Individuals named Michael and Sarah most likely to earn higher salaries
Posted 14th February 2025 • Written by Zoe Wickens on employeebenefits.co.uk • • • • • •
Something for the weekend: Following Britain’s top chief executive officers (CEOs) surpassing the average annual salary within just three days of 2025, Furniture At Work’s latest research has revealed which UK professions earn the highest pay, along with the most common names of the highest earners.
The online furniture supplier used data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) to determine the highest-paid roles. A study of the most popular UK men’s and women’s names was used to find the five most common names for each gender, and LinkedIn’s filtered search highlighted how many people with each name held the jobs.
Within the top 10 highest-paying positions, the name Michael was the most frequent men’s name, while Sarah was the most common women’s name across the top eight.
Men named Michael and women named Sarah were the most likely to earn an average of £84,131 as a chief executive officer (CEO), the highest-paid role in the UK. Individuals with these two names were also the most likely to earn the highest salaries as a marketing, sales and advertising director, an IT director, a PR and communications director, and a logistics, warehousing and transport director.
The top five names most likely to earn the highest salaries are:
- Michael
- Sarah
- David
- Elizabeth
- John
The top-paying UK roles, along with their average salaries and the most common names within each profession, are:
- CEO – £84,131 – Michael and Sarah
- Marketing, sales and advertising director – £83,015 – Michael and Sarah
- IT director – £80,000 – Michael and Sarah
- PR and communications director – £79,886 – Michael and Sarah
- Logistics, warehousing and transport director – £72,177 – Michael and Sarah
- Air traffic controller and pilot – £71,676 – Michael and Julie
- Finance director – £70,000 – David and Sarah
- Functional managers and director – £69,933 – David and Sarah
- Doctor – £66,031 – David and Sarah
- Headteacher – £66,014 – David and Susan
A spokesperson for Furniture At Work said: “It’s fascinating to see how different names are linked to career success in the UK’s highest-paying roles. This study offers a fun insight into how a name can influence perceptions in the workplace, though hard work and determination will always remain the key drivers of success.”
Lucky you if your name is one of those mentioned above!
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