You asked
I would like to make an FOI request for the following information:
The most common first name and last name where each of the following characters are present.
! (Exclamation point)
" (Quotation mark)
# (Octothorpe)
$ (Dollar sign)
% (Percent sign)
& (Ampersand)
( ) (Parenthesis)
* (Asterisk)
+ (Plus)
, (Comma)
. (Full Stop)
/ (Forward Slash)
\ (Back Slash)
^ (Caret)
_ (Underscore)
~ (Tilde)
| (Vertical Bar / Pipe)
{ } (Angled Brackets)
[ ] (Square Brackets)
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We are responsible for publishing baby names statistics for births registered in England and Wales. The most recent year for which data are available is 2018.
For detailed information on baby names statistics for 2018 please see our boys' baby names and girls' baby names datasets. They provide statistics on rank and count of the top baby names, changes in rank since the previous year and breakdown by country, region and month of birth. We also publish Baby names in England and Wales bulletin with commentary regarding the above datasets.
Following a search of the data I can confirm that none of the relevant characters appear in the names published in the above releases.
However, please be aware of the following:
1. Figures in baby names statistics are compiled from first names recorded when live births are registered in England and Wales as part of civil registration, a legal requirement. They are based on the exact spelling of the first name given on the birth certificate.
2. The UK has no law that restricts names that parents can legally give to their children. However, names that contain obscenities, numerals, misleading titles, or are impossible to pronounce are likely to be rejected by the Registering Officer (please see this FOI request about restrictions on children's names).
For more information about the statistics we produce please visit our website.