Recently I found a dataset (and you know how much I LOVE datasets!) from the UK Office of Statistics that details the top 100 baby names in England and Wales from 1904-2024. It only gives the top 100 for each year in a decade (i.e., 1904, 1924, 1934 etc.) I am not sure if each top 100 list represents all the names from the decade before it, or just the names from just that year. At any rate, it gives a snapshot of which names were popular in England and Wales over the last 120 years.
Many of these names were more popular in the UK than they were in England. For example, Welsh names. Irish names have been popular in the USA lately (Kevin, Brian, and Sean have been around forever, and Aidan, Declan, and Liam are popular now), but Welsh names have never held the same place in the US naming pool. For example, Siân, Gareth, Cerys and Rhiannon have never made the top 100 in the USA, unlike on the other side of the pond.
Another glaring difference is that in the UK, babies regularly are named diminutives, like Freddie, Vinnie, Katy, Evie and Ellie. In the USA, though we probably call babies diminutives at the same rate, we have a tendency to give long, formal names and then using pet forms everyday. In fact, this is so normal that we have even registered longer versions of names that aren't normally diminutives (like Brandy and Kelly) and made longer versions of them (Brandalisha, Brandina, Kellina). In the USA, it is also common to name kids more unusual long names and use standard nicknames (e.g., Lexington -> Lexi, Arlington -> Arlie, Arlo). Anyway, here are names that are more popular in the UK than in the USA.
Note: I have put the year the name was the most popular in the UK from the dataset I had. A name may have been more popular in the in-between years.
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