They're Mom's Favourites — Spectacular Visualizations of Trendy First Names

This weekend will be the first Sunday of May, which has been celebrated as Mother's Day in Hungary since 1925. The first gift mothers give to their newborn children is a carefully chosen first name that will accompany them for the rest of their lives. For Mother's Day, we looked at naming trends from the 1950s to the present day.

We examined what were the most common first names chosen by mothers for their newborn children over the past seven decades, and how naming trends developed in Hungary.

It is interesting to observe that while there are overlaps between all eras in boys, there is much greater fluctuation in girls, and names are completely replaced several times in the top 15 list. Watching the spectacular data visualizations, as in real life, the Marys and Elizabethans disappear before our eyes, and the Stephen and Joseph are not much luckier either. The analysis revealed that while the Benedicts have been ruling for boys since 2001, the Hannas won the first place for girls only ten years later.

In addition, a real curiosity: in the following visualization you can see which are the most popular female and male first names in the countries of Europe.

European trends

Source: Ministry of the Interior Deputy State Secretariat for Record Keeping, List of Hungarian First Names
Visualization: Flourish