Britain seeing decline in rude names

LONDON, March 25 (UPI) -- The percentage of British people tabbed with names that would easily offend their fellow citizens has decreased during the last 120 years, experts say.

University College London geography Professor Richard Webber said an analysis of British names during the last 12 decades found that unusual names such as Shufflebottom, Cock, Death and Daft have declined significantly in popularity, The Times of London said Wednesday.

By comparing the population of 2008 with Britain's initial census in 1881, Webber found the number of people named Daft has decreased by more than 50 percent. Individuals laden with the name Balls have also fallen by more than half, while the number of people named Cock in Britain has decreased by 75 percent.

In comparison, the name Zhang has seen impressive growth in Britain since 1996 specifically. British nationals given the Chinese name totaled 123 in 1996 but that figure jumped to 5,804 last year.

Despite the trend toward less controversial names, "Family Names and Family History" author David Hey assures the public such names are actually harmless.

"'Bottom' names were from farms at the bottom of a valley. In the Middle Ages 'daft' meant meek. It was a perfectly acceptable name," Hey told The Times.