called in the registers.
   The most popular names for boys were John, Thomas and William, in that order, with James runner up and Richard not far behind. John and Thomas were always more or less level pegging, but William began to catch up on them in the second half of the eighteenth century. In early times, Robert and Nicholas were running well, but both tailed off after the seventeenth century. Robert eventually finished seventh, after Henry, and Nicholas a poor tenth, after George and. Edward.
   Mary, Elizabeth and Ann(e) took the first three places for girls, being followed by Sarah and, next, Jane. Trailing behind were Joan in sixth place, Dorothy and Margaret, who tied for seventh place, and Alice and Rebecca, who tied for ninth. For the first forty odd years Dorothy, whose name was spelt in an almost unbelievable variety of ways, led the field, followed closely by Jean. Both did well for another fifty years and then fell back; after 1700 Jean appears but once and Dorothy not at all. By 1650 Elizabeth had taken the lead. and was well ahead a hundred years later, with Mary then in second place and running strongly. Thereafter Mary rapidly closed the gap to run out eventual winner by a short head..
   The most unusual Christian name was ‘Hooky’, but his was an adult baptism; no doubt he had always been

known as Hooky and Hooky he chose to remain. ‘Nuty’ figures in the Marriage registers, but if she had been christened by that name it had not been at Ash.
   Preferences for girls’ names seem more volatile than these for boys’, but changes in fashion for Christian names are less impressive than the continuity in use of the same names through the ages. The ‘top tens’ for the present year that may be expected to appear in due course in The Times newspaper are unlikely to be the same as Ash’s ‘top tens’ for 1560-1812, but there may not be all that difference.
   The first entry in the Marriage registers is of the marriage on 10 May 1562 of William Swift to Jean Brenktonne; the last is of the marriage on 13 August 1812 of John Woodward of Kingsdown to Charlotte Rumbold of Ash. Overall, four hundred and seventeen weddings are recorded. In the earlier registers, most of the entries are confined to the date and the names of the parties. The Hardwicke register, which has one hundred and fifteen entries, is more informative. The marriage rate seems to have remained fairly constant over the whole period, averaging between one and. two each year. From 1562 to 1599 there were fifty-four marriages, in the seventeenth century one hundred and seventy-