Popular baby names in Scotland (UK), 2016

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

According to provisional data released yesterday by National Records of Scotland (NRS), the most popular baby names in the country in 2016 were Olivia and Jack.

Here are Scotland’s projected top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:

Girl Names
1. Olivia, 492 baby girls
2. Emily, 490
3. Sophie, 392
4. Isla, 367
5. Ava, 343
6. Amelia, 323
7. Jessica, 294
8. Ella, 268
9. Lucy, 264
10. Charlotte, 250

Boy Names
1. Jack, 465 baby boys
2. James, 402
3. Oliver, 368
4. Lewis, 301
5. Logan, 288
6. Harry, 284
7. Noah, 283
8. Leo, 282
9. Charlie, 280
10. Alexander, 279

On the girls’ list, Olivia replaced Emily as the #1 name, and Charlotte knocked Lily out of the top 10.

On the boys’ list, Jack retained the top spot and Harry, Noah, and Leo took the place of Lucas, Harris and Daniel in the top 10.

But this data only covers the first eleven months (or so) of the year; the finalized data will be out in mid-March. (Here’s the finalized data for 2015.)

Finally, have you ever wanted to see a list of Scottish island names that have been used as baby names? The NRS has got you covered! Their clever infographic (PDF) mentions Arran, Coll, Eriskay (which reminds me of Easkey), Gigha, Harris, Iona, Islay (pronounced EYE-lah), Jura, Kerrera, Lewis, Skye, Tiree, and Uist (pronounced YOO-ist).

baby name, island name, scotland, islay, isla
Popularity of the name Islay in Scotland

Which island name do you like best for a human baby?

Sources: Olivia and Jack are Scotland’s top baby names – NRS, Top Scottish baby names for 2016 revealed – BBC

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.