Jack Malvern, in the London Times (March 11, 2004):
JOHN may no longer be the name of choice for today’s new parents, who seem to prefer Jack or Alfie, but 800 years ago baby boys were unlikely to be called anything else.
Fresh research into naming patterns in the Middle Ages shows that 35 per cent of men in 1377 were called John. The dominance of a handful of names was so strong that more than half of men and boys were named John or William. A further quarter was divided between Thomas, Richard and Robert.
The supremacy of John persisted for centuries. He was knocked from the top spot by William only in the 19th century. The pattern emerged when George Redmonds, a historian from Huddersfield , combed through lists of men, women and children registered to pay the poll tax, the national tax that was so rigorously enforced that it caused the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381.