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Bounty

One Poll

7 December 2010

Santa, Sparkle and Rudolph are some of the bizarre Christmas-inspired baby names chosen over the past decade, it emerged yesterday (Mon).
The data revealed that 73,495 children born since the year 2000 have festive Christian names.
And the most popular of all - Joseph - has been given to 28,223 British children.
The classic Christmas carol 'The Holly and the Ivy' has prompted 21,312 parents to call their newborn girls Holly, and 396 have chosen the name Ivy.
The third favourite merry moniker inspired by the Christian holiday is Faith - given to 5,183 babies.
Other more unusual Christmas inspired names include Noel, Winter and Claus.
Unbelievably, there have been eight children bearing the name Santa or Claus.
And his side-kick Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer has possibly prompted three babies to be named Rudolph.
Faye Mingo, spokeswoman for parenting club Bounty.com, which compiled the list from its database of registered baby names, said: ''Our records have uncovered that the Christmas period influences parent's choices when naming babies born at this time - and what better time of year to take inspiration from than the season of goodwill?
''Yet, with children already named Sparkle and Santa amongst us, it may not be long until we bump into an 'Elf' or 'Tinsel' at the local supermarket!''
The study shows Christmas tipples have inspired some parents - as there have been 36 Brandy's and 32 Sherry's over the past 10 years.
While many parents show their faith by giving their child a particularly religious name with
3,440 Nicholas's, 3,429 Gabriel's and 693 Emmanuel's born in the last decade.
And 21 new parents have decided to call their new baby Jesus after the central figure of Christianity.
Other names with biblical references - also central to many Christmas nativity plays - are Angel, Mary and Star.
There have also been 2,567 children named Christian, 119 Robins and 336 Noels.
While many parents find Christmas the happiest time of the year, and as such choose to give their offspring cheerful names such as Hope, Happy, Sparkle and Joy.
Faye Mingo continued: ''Parents look for inspiration from a number of different sources - so it's only natural that the festivities of Christmas are stimulating their creativity, just as babies born in spring and summer are often named after months of the year, seasons or nature.''
FESTIVE FIRST NAMES
1.    Joseph - 28,223
2.    Holly - 21,312
3.    Faith - 5,183
4.    Nicholas - 3,440
5.    Gabriel - 3,429
6.    Angel - 2,894
7.    Christian - 2,567
8.    Hope - 2,196
9.    Mary - 1,824
10.    Emmanuel - 693
11.    Joy - 430
12.    Ivy - 396
13.    Noel - 336
14.    Star - 263
15.    Robin - 119
16.    Berry - 40
17.    Brandy - 36
18.    Sherry - 32
19.    Winter - 31
20.    Jesus - 21
21.    Happy - 14
22.    Sparkle - 5
23.    Santa - 5
24.    Rudolph - 3
25.    Claus - 3
Research conducted by global market research company www.onepoll.com