this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
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Ofc Mohammed is the most common name but thats a name common within the muslim community. I have noticed the name Sarah in every country, regardless of race or religion. Or it might be an abrahamic religion thing but thats most of the world atleast.

I suspect other Abrahamic names might make the cut.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Doesn't really exist in the Slavic countries, so I wouldn't say it's universal.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Nonexistent in neither Scandinavian nor middle-eastern countries.

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

There are also a few names that independently exist in different languages; i.e. one is not a translation of the other, such as "Yuri" in Russian and Japanese, or "Naomi" in Hebrew and Japanese. Similarly, the surname "Lee" in English is not related to "Lee" in East Asian languages like Chinese or Korean.

(A sillier puzzle: Find names for which you get a different name by spelling it backwards, like "Ari" and "Ira" or "Linus" and "Sunil". No, Utah Mormon names like "Nevaeh" don't count, they do that sort of thing on purpose.)

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh thats a cool game.

Misa/ Asim. Alsi/ Isla. Otto/ Otto. Amias/ Saima.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Otto/Otto

Wait a minute...

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Hannah/Hannah

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Thought Id just slip it in there

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

We've been duped!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

I know a couple of Yoshi's (Japanese) and the first time I met a German Joshi (pronounced "Yoshi"), I thought he had a Japanese name for some reason until I realised it's short for Joshua. Also, I thought Naomi was an exclusively Japanese name, today I learned, thanks!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My mum's name is Ira and she thought it would be cute to name me Ari. Most people I meet agree.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Hard to say. Like, do "Ivan", "Giovanni" and "John" count as the same, or different names? What about Latin "Amanda" (to be loved) vs. Japanese ζ„›/Ai (love)? How do we even count this?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Ivan, Giovanni, John, Jean, Shaun, Sean, Shane, Zane, Ian, Jan, Yves, Juan, Johannes, Yohan, and more...

The name means "gift". Pretty universal.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Everyone is saying it means "gift" but Wikipedia (as well as an embroidery my grandma gave me when I was young!) says it comes from Yohanan/Johanan Χ™Χ•ΦΉΧ—ΦΈΧ ΦΈΧŸβ€Ž (YΓ΄αΈ₯ānān), which means "YHWH (Yahweh/God) is gracious", with gracious being used in the form of "merciful" or "forgiving".

Which can kind of mean the same thing but is also different enough. Johnathan, however, does mean "God has given".

TIL that John and Johnathan are not different versions of the same name!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Ironically, all the variations you mentioned do not have the gift part, except for the letter 'n' :)

They all originate from Johnathan, which in Hebrew means, literally "God gave", the "Joh" part meaning "God", and "Nathan" meaning "gave".

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wait, does that mean, Joe Biden is literally a God Emperor? Or does Joseph have other roots?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Origin: Diminutive of Joseph Meaning: "Jehovah increases"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Also same as "Nathan" "El" or "Nathaniel"

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Despite how many forms it takes, it isn't very common in the muslim world or asia which make up for a vast proportion of the world. So many of the names variations are within Europe.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm sure "gift" as a name is popular in those regions, too, even if it doesn't stem from the same root.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Theodore, Mateo, matthew, jonathan, jesse, gia, Anjali, Doris. Theres like 30 more, I didnt notice a super common asian name, anjali is fairly common in india. But yeah name meaning gift is probably up there.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

John the Baptist is considered a prophet also in Islam, so local variations of the name John are not so infrequent in Muslim countries, at least according to Wikipedia, see Yahya.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Also yahya in arabic

ΩŠΨ­ΩŠΩ‰

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Names with the same meaning is an interesting one. Id say that counts, I hadnt even thought about that!

I'd also allow variations of the name, John is Yuhanna in arabic.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't know the answer, but at least this gives us some way to actually count this:

  • check which languages encompass 90% (or more) of the native speakers of Earth
  • check the most names that fit 90% (or more) of the native speakers of each language
  • sum up names across languages that you deemed to be "the same", like John and Yuhanna

There'll be a tiny bit of error there, but given that you're focusing only on the most common name, I guess that it's fine.

I wonder if there's some previous research on that. Digging further yielded nothing for me. (You got me curious, too.)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Yeah that sounds like a very reasonable approach. Ofc I'm not gonna do it lol.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago

Probably any form of Maria, which is for both male/female. There are many documented usages of the name BCE.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

The most common first name in the world is Maria, and the most common last name in the world is Wang. Erfo the most common name in the world is Maria Wang.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Joseph/ Yousuf, Daniel/ Danyal. Again anything universal is Abrahamic just bc of what high proportion of the world is Christian/ Muslim/ Jew.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’d assume Mary/Mariam/Maria is more common because there are fewer options for women

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I find that Ana beats out Maria only because only the english spell it/pronounce it different (Hanna). Everyone else does Ana.

But Mary has an absurd higher usage.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yep thats absolutely right. Elena too, behind Maria ofc.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

India and China each have around 1.4 billion people (source). The next nearest country is the US with ~340 million. Which is a pretty major drop off. So, I would start by looking at common names in either China or India.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The most common Indian names are Hindu names which are isolated in India. Similarly the most common names in China are isolated there. Hence my argument for Abrahamic religions.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or even common names in both India and China if there's one

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

"My name is Universal Soldier. "

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Technically correct

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I don't know about first names, but as for middle names, I've noticed a 75% chance your middle name will be James if you're a guy and Marie if you're a woman. I also attended school somewhere where, I kid you not, every shop owner and public service manager was named either John or Julie.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

On the other hand, if your parents give you the middle name of Wayne, an FBI file is opened immediately.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm surprised you don't see more FBI agents in Gotham. It's a cesspool of crime, you'd think at least one person would at least be raided by a swat team.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Or maybe the place is so infested that the moment a team raids a guy, they get counter-ambushed on the way out.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I wonder what's up with that. At least for Marie it could be a catholic thing

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago
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