What’s in a name? Social class determined first names of those in early 20th century

NAMES often mirrored the class system at the start of the 20th century, with bankers likely to be called Edwin, while postmen were often called Fred, according to new research.

A study of the 1911 census by Ancestry.co.uk found a clear difference between blue and white collar professions.

The analysis of millions of professions found many accountants called Annie, bakers called Bill, authors called 
Arthur and servants known as Florence.

Anyone called Jim, Tom and John were likely to be found working as dustmen, butchers and cabbies, while the police service had a higher proportion of men called Ernest than any other profession.

Miriam Silverman, of Ancestry, said: “While many of the patterns observed around names and jobs may be coincidental, it’s clear some names were more common among the upper classes in 20th century Britain.”