As a result, given names associated with the elderly became less attractive to new parents. The Industrial Revolution also speeded up the spread of literacy, and through their reading people came across a much wider variety of names - Dickens alone created a thousand named characters. This is not to say that the custom of naming babies after family members has died out, as illustrated by the Royal Family - Philip begat Charles Philip Arthur George, who begat William Arthur Philip Louis, who begat George Alexander Louis.
Image caption Dickens characters such as Rose Maylie in Oliver Twist introduced Britons to botanical first names What motivates parents to give unusual names? In part, it's an extension of what happened in the 19th Century. Parents then had Dickens - for example, his characters named Daisy, Flora, Rose and Rosa probably helped foster the Victorian fashion for botanical names for girls. Parents now have Google - the Office for National Statistics lists the 7,500 different names given to three or more British girls (from Aabidah to Zyva) and nearly 5,000 different names given to three or more boys (from Aaban to Zyon).
Image copyright AP Image caption Keira Knightley's first name arose from a spelling mistake on her birth certificate Keira Knightley would have been Kiera had it not been for a misspelling on her birth certificate.
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