Top 50 Male Names by the century pre-conquest to 1600

Top Male Names by the century pre-conquest to 1600 

This research came from a mix of the Suffolk Domesday Book, the Paston letters, the Boldon Book and the Oxford Dictionary of Surnames, [on the principle that a name needed to be fairly common to become a surname; and examples of the original first name and the source are cited within it].  I do not claim 100% accuracy but it should give a fair idea.

I shall give the top 50 names of each period. I’ll give the most common variants. This will result in more than 50 names where equal place goes to more than enough to fill the table.

I’m sorry the table goes over the side bar, I can’t make it any narrower

Pre conquest	1067- 1199	1200- 1299	1300-#1399	1400- 1499	1500- 1535	1536- 1600
Aelric	William	William	John	John	John	John
Ailwin	Robert	John	William	William	Thomas	William
Le[f]win	Richard	Robert	Robert	Thomas	William	Thomas
Godwin	Ralph	Richard	Richard	Robert	Robert	Richard
Torkel	Walter	Thomas	Thomas	Richard	Richard	Robert
Ulric	Hugh	Walter	Henry	Henry	Henry	Henry
Swain	Roger	Roger	Adam	Roger	Nicholas	James
Alfsige	John	Henry	Walter	Walter	James Edmund	Edward
A[n]sketil	Geoffrey	Adam	Roger	James		Nicolas
Robert	Henry	Hugh	Hugh	Nicholas	George	Ralph
Athelstan Edric Leofric	Gilbert	Ralph	Nicholas	Alexander	Edward	George
	Thomas	Simon	Simon	Adam	Peter	Christopher
	Peter	Nicholas	Ralph	Edmund Hugh	Walter	Anthony Andrew
Hugh	Adam	Peter	Peter		Roger Alexander Andrew Christopher
Leofing	Simon	Alan	Geoffrey	Lawrence		Edmund
Osgood	Osbert	Stephen	Stephen	Simon Christopher		Francis
T[h]ori	Reginald	Alexander	Gilbert			Peter Hugh Lawrence
Toka	Randall	Reginald	Alan	Ralph Geoffrey	Ralph
Wulfgeat	Ailwin Godwin	Geoffrey	Alexander Philip		David
Ulf/Wlf Turbert Siward Godric Aelnod		Philip		Stephen George	Adam Matthew Simon	Walter Leonard
	Alan	Gilbert	Edmund Reginald
	Elric	Elyas		Edward		Abraham Andrew Cuthbert Gawaine Stephen
	Nicholas	Osbert	James	Peter	Akeman Anthony Miles
	Her[e]bert	Jordan	Andrew	Andrew Gregory David
Leomer Saewulf Thurston Ulfi Wulfwin Wulfstan Elgar	A[n]sketil Le[f]win Odo etc	Randall	Laurence
		Andrew	Michael		Gawaine Hugh
		Matthew	Bartholomew	Alan Gilbert Matthew Michael		Giles Gilbert Godfrey Oliver Philip Samuel
	Alexander Josce[lin]	Hamo etc	David		Ambrose Augustin Gregory Humphrey Laurence Martin Michael Silvester Stephen
		James/Jacob	Elyas
	Thurstan	Martin	Martin Matthew Denis
	Geoffrey	Lawrence		Anthony Patrick
Aelfward Edward Semer Sewel Ulfketel Wulsi	Jordan Herve[y]	Michael Her[e]bert
			Maurice Edward Benedict	Randall Denis Gerard Humphrey		Adam Brian Daniel Humphrey Pascoe
	Godric	Godfrey
	Philip	Herve[y]
	Elyas	David Warin	Randall
	Humphrey		Seman Ivo Arnold	Avery Cuthbert Gilbert Lambert Ludovic Oliver Reginald	Attwell Benedict Cornelius Elyas Francis Fulk Gabriel Giles Godfrey Griffin Hamo Jasper Lancelot Leonard Luke Mark Marmaduke Maximillian Norman Odbert Oliver Philip Randall Reynold Reginald Vivian
Alfred Edmund Harald Merewin Rolf/Rollo Sigor Sigric Stannard Wulfgar Wulftheof Wicing Jukel/Jodoc Lefwald Leofstan	Stephen	Benedict				Alan Charles Constantin Gabriel Gerard Joyce Martin Matthew Maurice Michael Patrick Randall Swithin
	Tedric	Edmund Gerard
	Arnold Gerard		Hamo Gregory Jordan
		Baldwin
	Edward	Arnold Eustace
	Waldo etc Matthew		Baldwin Augustin Gerard Nigel Osbert Sayer
		Ivo Nigel		Arthur Aslac Baldwin Bartholomew Bertram Benedict Brictric Charles Conan Diggory Drogo Gawain Giles Godfrey Jordan Luke Pascoe Percival Philips Sampson Samuel Urian Warin
	Thorkel Maurice Fulk Baldwin Algar Gamel
		A[n]sketel Edward Maurice Josce[lin] Gregory Guy

The big change comes with the Norman Conquest, not surprisingly.  Robert  and Hugh are two of the few names to be found crossing that change, and Robert is the only name to be found in the top 10 across time.  In the earlier period it may have been in the form Hrodbeort. 

There’s less change in the male names after the Reformation than might be expected, the introduction of a few more Biblical names but nothing very obvious amongst the perennial favourites.