Premiership footballer names: James scores over Jack

Thinking of naming your son after your favourite footballer? Check out what are the most popular names and initials in the premiership. Children named after football stars is a trend that is on its way up.  We reveal the winning names and initials of the stars in Premiership football. There are some surprises in store…

Top of the Premiership Name Table

• James is number one when it comes to Premiership player’s names, narrowly beating David, Michael and Mathew.
• James is also the only name amongst the top ten most popular premiership names to also be in the top 10 names for boys in 2006.
• The Initial ‘M’ is the most popular out of the top ten names, with three names (Michael, Matthew and Mark), ahead of ‘J’, which has two names (James and John).

The top names in 2006 compared with the most popular names in the Premiership

Rank	Top Boys Names in 2006	Rank *(share rank)	Top Premiership Footballer’s Names
1	Jack	1	James
2	Thomas	2	David
3	Joshua	3	Michael
4	Oliver	4	Matthew
5	Harry	5	Paul
6	James	6*	Chris
7	William	6*	John
8	Samuel	6*	Lee
9	Daniel	6*	Mark
10	Charlie	6*	Stephen

Top of the Premiership Name ‘Initial’ table

If you dream of your son making it into Premiership football, giving him a name beginning with the letter ‘J’ can only improve his chances. It is the most popular first name, with 69 players sharing it and is followed by the initials ‘A’ and ‘M’.

Most popular first name initials among Premiership footballers

First name initial	Number of names with the initial	Rank * (share rank)	Top Names
J	69	1	James John
A	64	2	Andrew Andy Alan Aaron
M	58	3	Michael Mathew
S	50	4	Stephen Steven
D	45	5	David Danny Darren
C	36	6	Chris Craig
R	31	7	Ryan Robert
T	30	8*	Tony Tim Tom
P	30	8*	Paul Peter
L	27	9	Lee Liam Lloyd Luke
G	25	10	Gary Gabriel