The name game

Why are classrooms that were filled with children named John and Margaret 75 years ago now populated with pupils called Oliver and Olivia?

Social scientists say the change in baby name trends over time is down to a tug-of-war between the need to conform and the desire to stand out from the crowd.

Carnegie Mellon University researchers analysed a century of birth records and concluded that the influence and opinions of social networks – such as family, neighbours and colleagues – stop one name becoming all-pervasive.

This leads expectant parents to forgo a favoured but popular choice and instead opt for an alternative that is still socially ‘acceptable’.