V is for woman
Hearing that someone out there thinks 'V' is a feminine initial in a name, I was quite intrigued. Time to Do Some (Very Vague) Science!
Hunting about on the internet, I found this page:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15282
with "Historic Baby Name Ranks":
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/historic-names.xls
Taking a quick look at this, some things pop out.
There really are only two traditional boy names beginning with V in the lists:
VICTOR
VINCENT
Vincent was only the 72nd most popular name in 1964, three years before I was born. It then completely disappears from these tables. Victor was quite popular in the earlier years of last century, declining to 93 in 1954 and then dropping out of the list too.
So at least we can say that since at least 1974 a boy's name beginning with 'V' has been very unpopular.
Whereas there are seven traditional girl names in the lists:
VALERIE
VANESSA
VERA
VERONICA
VICTORIA
VIOLET
VIVIENNE
Victoria has really picked up in recent years. It's not even in the lists prior to 1974, then goes:
1974: 23
1984: 12!
1994: 32
So since at least 1974 a girl name beginning with 'V' has been much more popular than a boy name.
I'm curious now. What happened in the early 70s? I can vaguely remember them. Was there some amazing TV series featuring a Victoria? Were Vincent and Victor the villains? Nothing obvious springs to mind.
Completely unrelated, but you can clearly see the massive peak and decline in my wife's name (Tracey):
1964: 11
1974: 31
1984: 80
Then it no longer appears. Curiously, I was in Tesco's cafe a couple of days ago and I'm sure I heard a woman calling a child in there Tracey! I've never yet me a child called Tracey since Evie came into my life.
Hunting about on the internet, I found this page:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15282
with "Historic Baby Name Ranks":
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/historic-names.xls
Taking a quick look at this, some things pop out.
There really are only two traditional boy names beginning with V in the lists:
VICTOR
VINCENT
Vincent was only the 72nd most popular name in 1964, three years before I was born. It then completely disappears from these tables. Victor was quite popular in the earlier years of last century, declining to 93 in 1954 and then dropping out of the list too.
So at least we can say that since at least 1974 a boy's name beginning with 'V' has been very unpopular.
Whereas there are seven traditional girl names in the lists:
VALERIE
VANESSA
VERA
VERONICA
VICTORIA
VIOLET
VIVIENNE
Victoria has really picked up in recent years. It's not even in the lists prior to 1974, then goes:
1974: 23
1984: 12!
1994: 32
So since at least 1974 a girl name beginning with 'V' has been much more popular than a boy name.
I'm curious now. What happened in the early 70s? I can vaguely remember them. Was there some amazing TV series featuring a Victoria? Were Vincent and Victor the villains? Nothing obvious springs to mind.
Completely unrelated, but you can clearly see the massive peak and decline in my wife's name (Tracey):
1964: 11
1974: 31
1984: 80
Then it no longer appears. Curiously, I was in Tesco's cafe a couple of days ago and I'm sure I heard a woman calling a child in there Tracey! I've never yet me a child called Tracey since Evie came into my life.