With Christmas just days away, children's excitement is starting to mount in anticipation that Father Christmas will stop by and leave some presents under the tree.
Hoping to have not caused too much terror throughout the year so they can make it on Santa's 'nice list', little ones will likely be on their best behaviour up until 25 December. However, data has shown that some children have already made the cut onto the infamous naughty list - based on their names.
The team at Real Santa Letters has revealed the top 20 girls' and boys' names most likely to make the big man's list. They put over 700 names to the test and have shared their findings, which may surprise parents.
Real Santa Letters discovered the names most likely to be on the 'naughty list' by looking back through their records to see which children hadn't received a Real Santa Letter and then compared the stats to baby name data in England and Wales.
Searching through the 4,262 Santa letters that have been sent to date, the team compared their internal data to the latest release of baby name figures for England and Wales to calculate which children made the cut.
The research also dated back figures based on the 50 most popular baby names from the last 10 years (according to ONS data – sum for years spanning 2012 to 2021) to see where they compared against each other.
Based on these popular names, boys named Luca, and Arlo, and girls called Maya, and Harriet, ranked highly to make it onto Santa's 'naughty list'.
However, Sebastian and Layla took the top spot.
The top 20 kids' names most likely to be on Santa's 'naughty list' - for both genders:
1. Sebastian & Layla
2. Luca & Maya
3. Arlo & Harriet
4. Harley & Abigail
5. Louis & Georgia
6. Jaxon & Amber
7. Adam & Annabelle
8. Elliott & Luna
9. Kai & Arabella
10. Caleb & Heidi
11. Leon & Eliza
12. Tommy & Aurora
13. Elijah & Victoria
14. Jasper & Ivy
15. Austin & Sarah
16. David & Maddison
17. Dylan & Bethany
18. Owen & Eloise
19. Ralph & Madison
20. Jude & Annie
A North Pole insider commented: "Being selfish is a surefire way to get on the naughty list this year… Santa really doesn't like it when people are self-centred and only think of themselves. He loves it when people are generous, thoughtful, and selfless. Sharing is also a very important value to Santa… he will always put someone who doesn't share on his naughty list, and he is always impressed when people share with their family and friends.
"Being rude or nasty to people – especially mum or dad – will most definitely result in your name being added to the naughty list. Parents do so many amazing things for their children every single day, and Santa loves to see children appreciating mum and dad’s hard work!
"Santa loves to reward people that do nice things for their friends and family – he bases his Christmas day present decisions on how nice you've been all year and the year before, so you’ve got to be on your best behaviour all the time (otherwise, you may end up on the naughty list)."
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below
