As Valentine’s Day approaches, ukphonebook.com has dug through its data to find the most romantic place in the UK – that is, the place with most people called ‘Love’.
The online telephone directory has used its People Search function to find all those named ‘Love’ in the UK – and in which area of the country they live.
Most romantic places in the UK
- Airdrie, Motherwell: 123
- Alloa, Falkirk: 60
- Enniskillen, Northern Ireland: 57
- Bathgate, Edinburgh: 56
- Magherafelt, Northern Ireland: 50
- Uddingston, Glasgow: 46
- Motherwell, Motherwell: 44
- Whitburn: Edinburgh: 42
- Livingston, Edinburgh: 42
- Cumbernauld, Glasgow: 40
The most romantic place in the UK – by a long way – is Airdrie. This Scottish town has 123 people called Love. More than double the next in the list.
Love truly is in the Airdrie.
In fact, Scotland and Northern Ireland make up all of the Top 10. While variations of the ‘Love’ name first were recorded in England, it has been a Scottish surname since around 1472, when legal records show a ‘Thomas Lufe’.
Mark Bayley from TheGenealogist said: “The Love name can be derived from the French word Loup, or wolf which in the Scottish dialect would have been Lufe, Lulf, Luff, Luffe, Luif, and Luiff.
“It’s most likely that it came across to Britain with the Norman Knights of William the Conqueror who bore the title of wolf as an honour and some of whom moved to Southern Scotland.
“It is thought that families with the Scottish form of the name, Luff, or Luiff, lived in Ayrshire and Renfrewshire from the 13th century onwards, so these may have been the ancestors of those with the Love surname.
“The surname Love was found predominantly in West Scotland where Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, and Lanarkshire had the highest concentration in 1841 and then by 1901 Lanarkshire recorded by far the largest number of Loves than anywhere else in Britain.”
Top 5 most romantic places in England
Moving away from the romantic glens and lochs of Scotland, the top five most romantic places in England are:
- Faversham, Medway: 40
- Tipon, Dudley: 39
- Billingham, Teesside: 34
- Chelmsford, Essex: 26
- Maidstone, Medway: 26
The ‘Love’ in England is mainly found in Medway towns such as Faversham and Maidstone. Though there is still plenty of romance in Dudley and Teesside.
Most romantic regions in the UK
Looking at the wider regions, Scotland dominates the Top 10. Glasgow is the most romantic region in the UK with 676 people named Love. Northern Ireland takes second place.
At the bottom of the Top 10, we find Rochester (206), Norwich (204) and Northampton (199) as the only English regions.
- Glasgow: 676
- Northern Ireland: 565
- Edinburgh: 440
- Motherwell: 356
- Paisley: 269
- Kilmarnock: 248
- Falkirk: 216
- Rochester: 206
- Norwich: 204
- Northampton: 199
Least romantic places in UK
We are not ones to go breaking hearts – but someone must take the wooden heart-shaped spoon. And it seems it is London that lacks Love.
In the whole of London – that is around 9 million people – there are only 556 people named ‘Love’.
Outside of the capital, Teesside’s close neighbour Sunderland also lacks Love with just four people named ‘Love’ in the city – it seems the Tees is the river of Love, not the Tyne.
