Baby names in England and
Wales
2009
Date: 27 October 2010
Coverage: England and Wales
Theme: Population
This bulletin presents the most popular baby names in England and Wales in 2009. In particular, it
examines the 100 most popular names for boys and for girls and compares the ranks of those
names with the ranks in 2008 and 1999. It examines the difference in ranks between England and
Wales and the Government Office Regions along with the seasonality of names.
Top 10 baby names in England and Wales in 2009
•
Oliver and Olivia were the most popular first names given to babies born in England and
Wales in 2009
•
Oliver climbed one place to the top of the list for boys, while Olivia maintained the top spot,
which was reached in 2008
•
Jack is no longer the most popular name for boys after fourteen years at the top
•
There were no new entries in the top 10 most popular names for baby boys or baby girls
•
The top 10 names and changes in rank for boys and for girls in England and Wales are as
follows:
Name and change in rank since 2008
Rank
Boys
Girls
1
Oliver (up one)
Olivia (non-mover)
2
Jack (down one)
Ruby (non-mover)
3
Harry (up one)
Chloe (up three)
4
Alfie (up two)
Emily (down one)
5
Joshua (non-mover)
Sophie (up two)
6
Thomas (down three)
Jessica (down one)
7
Charlie (non-mover)
Grace (down three)
8
William (up two)
Lily (non-mover)
9
James (non-mover)
Amelia (non-mover)
10
Daniel (down two)
Evie (non-mover)
Source: Office for National Statistics
Statistical Bulleti | Statistical Bulletin: Baby names in England and Wales, 2009 | Page 2
Top 100 baby names in England and Wales in 2009
Word clouds for the 100 most popular names for boys and girls are given below. The size of a
name represents how many times that name was given, rather than the rank of that name.
Within the 100 most popular boys’ names given to babies born in England and Wales in 2009,
there were only six new entries:
• Aiden at number 73 (up 31 places from 104)
• Arthur at number 93 (up 8 places from 101)
• Frederick at number 96 (up 6 places from 102)
• Jude at number 98 (up 5 places from 103)
• Stanley at number 98 (up 14 places from 112) and
• Austin at number 100 (up 60 places from 160)
These replaced Blake (101), Jay (102), Billy (103), Corey (106), Zak (112) and Sean (132) which
fell out of the top 100.
Lucas showed the largest rise within the top 100, gaining 19 places to reach number 17. Sebastian
(up 15 to number 62), Aidan (up 13 to number 78) and Noah (up 13 to number 32) were also high
climbers.
Statistical Bulleti | Statistical Bulletin: Baby names in England and Wales, 2009 | Page 3
Kieran (down 13 to number 86), Brandon (down 12 to number 82), Matthew (down 10 to number
38), Reece (down 10 to number 76) and Rhys (down 10 to number 59) showed the largest falls.
New entries in the top 100 most popular girls’ names were:
• Heidi at number 97 (up 6 places from 103)
• Sara at number 99 (up 3 places from 102) and
• Mya at number 100 (up 8 places from 108)
These displaced Maryam (102), Alicia (109), Courtney (112) and Abbie (117). In 2008 there were
two names with equal counts at number 100, so four names left the top 100 for three new entries.
Maisie, which rose 29 places between 2008 and 2009 to 34, was the highest climber within the top
100, followed by Lexi (up 26 to number 47), Layla (up 20 to number 48) and Aimee (up 16 to
number 70).
Alisha (down 21 to number 96), Keira (down 18 to number 63), Libby (down 16 to number 78) and
Caitlin (down 14 to number 58) were the names with the largest falls in popularity.
Changes between 1999 and 2009
Six names in the 10 most popular boys’ names in 2009 were also present in 1999: Jack, Joshua,
Thomas, James, Daniel and William.
Alfie (up 60 to number four), Charlie, (up 25 to number seven), and Oliver, (up 18 to number one),
were the highest climbing new entries to the 2009 top 10 boys names when compared with the
1999 ranks. Matthew (down 32 to number 38) and Callum (down 19 to number 28) have fallen the
furthest since 1999.
Outside the top 10, Ashton (up 357 to number 69), Riley (up 268 to number 29), Freddie (up 219 to
number 53) and Logan (up 170 to number 35) were the highest climbers between 1999 and 2009.
Among the most popular names for baby girls, five names appear in the top 10 in both 1999 and
2009: Olivia, Chloe, Emily, Sophie and Jessica.
Evie (up 157 to number ten), Ruby (up 91 to number two), and Lily (up 45 to number eight) were
the highest climbing new entries to the top 10 girls names when compared with the 1999 ranks,
while Rebecca (down 68 to number 77) and Lauren (down 54 to number 61) have fallen the
furthest since 1999.
