Predictions for 2017's top names

[Lallypopstick]

The ONS usually publishes data on the top baby names of the last year around this time (last year the data was published 20th September and the year before it was 2nd September).

Any predictions about what might top the chart or be the new climbers? I think Theo might break the top 20 (29th last year) and Arlo won't be far behind (49 last year). And maybe an increase in Meghans because of Meghan Markle (apparently only 881st last year). I was also wondering about Ariana after the Manchester bombings and One Love concert.

Any others?

It's quite interesting breaking it down by county. Because then you see that even top 10 names mean very few babies with that name in your immediate area.

Still less than 70 babies with DD2's name last year; surprising to rally as it's a fairly 'normal' name with a 'normal' spelling!

DS's name still way down in the sticks - around 30 of him (don't like to be exact here), same as the last few years.

Interesting to see that DD’s name still only has fewer than 40 babies given the name. That’s about 10 less than when she was born 7 years ago.

Her name is one which is mentioned on pretty much every Mumsnet thread and we genuinely expected it to rise in popularity. Glad it hasn’t though!

The breakdown by borough is fascinating - the most popular girl's name in Hackney is Leah (27 babies given this name) which is number 99 across England and Wales - I wonder why it's so popular in Hackney?!

I was clearly a trendsetter. I called DD1 Evelyn back in 2003. I had no idea it would become so popular.

I meant believe how far down the list Juliet is (there were only 71 in 2017. Alterntive spelling there weren't many either!). Julia however was quite high on the list.

wendythewestie
I imagine Leah is so popular in Hackney because it is a meaningful religious name and therefore popular with a large section of the population there.

Hackney has a large orthodox Jewish population, as well as a large Christian population. Leah is a popular name for both.

"I meant believe how far down the list Juliet is (there were only 71 in 2017. Alterntive spelling there weren't many either!). Julia however was quite high on the list."

@crunchymum. Me too, dd is one of the 71, that's down an 2016 although the other spelling is up meaning the combination is a similar number. It's always cropping up on here, maybe will rise in 2018

Was also shocked at Juliet/Juliette being so rare.

And Catherine, in all its spellings. I thought it was more popular even if the child ended up being called Kate etc.
Lara is another one I always see on here and that I think lots of people like, but was really far down the list.

I’m surprised Marianne and Helena aren’t more popular.

Has anyone noticed that if you add all the Mohammed spellings together, it is actually the number 1 boys name?

I'm shocked Finn and Luca aren't higher, I know so many!

Can't believe the sheer number of "-Rose"

kettle the Daily Mail has been loudly ‘noticing’ that for years.

Has anyone noticed that if you add all the Mohammed spellings together, it is actually the number 1 boys name?

I’m nerdily interested in this kind of stuff so I have just done some quick calculations, playing around with the full dataset in the Excel download.

If you combine every spelling of Mohammed, plus all of the double-barrelled versions, then yes, it overtakes Oliver by some way. However, if you combine all of the Olivers, Ollys, Olis, and double-barrelled versions, there are only 116 fewer Olivers and derivatives than there are Mohammeds. If you were to add in the Oliviers, Oliwers and Oliwiers then they would be back in the #1 spot. I don’t imagine we’ll see any headlines in the Daily Express fretting that we’ll soon be overrun with Ollys, however.

if you add all the Mohammed spellings together, it is actually the number 1 boys name?

Yes, but then you'd have to also add up the variant spellings of all the other names and you'd end up with a completely different list (and Mohammed would not be the top).

There are dozens of names that if you combined spellings would top the list of single spellings - it's a completely ridiculous thing to do (unless you have a racist ulterior motive).

I still can't believe Edith is in the top 100. I never thought I'd see that one make a comeback.

I suppose it's people who want to call their daughter Edie (in keeping with all the Ava's and Evie's), but want her to have a 'proper name'.

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