This was originally posted on September 8, 2009
The Office for National Statistics has published the most recent baby names data from its government records. You know what that means – a bumper blog post full of fascinating baby names facts!
The Leaders
Once again, the most popular boys name in the UK last year was Jack. The top girls name was Olivia, jumping two places into first.
The Top 30
Image: We have put together a chart to help you visualise the top 30 baby names for both boys and girls. This provides more insight than simply knowing the ranking, as the margins of popularity between different names are apparent. You can click the chart above to view it full size.
Interestingly, the top two boys names – Jack and Oliver – are streets ahead of the competition. The rest of the top ten are fairly even, with only a slight slope on the graph. However, outside of the top ten, the popularity of the names begins to drop rapidly.
The girls names are a lot more evenly matched – Olivia narrowly pips Ruby and Emily by a few hundred births.
Girls names – more unique?
You’ll also notice that the top 30 girls names represent less births than the top 30 boys names. An explanation for this could be the larger number of girls names out there. This means parents have more choice, and feel less restricted to popular names. It should be noted though that more boys than girls were born last year – 51% of newborns were male.
Seasonal names
Anecdotal evidence has suggested for a long time that parents tend to name their babies differently over the Christmas period. The new data we have seen proves this, with Holly rising to the number one baby name in December 2008. Holly’s overall ranking for 2008 was 22. The name’s popularity grew by 150% in December! No such festive trend was present with boys names.
The other notable seasonal change was Summer, the girls name that shot into the top 10 – you guessed it – June, July and August.
Geographical trends
London must know something the rest of the UK doesn’t – as Londoners were the only region to put Isabella in their top 10 girls names – the name actually ranked 2nd in the capital.
The North East was fond of the name Katie, a name that didn’t make any other regional top 10s.
Movers and shakers
Some names made major moves this year just gone. Riley was the boys’ biggest gainer, rising 24 places to 33rd. Kyle was less fortunate, dropping 18 places to 69th.
Isla shot up 29 places to 36th, possibly attributed to actress Isla Fisher, who starred in Definitely, Maybe last year. Madison was heavily shunned, falling 20 places to 56th.
What will this year’s trends be? Browse our website and you could end up influencing them!
