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Criminal names

Martin Rosenbaum | 12:04 UK time, Monday, 21 August 2006

As I've noted before, sometimes the surprising thing with freedom of information is the extent of what does get disclosed.

Ever wanted to know the most common first names for criminals in Liverpool? The Merseyside Police have of offenders' first names and the offences committed.

This was part of their remarkably helpful response to an FOI request which, according to their , contained the following plea: "Any help regarding women and crime in Liverpool would be great." I spotted it mentioned on .

So the top ten criminal names in Liverpool are:
1. James
2. Michael
3. John
4. Paul
5. Stephen
6. Anthony
7. David
8. Thomas
9. Lee
10. Christopher

On the other hand, first names attached to just one offence include Chelsea, Clinton, Dylan, Eric, Norbert and Tracey.

It all raises some interesting questions:

Do all forces collect this data and if so why?

How much does your name influence your behaviour, a topic discussed for example in the bestselling (and quite interesting) book ?

Is this what they mean by profiling? Do people called Anthony tend to commit crimes, while Gordons it seems do not (well, not in Liverpool, anyway)?

And are the Merseyside Police fully trained-up to relate to the recent wave of Polish migration to Britain, given that they record the name of one offender as Wdjciech, a version which even by Polish standards would be a little difficult to pronounce?

°ä´Ç³¾³¾±ð²Ô³Ù²õÌýÌý Post your comment

I can't say I'm surprised to see John & Paul at the top of the list. Most criminals are probably 15-30, which means their parents were huge fans of the Beatles.

  • 2.
  • At 04:14 PM on 22 Aug 2006,
  • Paul Louth wrote:

I'm not surprised to see the 10 most popular male names at the top of the list.

  • 3.
  • At 03:09 PM on 27 Aug 2006,
  • Rosalind wrote:

I downloaded the police list and surprise, surprise what was the most common offence by miles and miles?

And I would guess that (drug offences) leads to much of the rest. That is not to say there wasn't plenty of trouble in the past (I am no golden age lady), but drugs and crime?

  • 4.
  • At 09:58 PM on 06 Nov 2007,
  • INGY Q BINGLEBOP wrote:

I AM GUESSING THAT NAMES LIKE TYRONE OR JEREMIAH OR THUG SOUNDING NAMES LIKE THAT ARE PROBABLY THE ONES THAT COMMIT THE MOST CRIMES. WHERE ARE THOSE NAMES RANKED?? I WOULD NEVER NAME A KID THOSE NAMES.

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