Rising and falling

What the most recent comparable years show, with the long-term direction stated beside it rather than folded into it.

8 groupings, drawn from the 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon). A grouping with too few qualifying names is not published at all.

• Names at their highest recorded position

  Names whose highest recorded position in an official list is its most recent year.

  60 names currently qualify

• Strongest recoveries after a decline

  Names that fell to at least 300 from a real peak and have since recovered by a factor of 3 or more, in the same published list.

  9 names currently qualify

• Names that went from rare to common

  Names that entered a published list outside position 500 and later reached the top 50 of the same list.

  60 names currently qualify

• Fastest climbs into the top hundred

  Names that reached the top 100 of a published list within eight years of first appearing in it.

  41 names currently qualify

• Fastest falls from a high position

  Names that dropped from inside the top 50 of a published list to outside position 500 within fifteen years.

  14 names currently qualify

• Names that rose furthest then fell furthest

  Names that climbed into the top 100 of a published list from outside position 400, and later fell back outside 400.

  9 names currently qualify

• Names that moved furthest in one year

  Names whose position in one published list improved by at least 200 places between two consecutive years, ending inside the top 300.

  60 names currently qualify

• Names that changed direction repeatedly

  Names whose published record in one list reversed direction at least six times, each reversal moving it by 100 places or more.

  60 names currently qualify