Just announced! The most popular baby boy names in England and Wales in 2009 were:
- Oliver
- Jack
- Harry
- Alfie
- Joshua
- Thomas
- Charlie
- William
- James
- Daniel
And the most popular baby girl names were:
- Olivia
- Ruby
- Chloe
- Emily
- Sophie
- Jessica
- Grace
- Lily
- Amelia
- Evie
The big news is that Oliver ousted former #1 Jack, which had been the top name for 14 years. And…now the top boy name and the top girl name sound eerily similar.
The biggest jumps within the top 100 were Lucas for boys (36th to 17th) and Maisie for girls (63rd to 34th). Newbies in the top 100 were Aiden, Arthur, Frederick, Stanley (!), Jude and Austin for boys and Heidi, Sara and Mya for girls.
Finally, looks like the ONS has a brand new baby names comparison tool for us to play with. Very cool.
Sources: Oliver and Olivia top names’ list, Office for National Statistics
Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)
I wonder if Alfie and Ruby will jump the pond and move up on the US lists too.
I find it interesting that Charlie, Sophie, and Evie are at the top and not their more formal forms.
Ruby has been inching upward in the U.S. and could be in the top 100 soon, so yes on that one.
But I don’ know about Alfie. Hasn’t been in the top 1,000 since the ’60s, despite the Alfie remake with Jude Law a few years ago. Alf-names (e.g. Alfred, Alfonso, Alfred0) are trending downward, and there’s also the Alf association.
I find that nickname trend really interesting as well, especially on the boys’ side with names like Alfie, Archie and Freddie. And maybe Louie soon as well.