Welsh election 2021: Steve and Dave most common candidate names

There are more Steves and Daves running in Thursday's Senedd election than there are women candidates running in all but one of the 18 parties standing.

Of the 469 candidates, 14 are called Steve, Stephen or Steven and there are 11 named David, Dave or Dai.

The only party fielding more women than the combined number of candidates called Steve or Dave is Welsh Labour.

The party's 50/50 gender split between its 60 candidates means it had 30 women standing.

Plaid Cymru has put forward 19 women candidates (35%) and the Welsh Conservatives have 17 (30%).

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In Caerphilly 50% of candidates - three out of the six - are called Steve or Steven.

Other common names among candidates are Peter (eight) John (seven) and Gareth, Paul and James (all five each).

WALES ELECTION: THE BASICS

What's happening? On 6 May, people will vote to elect 60 Members of the Senedd (MSs). The party that can command the support of a majority of MSs will form the Welsh government. Find out more here.

What powers does the Senedd have? MSs pass laws on aspects of life in Wales such as health, education and transport - and have some tax powers.

The most common women's name is Helen with four, followed by Elin, Rachel, Catrin, Julie and Lisa (all three each).

Davies is one of the most common surnames in Wales. In 2018 this led to Paul Davies competing with Suzy Davies to replace Andrew RT Davies as Welsh Senedd Tory leader.

As might be expected, the most common candidate surname for Thursday's election is Jones with a total of 23 Joneses standing.

That is followed by Davies (15), Williams (13) and Evans (11).

• BASICS: Simple guide to the Senedd election

• POLICY GUIDE: Who should I vote for?

• FIRST TIME: Will 16-year-olds vote?