What would Lord Grantham think? Downton fans name their children after characters

IT'S the show that's been credited with making both period dramas and the 1920s fashionable again.

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Highclere Castle, where Downton Abbey is filmed

But now Downton Abbey's influence has extended into the names of some of its fans' babies.

Edith, Cora, Sybil and Elsie are all soaring in popularity among new parents.

Violet, the first name of the matriarchal Dowager Countess of Grantham played by Dame Maggie Smith, has seen a particularly large comeback after it made the top 100 girls' names for 2013.

Spiralling from 466 girls in 2010 to 709 last year, it has jumped in the national rankings from 123rd to 78th.

And highest of all was Elsie, the Christian name of housekeeper Mrs Hughes, which has more than doubled over the last five years. 

Nearly 1,200 babies took the name last year compared to 535 in 2010.

Parenting expert Dr Fin Williams, who founded the group Parent Perspectives based in Devon, was unsurprised by the trend.

She said: "We pick up our preferences for names based on who we are surrounded by but also our experiences of TV characters who have that name.

"We are less likely to name our children after someone who we feel hasn't got a very nice character, and more likely to name them after somebody we aspire to." 

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Elizabeth McGovern as Cora, Countess of Grantham

Judy Reith, parenting coach and founder of parentingpeople.co.uk, said: "I think parents have always been interested in fashion and sometimes fashion is led by television programmes and celebrities, especially in the current age.

"I'm not surprised that Downton Abbey is having an influence, and I'm sure the the royal baby will also have an influence next year." 

Cora, the warm-hearted countess of Grantham, and Sybil, her pretty and modest daughter, are among the names that have rocketed.

The figures, released by the Office of National Statistics, show a 55 per cent increase in the number of girls called Cora in England and Wales, while there are now treble the number of Sybils than there were in 2010.

The name Mary - the lead character of the show played by Michelle Dockery - has bucked the trend with a slight decline - just 203 girls were given the name in 2013, compared to 237 in 2010.

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