What does your name say about your holiday?

We’ve been doing some digging, and it turns out that your name could give away a lot about your holiday style. In a survey of nearly 24,000 Holiday Hypermarket customers, who do you think turned out to be most likely to book a holiday, or most likely to pick a far-flung location?

Well, wonder no more. It might not sound like a big figure, but bearing in mind that there are 26 letters in the alphabet, it’s pretty impressive that nearly 12% of travellers surveyed had names beginning with J. These may have been bitten by the travel bug, but where are they heading? Around 15% of Johns and Johnathans favoured long-time hotspot Benidorm as their holiday destination of choice, but Janes and Janets weren’t so keen, with a whopping 37% opting to spend their time away in the Canary Islands.

 

John was found in a recent survey to be the most popular male name in the last 500 years of UK name choices – but while they’ve been heading to Benidorm, their popularity counterparts Mary have preferred Turkey, with 30% of those booking choosing Marmaris over any other resort.

Top 5 holiday booker names – and their favourite destinations

                    Males                                                                        Females

David Morocco Jane Lanzarote
John/Jonathan Benidorm Julie Majorca
Steven/Stephen Tenerife Sara/Sarah Costa del Sol
Michael Tenerife Karen Cyprus
Mark Mexico Janet/Janette Gran Canaria

Traceys and Margarets tied for 6th place just off of the women’s leader board, all booking an array of destinations from Turkey to Tenerife, though Margarets were most often heading to Costa del Sol – leaving Traceys and Tracys to book up the Greek islands.

 

While J names might have topped the alphabet leader board, they don’t take the overall prize for most likely to travel. David was the most common name for a holiday booker in the survey, with around 3% of planned trips booked by a Dave or David.

It’s almost an even split between those who favour Europe and those who travel a little further afield, with 8% of Davids heading for the bustling beaches of Majorca, while a further 9% opted for the souks and sand dunes of Morocco. We spoke to one David, who said that it’s “nice to know that all the other Daves are having some good holidays too – but the real question for me is, who has the best tan lines to show for it?”

Famous Majorca fan Michael Douglas, who had a holiday on the island near Deia, breaks the trend for his name – our survey showed that Michaels usually prefer Tenerife, with the most famous Michael to visit the island being pop icon Michael Jackson back in 1993.

While they may not have made it to the top spot for who books the most holidays, Marks deserve a mention for their sense of adventure. While Alans and Susans favour the Spanish coast and Greek islands, Marks were the most likely to book holidays further afield. Mexico and Cape Verde made up around 15% of bookings made in that name, but the Caribbean, USA, Egypt and Morocco were all notable runners-up.

 

“Who’d have thought there would be such big differences between the holiday preferences of a Jane or a John?” said Holiday Hypermarket representative Ian Crawford, commenting on the findings.

“It’s interesting to see that rather than most names travelling to a variety of destinations – like our adventurous Marks – there are actually very clear top choices for a lot of people, even though these names aren’t among the most popular in the UK.”

This pattern was not repeated with female names, however. While there were plenty of package bookings made by popular 90s names, Charlotte, Rebecca and Lauren, they failed to hop onto the leader board with traditionally older name such as Jane and Janet – who may have had more practise at finding the best deals.

Let us know your name and where your next holiday will be in the comments below!