scans the births column and lists the most popular names. Emily and Thomas were the most popular names in 1995 but have fallen slightly to second place. Of the 1333 female births recorded, Sarah was out in front with 32, followed by Emily (29), Emma (26), Georgia (25), Jessica (24), Hannah (23), Olivia (23), Madeline (21), Sophie (21) and Amy (20) making up the top 10. Joshua clearly led the popu- larity stakes for parents of boys with 48 of the 1312 recorded. Next came Thomas (34), Samuel (33), Matthew (32), James (31), Jack (30), Jordan (26) and Daniel (26). There were 42 sets of twins and one set of triplets in The Mercury ads. Andrew and Sarah are the most popular names of all time in Tasmania, followed by Rebecca, Jessica, Michael and Matthew. Those names seem to follow a traditional pattern, despite influ- ences in popular culture such as soapie stars and sporting heroes.
Where to next?
Student Questions for this article
Teacher Discussion of this article
Index - Data Representation