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Luck is a Lady Again! HANNAH AGAIN NAMED AS LUCKIEST FOR WINNING PREMIUM BOND PRIZESIt seems that the name Hannah has all the luck. For the second time, Hannah is the luckiest name for winning high value Premium Bond prizes. Last year Matthew topped the league of luckiest names. National Savings and Investments (NS&I), who runs Premium Bonds, conducted the study analysing which names won high value prizes from a sample of 327 first names. Emma came second and Sean was third luckiest. This was the only male entry in the top 10. Although top of the luckiest table, Hannah is falling out of favour with parents, data from ONS 2 shows the name has been decreasing in popularity since 2001, gradually slipping five places to 13th most popular baby name in 2005. Jack has been the most popular boys’ name in the UK and Jessica among the top five for girls for the last five years² but neither has ever appeared in the top ten Premium Bond lucky name chart; Jack comes in at 45 while Jessica appears at 17.
‘Blessed’Hannah, derived from the Hebrew meaning ‘Grace of God’, was knocked out of the charts and off the top spot last year only to return to take number one in 2005/6. This is the first time however, that the boys’ highest entry, Sean, has been identified as one of the luckiest names. Luck changed dramatically for many of the top 10 names for 2004/5, the names Julie, Adam and Caroline this year appear just inside the top 100. This years top 10 apart from Emma, which gained 7 places in the lucky stakes, are all new entries to the study showing that fortunately luck can change. ERNIE (Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment) – the machine which generates the winning numbers each month certainly has been lining the pockets of ladies, who have this year dominated the top 10 with nine entries. But before the boys cry that their presence in the table is limited, it may be a comfort to know the luck factor is determined by the number of prizes per £10,000 invested for each name, and as there is more variety in the names given to girls3 they are more likely to appear in the top 10 table. Peter Cornish, marketing director at NS&I said: “Over the past year certain names have been especially lucky at winning top prizes, but because the draw is random, whatever your name, anyone who invests in Premium Bonds has a chance to win any of the million plus prizes worth over £83 million given away each month.” ENDS Note to editors 1. The National Savings and Investments research into first names was based on analysis of first names with the most Premium Bond wins of £500 and above between September 2005 and August 2006. There are 327 first names featured in this list. 2. Office for National Statistics (ONS) 2005 – Top 100 names for baby boys and girls in England and Wales. Top five girls’ names – Jessica, Emily, Sophie, Olivia and Chloe. Top 5 boys’ names – Jack, Joshua, Thomas, James and Oliver. 3. Office for National Statistics (ONS) 6 September 2006 2006 Top 10 male and female names of lucky prize winners of £500+
Source: NS&I, September 2006
2006 Bottom 10 male and female names of lucky prize winners of £500+
Source: NS&I, September 2006 Premium BondsPremium Bonds were launched in 1956 - since then, over 142 million tax-free (all Premium Bond prizes are free of UK income Tax and Capital Gains tax) prizes worth £9 billion have been won. Currently 23 million people (over 39% of the population) hold 32 billion Premium Bonds Premium Bonds can be bought online at www.nsandi.com, by telephone on 0500 007 007 by post and over the counter at Post Office branches. There is currently over £30 million in unclaimed prizes. There is no time limit on claiming prizes. Premium Bond investors can check to see if they have won by logging on to www.nsandi.com and using the Premium Bond prize checker. 50 years of Premium Bonds – during 2006 and 2007, NS&I will be celebrating 50 years since Premium Bonds were launched in 1956 and the first draw took place in 1957. To celebrate NS&I will give away five £1 million prizes in each of its two anniversary draws in both December 2006 and June 2007. Subscribe to the NS&I RSS newsfeed. Simply copy and paste this link www.nsandi.com/mediacentre.xml into your RSS reader to receive regular news alerts from NS&I. For more information, contact the NS&I media team National Savings and InvestmentsNational Savings and Investments (NS&I) is one of the UK’s largest savings and investments providers with around 26 million customers and £72 billion invested. NS&I provides a wide range of savings and investments, including Premium Bonds, Savings Certificates, Income Bonds, Children’s Bonus Bonds, Guaranteed Equity Bonds and the Easy Access Savings Account. NS&I is able to offer a 100% capital guarantee on all the products it offers because it is backed by HM Treasury. NS&I, formed in 1861, is a government department and an executive agency of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. |
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