Statistical Bulleti | Statistical Bulletin: Baby names in England and Wales, 2009 | Page 4
Outside the top 10, Lexi (up 2,397 to number 47), Lexie (up 1,901 to number 69), Amelie (up 1,159
to number 57), Sienna (up 592 to 49), Ava (up 417 to number 12) and Lola (up 341 to number 42)
were the highest climbers between 1999 and 2009.
Seasonal variations
Oliver was the most popular boys name in eight months during 2009, with Jack claiming the top
spot in four (February, March, June and August). Olivia was number one in nine months of the
year, Ruby for two months (March and April) and Holly for one month (December). Thirteen boys’
names reached the top 10 for at least one month during 2009, as did 14 girls’ names.
Holly (number 19 in the annual ranks) was at number one in December and number 11 in January,
but fell just below number 40 in June and July. Summer (number 24 in the annual ranks) reached
the top 10 in June and July but was below number 50 in January and December.
Regional variations
There are some similarities between the top 10 most popular names in England and in Wales. For
both boys and girls, the two countries have seven common names in the top 10.
Jack is the top name for boys born to mothers usually resident in Wales, just ahead of Dylan
(number 22 in England), Oliver, Joshua and William. Ethan is sixth (number 13 in England) and
Rhys is seventh (number 67 in England).
Among girls born to mothers usually resident in Wales, Olivia is the top girls name, Ruby is number
two and Seren is number three (number 238 in England). Megan is number five (number 22 in
England) and Ella is number ten (number 14 in England).
Oliver was the top boys name in six of the English government regions. Jack was the most popular
in the two northern regions (North East and North West), and Mohammed the name most often
given in the West Midlands.
The popularity of the name Mohammed showed large regional variation: the name was within the
top 10 in three English regions (number one in the West Midlands, number four in London and
number five in Yorkshire and The Humber) but was number 145 in the South West.
Among baby girls, Olivia was the top name in five regions, Sophie in three regions and Chloe in
one region. The regional variation among girls’ names is not as great as among boys’ names,
although Isabella made a regional top 10 appearance at number six in London while Ava and Lucy
appeared in the top 10 for the North East at numbers eight and ten respectively.
Statistical Bulleti | Statistical Bulletin: Baby names in England and Wales, 2009 | Page 5
Further Information
More detailed data for baby names, including ranks for 1998, 1999, 2007, 2008 and 2009 can be
found at: www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15282
Historical top 100 ranks of boys names and girls names for 1904 to 1994 is also available at:
www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15282
A baby names comparison tool is available which allows you to analyse changing trends in boys
and girls names in England and Wales. The tool enables comparison of baby name rankings in
2009 with 2008 and 1999. The tool can be found at: www.statistics.gov.uk/babynames/default.htm
Information on the most popular baby names in Scotland is available at: www.groscotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data/popular-names/babies-first-names-09/index.html
Information on the most popular baby names in Northern Ireland is available at:
www.nisra.gov.uk/demography/default.asp28.htm.
Statistical Bulletin: Baby Names in England and Wales, 2008 | Page 6
Background Notes
1.
The baby names statistics released today have been derived from final annual births
registration data which includes all live births occurring in England and Wales in each year.
2.
There were 706,248 live births in England and Wales during 2009, with 26,800 different
boys’ names and 34,100 different girls’ names registered.
3.
Baby name ranks previously appearing on the ONS website prior to 2008 were compiled by
the General Register Office and were not derived from final annual births registration data.
As a result, there may be differences between the GRO ranks previously published and
ONS ranks for 1999 published today.
4.
Following a change in processing methodology, data for 1998, 2007 and 2008 were rerun
on the current data for those years to ensure consistency. As a result of the change in
processing, counts and ranks for 1998, 2007 and 2008 may differ slightly from those
previously published due to corrections to birth registrations.
5.
The published ranks have been produced using exact spelling of first names given on the
birth certificate. Grouping names with similar pronunciation would change the ranks.
However, although some groupings are straightforward, others are more a matter of
opinion, and thus raw data are given so users can group if they wish.
6.
Births where the name of the baby was not stated (15 boys and 14 girls in the 2009
dataset) were excluded from all the ranks. Births where the usual residence of the mother
was not stated (135 boys and 118 girls in the 2009 dataset) were excluded from the
regional ranks and from the separate England and Wales ranks.
7.
Details of the policy governing the release of new data are available from the Media
Relations Office.
8.
National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of
Practice for Official Statistics. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure
that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.
© Crown copyright 2010.
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Statistical Bulletin: Baby Names in England and Wales, 2008 | Page 7
Next publication: Baby names 2010 will be published in July/August 2011.
Issued by: Office for National Statistics, Government Buildings, Cardiff Road, Newport NP10 8XG
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