Baby Name: Isla

According to National Records of Scotland (NRS), the most popular baby names in the country in 2019 were Olivia and Jack.

Here are Scotland’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2019:

Girl Names

1. Olivia, 394 baby girls
2. Emily, 388
3. Isla, 364
4. Sophie, 308
5. Ella, 284
6. Ava, 278
7. Amelia, 275
8. Grace, 272
9. Freya, 260
10. Charlotte, 243

Boy Names

1. Jack, 449 baby boys
2. Oliver, 359
3. James, 345
4. Charlie, 306
5. Harris, 304
6. Lewis, 280
7. Leo, 278
8. Noah, 272
9. Alfie, 261
10. Rory, 258

In girls’ top 10, Freya and Charlotte replaced Jessica (now 11th) and Aria (now 15th).

In the boys’ top 10, Charlie and Alfie replaced Alexander (now 11th) and Logan (now 13th). Charlie’s rise was significant; it shot up to 4th from 13th the year before.

The NRS news release mentioned that the popular British crime drama Peaky Blinders has given a boost to the baby names Cillian, Polly and Chester. (Polly and Chester are characters in the show; Cillian refers to star Cillian Murphy.) It also noted that Ezra has become more popular thanks to English singer/songwriter George Ezra.

Of the nearly 50,000 babies born in Scotland last year, more than 5,000 — over 10% — were given a one-of-a-kind first name. Here are some of the names bestowed just once in Scotland in 2019:

And here are possible explanations/associations for some of the above:

• Bobby-Dylan, American singer Bob Dylan
• Calanais, a Scottish village and/or the standing stones nearby
• Dicaprio, American actor Leonardo DiCaprio
• Harper-Lee, American writer Harper Lee
• Karamo, American TV personality Karamo Brown
• Leicester, an English city and (more importantly) a professional soccer team
• Malachite, a banded green stone
• Mazikeen, a character from the TV show Lucifer
• Moksha, the Hindu/Buddish cycle of rebirth (it was on the Baby Names from the East list)
• Nirbhana, apparently a Gaelic-influenced Nirvana (another name from the East)
• Quaintrelle, “a woman who is focused on style and leisurely pastimes”
• Roag, a Scottish hamlet on the Isle of Skye
• Sanziana, a Romanian word for either fairies or flowers
• Scirocco, a Mediterranean wind and (more importantly) a car made by Volkswagen
• Theodore-Bear, apparently an elongated form of “teddy bear”
• Thistle, the national flower of Scotland (thank you to Clare for reminding me!)

In 2018, the top two names were the same.

Sources: Full list of names for 2019, Babies’ First Names, Quaintrelle – Wiktionary

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