Mary and John named music's most 'serenaded' names

The study, completed by name label manufacturer mynametags.com, screened more than 57.7 million track listings released on Spotify between September 2021 and August 2026.

Mary led the ranking of female names with 568 recordings, while John topped the male ranking with 509.

To find out whether these songs are shaping real-world naming choices, the research identified the single most-streamed song behind each of the top female and male names, and cross-referenced UK ONS birth registration data from 2021 to 2025 – allowing roughly the course of a pregnancy for a song's influence to show up in birth records.

Mary

568 songs feature the name Mary in the title – more than any other name in the study. The biggest streaming hit among them is “Mary Boone” by Vampire Weekend (2024), a tribute to the real-life New York art dealer. This was streamed more than 13 million times on Spotify. UK registrations of Mary had fallen every year since 2021 – but the decline came to a halt in 2025, the first year without a drop since the study began, demonstrating the effect these popular songs have had on parents’ naming choices.

Maria

490 songs feature the name Maria. The runaway streaming leader is “Maria” by Dua Lipa (2024), streamed almost 37 million times. Maria registrations fell every year from 2021 to 2024 – then rose in 2025, the first increase in five years, a pattern consistent with the song's release.

Jane

271 songs feature the name Jane. Topping the streams is “Jane” by Skip Marley featuring Ayra Starr (2022), with just over three million plays. Jane registrations have risen in each of the last two years of available data.

John

509 songs feature the name John – more than any other male name studied. The standout is “Dear John (Taylor's Version)” by Taylor Swift, re-released in 2023, with an enormous 156 million streams.

Jack

411 songs feature the name Jack. The top hit is “Jack & Jill” by Morgan Wallen (2025), already close to 59 million streams. Jack remains the single most common name of the ten studied by raw registration numbers – and with the song released only in May 2025, its influence is one to watch in next year's data.

Johnny

304 songs feature the name Johnny. Johnny is also one of the most stable of all ten names studied, up 13% in the most recent year of data.

“We've been supporting parents in the UK for over 20 years and in that time, we've seen just how many things shape a name choice – family history, culture, and increasingly, what's on the radio,” says Lars B. Andersen, Managing Director at mynametags.com.

"What's fascinating about this research is seeing it play out in the data itself. Names like Mary and Maria had been quietly declining for years, then both saw a genuine uptick right around the time their biggest streaming hits landed. It's a reminder that even in an age of algorithms and playlists, a good song can still put a name front of mind and influence a person’s name choice for their new arrival.”

Most serenaded names

Girls:

1. Mary

2. Maria

3. Jane

Boys:

1. John

2. Jack

3. Johnny

Discover the full list of serenaded names and read the full research.