Many of us couldn’t tear ourselves away from Downton Abbey, the wildly popular miniseries chronicling the drama of the aristocratic Crawleys and their servants. So it’s no wonder that plenty of parents plucked their baby’s name from the Masterpiece Classic hit.
Though rigid class divisions keep the aristocrats from the servants on the show, those social distinctions don’t mean much to parents to be. Names of the household staff proved just as popular as those of the lords and ladies above stairs.
The boys’ names Branson and Charlie, and girls’ names Elise and Daisy, had the highest percentage gains of any Downton-related names. This might surprise the handsome chauffeur, dignified butler, humble head housekeeper, and meek kitchen maid. The names William and Thomas (Downton‘s two footmen) also increased in popularity.
The Crawley family names did well, too. Middle sister Edith vaulted up in popularity – finally, some good news for the hard-luck sister! Sybil, the sweet youngest, skipped up 606 spots, and Isobel gained 138 on the Top 200 Baby Names list. The names Robert and Cora were up also.
Among the few Downton names to fall in popularity were those of its romantic leads: Matthew and Mary. Perhaps the star-crossed lovers were just too sad to inspire a bump in baby names.
