Want your kids to get rich? Name them John or Mary
many parents have heard the precocious line: ‘mummy, I want to be a billionaire when I grow up’.
you can’t give them a get-rich quick formula, but many tycoons would advise anyone to invent, innovate or invest.
Or you could just give your child a head start at birth... and name them John or mary.
analysis of the richest people in Britain has found there are more millionaires called John or Jonathan than any other name.
michael, David, Peter and Christopher also feature prominently on this year’s Sunday Times Rich List. mary led the women, followed by Christina and Susan.
ann, Elizabeth, Janet and Catherine also appeared frequently in the annual table of the 1,000 wealthiest Britons.
among the 65 Johns or Jonathans on the list, the wealthiest was shipping magnate John Fredriksen, 75, who is worth around £7.5billion. His ten-bedroom Grade II-listed home in Chelsea, west London, has one of the largest private gardens in the capital. Despite his astonishing wealth, he was only ranked 18th in this year’s rich list, behind billionaires including Sri and Gopi Hinduja (£22billion) and Sir James Dyson (£12.6billion).
Top of the marys on the list is Dame mary Perkins (£1.8billion), who founded the Specsavers chain of high street opticians with her husband Douglas in 1984.
The richest woman is Kirsten Rausing (£12.3billion), who owns and runs the Lanwades horse racing stud in newmarket, Suffolk. Her grandfather founded the Tetra Pak packaging giant.
married mother- of-five Denise Coates, 51, who runs the gambling firm Bet365, was the highest paid with a package worth £265million.
John was the most popular name for British boys for four decades between 1914 and 1954.
mary enjoyed the same popularity among girls between 1904 and 1924. name trends would indicate that future billionaires are likely to be called Oliver and Olivia.
But parents who have already chosen less traditional names for their children should not despair – this year’s rich list also contained a merlin, a Thor and a Pollyanna.