They are two names which have, over the centuries, been among England’s most popular for newborns - until a sharp collapse in recent decades.

       And it is little wonder, after new data has shown that people called Michael and Emma are the most likely to end up in prison.

       Figures released by the Ministry of Justice revealed the first names of all the 82,000 men and women currently locked up in the prison estate of England and Wales.

       Behind the doors of a male prison, you are most likely to run into an inmate called Michael, of whom there are currently 1,777 detained, the data shows.

       It is an ignominious fate for a forename that has historically been the third most popular in England, according to the genealogy database Forebears, but was only the 74th most popular baby name in England and Wales in 2020.

       Several of the country’s most notorious criminals are among the 1,777 Michaels in the prison estate, including Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, who murdered Fusilier Lee Rigby outside Woolwich Barracks in London in 2013.

       Adebolajo is currently serving a whole-life order, while Adebowale was sentenced to life with a minimum of 45 years.

       They also include Michael Stone, jailed in 1999 for the murders of Lin and Megan Russell, who has waged a high-profile campaign to prove his innocence.

       The next most prevalent male names behind bars are David, of whom there are 1,744; Daniel, of whom there are 1,517; and John, of whom there are 1,437.

       They include David Fuller, a double murderer who was found to have sexually abused more than 100 corpses in hospital morturaries, and John Cooper, the so-called Bullseye Killer, who is currently serving a whole-life order for the murders of four people in the 1980s.

       At women’s prisons, where more than 3,000 inmates are currently being held in England and Wales, the most common name is Emma, of whom there are 57, equating to nearly two per cent of the female prison population.

       Most infamous among them is Emma Tustin, who was jailed last year for the murder of her six-year-old stepson, Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, in a child abuse case that shocked the country.

       She was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 29 years, while Arthur’s father, Thomas Hughes, was jailed for 21 years for manslaughter.

       On Wednesday, the Attorney General asked the Court of Appeal to review Tustin’s case under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme, asking for the court to consider a whole-life order.

       After Emma, the most common names for women prisoners are Kelly, of whom there are 55; Sarah, of whom there are 52; and Lisa, of whom there are 46.

       Curiously, however, not one of the 10 most popular names for baby boys and girls in 2020 appeared in the top 10 names for prisoners.

       Emma - historically the 11th most common name for women in England - was the 60th most popular girl’s name for newborns in 2020, with the top names, Olivia and Amelia, significantly less likely to be encountered in a prison roll call.