The Names of the ‘Best’ and ‘Worst’ Behaved Kids Have Been Revealed

Ever hear a child’s name and think, “Now that’s kid’s gotta be a bit on the naughty side?” Or, “She is probably really well behaved.” Well, now there’s evidence that some baby names are deemed naughtier (or nicer) than others. 

The proof comes from a new UK survey from My Nametags and Censuswide. They asked 1500 teachers, parents, and children to describe names that reflect the best and worst-behaved kids. Naughty baby names vs nice baby names, if you will.

So, it’s not all that official, but, it’s still quite interesting to see how teachers and parents react to different names. And children too! Isn’t it amazing how children develop stereotypes based on names at such a young age?

Lars Anderson Managing Director of My Nametags adds,

Children and adults [are] quick to make judgements about children based on their first name alone. These beliefs can make the difficult task of naming a child even more challenging, but we hope that our research will help give expectant parents an insight into society’s opinions of the most popular boys and girls names in the UK right now.”

So, which names are considered the “naughtiest”? Here they are: 

Naughtiest girls’ names

1. Mia
2. Ella
3. Isabella
4. Amelia
5. Sophia

Naughtiest boys’ names

1.  Jack
2. Harry
3. Charlie
4. Oliver
5. George

Interestingly enough, the top picks for the ‘naughty’ names are all incredibly high on the popularity charts for baby names in Australia. IN fact, ALL the girls’ names are in the top 20 most popular baby names of 2020! 

For the boys, it’s a similar situation with Jack, Charlie, and Oliver all in the top ten. Heck, Oliver is the number one name!! Three of the names are also “royal names”. Go figure.

What about the “nice” boy and girl names?

Best behaved girls’ names

1. Isla
2. Ava
3. Grace
4. Olivia
5. Emily

Best behaved boys’ names

1. Arthur
2. Noah
3. Oscar
4. Muhammad
5. Leo

The best-behaved girls include top spot Olivia as well as several other popular choices for baby names including Ava and Isla. For boys, the nicest name was Arthur followed by Noah. I’m pretty sure Arthur is actually the name of a saint and, well, Noah saved the world from a flood. It doesn’t get any nicer than that!

Even more name fun

We at Mum Central LURVE our baby names. Check out some other fun baby name trends we’ve covered.

• 25 Baby Names Trending Since COVID-19 and 12 Names Parents Are Ditching
• Baby Name Tribes Revealed. Which of These 13 Tribes Does Your Baby Name Fit into?
• 20 Surprisingly Normal Baby Names Parents Regret Choosing
• The 30 Best Gender Neutral Baby Names Out There