Late 16C English Given Names: Mens Names listed by Frequency
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Late Sixteenth Century English Given Names

Men's names listed by frequency

by Talan Gwynek
(Brian M. Scott,scott@math.csuohio.edu)
© 1994, 1999 by Brian M. Scott; all rights reserved.

Revised 24 Aug 1999

For these lists all variants of a single name have been counted together. I have followed modern usage in treating Helen and Ellen as distinct names, and likewise for Pierce and Peter. Similarly, I have distinguished a name from its diminutives when modern practice does so. I have arbitrarily assumed that all four people named Frances were women and that all 86 people named Francis were men. The second column gives the total frequency of the names in the associated block both absolutely and as a percentage of the whole. The third column does the same for the cumulative frequencies. In each list I have also expressed as a percentage the frequency of each name contributing at least 5 percent to the total.

  Total Frequency of this Block Cumulative Frequency   Total Frequency of this Block Cumulative Frequency
John 1215 (20.3%)
Thomas 805 (13.4%)
William 786 (13.1%)
Richard 534 (8.9%)
Robert 372 (6.2%)
3712 (62.0%) 3712 (62.0%)
Roland 19
Michael 19
Arthur 18
Charles 15
Alexander 15
86 (1.4%) 5482 (91.6%)
Henry 204
George 172
Edward 169
Nicholas 129
James 114
788 (13.2%) 4500 (75.2%)
Gilbert 13
Daniel 12
Bartholomew 12
Geoffrey 11
Godfrey 11
59 (1.0%) 5541 (92.6%)
Francis 86
Christopher 80
Edmund 72
Roger 70
Peter 58
366 (6.1%) 4866 (81.3%)
Jerome 11
Martin 10
Oliver 10
Morgan 10
Reginald 10
51 (0.9%) 5592 (93.4%)
Anthony 54
Ralph 51
Walter 47
Barnard 46
Hugh 46
244 (4.1%) 5110 (85.4%)
Samuel 10
Gregory 9
Alan 9
Lewis 9
Gabriel 9
46 (0.8%) 5638 (94.2%)
Humphrey   42
Stephen 37
Phillip 34
Simon 31
Matthew 29
173 (2.9%) 5283 (88.3%)
Griffin 9
Cornelius 9
Maurice 8
Ambrose 8
Owen 8
42 (0.7%) 5680 (94.9%)
Lawrence   26
David 25
Giles 23
Andrew 20
Leonard 19
113 (1.9%) 5396 (90.1%)
Paul 8
Brian 8
Augustine 8
Vincent 8
Miles 7
39 (0.7%) 5719 (95.6%)

The following 5 names occurred 6 times each, making 0.50% of the total:

Adam, Arnold, Clement, Jasper, Valentine.

The following 5 names occurred 5 times each, making 0.42% of the total:

Abraham, Lancelot, Randolph, Sampson, Tristram.

The following 8 names occurred 4 times each, making 0.53% of the total:

Ellis, Isaac, Jenkin, Joos, Joseph, Mark, Nathaniel, Rees.

The following 14 names occurred 3 times each, making 0.70% of the total:

Barnabas Christian[1] Elias Fulk Harman Meredith Randall
Benjamin Dionisius Evan Gerrard Howell Paschall Salamon

The following 26 names occurred twice each, making 0.87% of the total:

Adrian[1] Bertram Emanuel Garret Gillam Hamond Jerman Pierce Watkin
Augustus Eli Emery Gawen Griffith Hercules Marmaduke Timothy Zachary
Basil Elizeus Erasmus Gervase Guy Jeremy Osmund Tobias  

The following 83 names occurred once each, making 1.4% of the total:

Aaron Archibald Botolph Court Drugo Enoch Gentile Holland Julius Manasses Pompey Thadeus
Abacuck Archilai Cadwallader Cuthbert Dudley Everard Goughe Ingram Justinian Melchior Prospero Theodosius
Adlard Bellingham Cesar Cutlake Ebulus Everard Hansse Jesse Kenelm Newton Quivier Warham
Albert Benedict Chroferus Denton Edi Faustinus Harry Jordan Lambert Ninion Roman Wilfred
Alveredus Bennett Chroseus(?) Didimus Edwin Felix Hector Joshua Lionel Noe Rook Wombell
Anchor Bevil Ciriacus Digory Emmanuel Ferdinand Helegor Josias Lucas Ottewell Sander Wymond
Annanias Blaise Conrad "Diricus" Emmett Garnett Hieronimus Jucentius Machutus Polidore Silvester  


Introduction
Feminine Names listed by frequency
Name listed alphabetically (with derivation notes)
Abbreviations and Bibliography


Notes:
[1] Each instance of this name has been counted as a man's name save for the one instance of each that clearly referred to a woman. Further research suggests that in the 16th century these names were more often borne by women than by men. It is possible that all instances of both are in fact feminine.