2021 England and Wales name data released

[toastofthetown]

Christmas for name nerds is here. Here are the main points from the bulletin.

Top 10 Boys
Noah
Oliver
George
Arthur
Muhammad
Leo
Harry
Oscar
Archie
Henry

Top 10 Girls
Olivia
Amelia
Isla
Ava
Ivy
Freya
Lily
FLorence
Mia
Willow

Main Points
Noah was the most popular boys' name in England and Wales in 2021, replacing Oliver from the previous year, while Olivia remained the top name for girls for the sixth year in a row.

Henry replaced Jack in the top 10 names for boys, while Freya, Florence and Willow replaced Isabella, Rosie, and Sophia for girls; this is the first time Jack has not been in the top 10 since our annual series began in 1996.

Mothers aged over 35 years continued to be more likely to have babies with more traditional names such as Thomas, while younger mothers' babies were more likely to have shortened versions, such as Tommy.

Muhammad was the most popular boys' name in four out of nine English regions, while Olivia was the top girls' name for every English region and Wales, except for the East Midlands where Amelia was the most popular girls name.

New entries this year to the top 100 include Lara, Beatrice and Sara for girls and Blake, Brody, Kai, Rupert, Tobias and Nathan for boys; this is the first time that Rupert and Brody have been in the top 100.

Baby names of Welsh origin featured among the most popular in Wales in 2021; Alys, Ffion, Seren and Eira were among the top 50 for girls and Arthur, Osian, Dylan and Elis were among the top 30 for boys.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulation

Wow, Jack finally out of the top 10. I never thought I'd see the day

Oh I do love ONS baby names stats day. Marvellous.

Very pleased to see Alys and Eira are popular in Wales as they're two of my favourite names for a girl and DH needs persudaing that they aren't 'weird' 😀

That’s cheered up a rainy Wednesday!

Thanks - so interesting; I love a bit of geeky name data! DD’s name has dropped since she was born in 2017 and now barely scrapes into the top 1000.

Here's the link to the data. You can search for any name to see how popular it is: www.ons.gov.uk/releases/babynamesinenglandandwales2021

Really interesting - my DS was born the very end of 2020 so most of his little friends are 2021 babies at nursery.

Fits anecdotally that Arthur continues to be the most popular name for our region - I know 4 under 2.

DS’ name continues to drop in popularity, just about still in the top 400!

If you wonder why Theo and Sophia aren't on there, it's probably because many Theos are Theodore on their BC, and the Sofia spelling is becoming more popular.

glad we opted for an alexander instead of oliver or oscar.

I can't see the bit where you can search? Can anyone share that specific link?

I think the PP was referring to section 1 of this link, but that only searches the top hundred. I always download the full data set as spreadsheets (they’re linked in section 6) and you can search on there like you can in any spreadsheet.

Darkgreener is usually updated within a day or two and is a more user-friendly search interface. In the meantime you can download the spreadsheets and search.

Does anyone know whether the names on the lists also include middle names?

Or are only first names included in the lists of all baby names used?

Just first names (which includes hyphenated names like Ava-Rose) but no data for middle name either in this release or separately. I would love to see that though. So curious as to just how many babies are given James/Rose/Grace as middle names.

The web site says first nanes, @Lilacsunflowers , so presumably the first name from the given names. James Harold Wilson and Hilda Margaret Roberts woud count as James and Hilda.

MN BabyNames will be pleased to hear that in 2021 there were 155 Atlas born, 149 Huxley, 131 Cairo, 112 Junior, 98 Loki, 91 Jax, 90 Tommy-Lee, 85 Neo, 83 Orion, 78 Bowie.

These (with the exception of Bowie which comes in at 503rd) are all top 500 Boys names. They can't be called out there - unusual yes, but not weird.

I'm sure this will horrify many.

I love baby name stats day.

Dd1 there were 10 the year she was born, now only 3. Maybe it won't chart next year. It's a name every body knows but is hardly used.

Dd2 there were 53 born the year she was born, dropped to 37 this year, so also dropping. Also known but not often used, though there is one in Dd1's gymnastics class.

Had anyone been able to find the dataset for all baby names in 2021, best I can find is top 100? And the search tool only includes the top 100 data.

In previous years they’ve included the whole dataset in one of the excel documents.

Never mind - I’ve found it!

Only 100 of DD if you add both normal spellings (a well known but not much used name that crops up on here a lot) . Love this list, we don't know any little Lily or Mias.

Interesting that if you added Amelia and Emilia, it would be the most popular by far!

I am not surprised by Florence moving into the top ten seemed to be every other baby girl born that I knew last year was called it.

Our Next door neighbours have an Ivy and Willow

Yes I was pleased my DD's name wasn't in the most popular but it's now 23

Yes @Peccary you’re right about Amelia and Emilia merged together, they would be by far the most popular girls name. Same if you combine Theo and Theodore. They definitely both feel like the most popular names I’ve been hearing in the past few years.

I like that they break the data down regionally aswell, really interesting reading!

Feeling slightly gutted though that my top names for both boys and girls have both risen so much in the past year, although not unexpectedly.

I love this day! Off to examine the spreadsheet, this year includes my baby so keen to see where she lands

I actually know a Theodore Arlo (know as Teddy)

Only 23 babies born called dc name last year