Baby Name: Buddug

Last year, the countries of England and Wales together welcomed 591,072 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Olivia and Muhammad.

Here are England and Wales’ top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

1. Olivia, 2,906 baby girls
2. Amelia, 2,663
3. Isla, 2,337
4. Lily, 2,290
5. Freya, 2,086
6. Ava, 2,050
7. Ivy, 1,997
8. Florence, 1,899
9. Willow, 1,833
10. Isabella, 1,795
11. Poppy, 1,755
    • Poppy ranked third among baby girls born in November specifically, no doubt because of the association between poppies and Remembrance Day (Nov. 11).
12. Sophia, 1,679
13. Evelyn, 1,673
14. Elsie, 1,662
15. Sienna, 1,657
16. Mia, 1,640
17. Daisy, 1,585
18. Grace, 1,541
19. Sofia, 1,514
20. Phoebe, 1,510
21. Rosie, 1,508
22. Harper, 1,466
23. Charlotte, 1,373
24. Evie, 1,350
25. Millie, 1,349
26. Bonnie, 1,346
27. Ella, 1,307
28. Emily, 1,280
29. Maya, 1,255
30. Matilda, 1,212
31. Aria, 1,198
32. Delilah, 1,194
33. Penelope, 1,156
34. Hallie, 1,154
35. Mila, 1,127
36. Maeve, 1,114
37. Ada, 1,089
38. Luna, 1,063
39. Ruby, 1,059
40. Mabel, 1,051
41. Maisie, 1,039
42. Violet, 1,034
43. Arabella, 1,029
44. Margot, 1,025
45. Emilia, 1,017
46. Isabelle, 984
47. Esme, 982
48. Lottie, 980
49. Aurora, 964
50. Alice, 955

Boy names

1. Muhammad, 4,661 baby boys
2. Noah, 4,382
3. Oliver, 3,556
4. George, 3,494
5. Leo, 3,416
6. Arthur, 3,387
7. Luca, 3,195
8. Theodore, 2,666
9. Oscar, 2,632
10. Henry, 2,490
11. Theo, 2,489
12. Freddie, 2,481
13. Archie, 2,400
14. Arlo, 2,253
15. Jude, 2,177
16. Alfie, 2,111
17. Charlie, 2,010
18. Jack, 1,953
19. Thomas, 1,855
20. Finley, 1,844
21. Harry, 1,799
22. Albie, 1,756
23. Teddy, 1,687
24. Jacob, 1,655
25. Lucas, 1,644
26. Tommy, 1,629
27. Isaac, 1,611
28. Mohammed, 1,601
29. William, 1,544
30. Edward, 1,501
31. Elijah, 1,482
32. Roman, 1,481
33. Rory, 1,468
34. Alexander, 1,456
35. James, 1,430
36. Louie, 1,421
37. Reuben, 1,356
38. Ezra, 1,345
39. Oakley, 1,343
40. Joshua, 1,339
41. Adam, 1,326
42. Sebastian, 1,313
43. Hudson, 1,291
44. Max, 1,274
45. Louis, 1,236
46. Ronnie, 1,222
47. Ethan, 1,198
48. Hugo, 1,174
49. Harrison, 1,151
50. Mason, 1,118

In the girls’ top 10, Willow replaced Mia.

In the boys’ top 10, Luca and Henry replaced Theo and Freddie.

New to the girls’ top 100 were Hazel, Lilah, Autumn, Nevaeh, and Raya.

New to the boys’ top 100 were Jax, Enzo, and Bodhi.

The number of hyphenated girl names increased significantly (from 12,332 to 19,143), while the number of hyphenated boy names decreased slightly (from 3,140 to 2,807).

And here’s a selection of uncommon names that were given to just three babies each in England and Wales (combined) in 2023:

Possible explanations/associations for several of the above:

• Blaidd means “wolf” in Welsh. (It’s also the name of a half-wolf character in the 2022 video game Elden Ring.)
• Buddug is based on the Welsh word budd, which means “benefit, profit.” It’s the Welsh equivalent of Boudicca (the name of the ancient British queen who led a revolt against the Romans).
• Fen might refer to the type of wetland.
• Glesni means “blueness” or “greenness” in Welsh.
• Haaland is the surname of Norwegian soccer player Erling Haaland (who currently plays for Manchester City F.C.).

Here are the 2023 rankings for Scotland and Northern Ireland — the other two countries in the United Kingdom — and the 2022 rankings for England and Wales, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources:

• Baby names in England and Wales: 2023 – ONS
• All data related to Baby names in England and Wales: 2023 – ONS
• Births in England and Wales: 2023 – ONS
• Smith, Cachella. “Muhammad overtakes Noah as most popular boy’s name.” BBC News 5 Dec. 2024.
• Wiktionary

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