The most popular name in Britain is not what you think it is

Sorry guys

'John Smith' is the most common name in Britain, right?

It's the first that springs to mind when giving a fictitious person a name. It's the British Equivalent of 'John Doe'. It's what Doctor Who's human alias is, for goodness' sake. So you can imagine our dismay when we learned that we'd been getting it wrong for our entire lives. Guys, John Smith is not the most popular name in the country at all.

http://gph.is/2bZwvJt

There are in fact two names that rank higher on the popularity scale, FYI. John Smith is actually only the third most popular name in the country, while David Jones (David Bowie's real name) comes in second place. We know, we can't believe it either.

Taking the top spot is good old David Smith. Probably John's brother, cousin, dad, or whatever.

The news comes from a recent analysis of the Open Register by GBG for The Telegraph to find the top 100 most popular names in the country. The list of the most popular names is dominated by people with the lass name 'Smith' (no surprises there), or the first name 'David'.

Interestingly, women's names are reported as being far more diverse, only making up 17 of the 100, but the top ten is still made up entirely or Smiths or Joneses. Below is the break down of the most popular men and women's names in Britain according to the Open Register.

It's true what they say, you learn something new every day.

The top 10 most common names

David Smith – 6,163

David Jones – 5,959

John Smith – 4,742

Michael Smith – 4,321

David Williams – 4,292

Paul Smith – 3,904

Andrew Smith – 3,700

David Brown – 3,393

Robert Smith – 3,386

Peter Smith – 3,218

The top 10 most common female names

Susan Smith – 3,172

Margaret Smith – 3,086

Susan Jones – 2,365

Margaret Jones – 2,356

Patricia Smith – 1,993

Sarah Smith – 1,870

Elizabeth Smith – 1,843

Sarah Jones – 1,794

Christine Smith – 1,746

Mary Smith – 1,719