WATCHING our favourite TV soaps often becomes somewhat of a ritual with many of the favourites firmly securing a spot in our everyday lives.
So much so that the shows such as Coronation Street and EastEnders are often used as a source of for inspiration when it comes to naming children with an overwhelming amount of people naming their kids after popular TV characters.
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The on-demand service, UKTV Play, analysed ONS baby name data from 1996 to 2018 as well as threads on Mumsnet to see which soap characters have been the name inspiration for parents over the past 20 years – and the results might surprise you.
As one of the soaps’ most loved characters, there’s no denying Alfie Moon from EastEnders is a fan favourite and, according to the ONS data, there have been over 75,000 babies named Alfie in the past 20 years making it the most popular soap character inspired baby name.
Alife Moon’s first appearance on the soap was in 2002 which correlates with an uplift in the name being registered over 8,000 times in his first sprint on the show, with a further 10,000 being named during his second run from 2010-19.
Other popular EastEnders characters Max Branning and Ben Mitchell came in at second and third when it came to boys names, and Coronation Street’s David Platt came in at fourth place with the name being used 30,000 times.
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But while five of the ten most popular soap names were taken from EastEnders, Emmerdale stars Cain Dingle and Robert Sugden also made the list with 35, 000 baby boys being named after them collectively.
The most popular female character, though, was Bethany Platt from Coronation Street with over 40,000 babies being named Bethany since she first hit the screens in 2000.
Sarah Louisa Platt came in at second having been a source of inspiration 25,000 times, while EastEnders’ Tiffany Mitchell came in at third.
Bethany’s character was played by Mia Cookson in 2000, by twins Amy and Emily Walton from 2000 until the end of 2007, and most recently by Lucy Fallon.
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