Craig and Gary are the least popular ‘Dad names’ in England and Wales and could be at risk of dying out altogether.
The two names were amongst the 25 most popular for newborn boys in 1984, ranking 19th and 26th respectively.
But now that those Craigs and Garys are old enough to have kids of their own this Father’s Day, it seems that their generation has turned its back on the names.
There were only eight babies given the name Gary over the whole of 2023, and just nine were called Craig, according to the latest official government figures.
That ranks them amongst the least popular names for newborn boys in the country, putting them down in 2,306th and 2,520th place of the rankings respectively.
See our chart below showing the decline of the names
Not all of the most popular boys’ names of 1984 are falling out of favour, though.
Thomas was ranked 11th back then and was still in 19th place in 2023, with a total of 1,855 newborn boys given the name.
It’s the smallest drop in rank of any of the top 30 boys names of 1984.
Alexander, meanwhile, has fallen just nine places from 25th to 34th, with 1,456 boys being given the name in 2023.
Adam has fallen 29 places from 12th to 41st, and James has fallen 33 places from 2nd to 35th.
The top boys’ name of 1984, Christopher, however, has fallen to 187th in the rankings, with 269 newborn boys given the name.
The top 25 most popular boys’ names of 1984 (and how unpopular they are now)
1. Christopher – fallen 186 places
2. James – fallen 33 places
3. David – fallen 62 places
4. Daniel – fallen 56 places
5. Michael – fallen 83 places
6. Matthew – fallen 131 places
7. Andrew – fallen 287 places
8. Richard – fallen 403 places
9. Paul – fallen 455 places
10. Mark – fallen 256 places
11. Thomas – fallen 8 places
12. Adam – fallen 29 places
13. Robert – fallen 134 places
14. John – fallen 144 places
15. Lee – fallen 1124 places
16. Benjamin – fallen 37 places
17. Steven – fallen 797 places
18. Jonathan – fallen 240 places
19. Craig – fallen 2306 places
20. Stephen – fallen 645 places
21. Simon – fallen 398 places
22. Nicholas – fallen 179 places
23. Peter – fallen 227 places
24. Anthony – fallen 160 places
25. Alexander – fallen 9 places
