How popular is the baby name Isla in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Isla.

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Popularity of the baby name Isla


Posts that mention the name Isla

Popular baby names in Scotland (UK), 2012

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

The most popular baby names in Scotland were announced last week.

According to the General Register Office, the preliminary winners were Jack for boys and Sophie for girls. Jack has been #1 for five years in a row, and Sophie for eight years in a row.

Here are Scotland’s top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of January-November, 2012:

Baby Girl NamesBaby Boy Names
1. Sophie
2. Emily
3. Olivia
4. Ava
5. Lucy
6. Isla
7. Lily
8. Jessica
9. Amelia
10. Mia
11. Millie
12. Eva
13. Ellie
14. Chloe
15. Freya
16. Sophia
17. Grace
18. Emma
19. Hannah
20. Holly		1. Jack
2. Lewis
3. Riley
4. James
5. Logan
6. Daniel
7. Ethan
8. Harry
9. Alexander
10. Oliver
11. Max
12. Tyler
13. Aaron & Charlie [tie]
15. Adam
16. Finlay
17. Alfie
18. Mason
19. Ryan
20. Liam & Lucas [tie]

Some of the names that increased in popularity from 2011 to 2012:

Lola (up 24 places to #63)
Mollie (up 24 places to #68)
Amelia (up 20 places to #9)
Orla (up 19 places to #36)
Hollie (up 18 places to #39)
Georgia (up 13 places to #58)
Lexi (up 12 places to #38)
Lacey (up 12 places to #41)
Poppy (up 11 places to #34)		Harris (up 20 places to #29)
Harrison (up 20 places to #53)
Tyler (up 20 places to #12)
Brodie (up 17 places to #54)
Max (up 15 places to #11)
Mason (up 13 places to #18)
Finn (up 13 places to #66)
Riley (up 11 places to #3)

New to the top 100 are Bella, Darcy, Emelia, Lois, Scarlett and Willow (for girls) and Alex, Blake, Calvin, George, Olly, Sebastian, Shay and Zac (for boys).

Among the names moving downward are Abigail, Chloe, Jasmine and Phoebe (for girls) and Aiden, Jayden and Mohammed for boys. (Aiden is down 16 places to #36; Jayden down 10 places to #40.)

To compare, here’s last year’s post on the top baby names in Scotland.

Scotland’s official rankings will be out after the year ends.

Sources: Jack and Sophie are Scotland’s top baby names, Jack and Sophie top Scots baby names list in 2012, Scotland’s favourite baby names revealed

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

Popular baby names in England and Wales (UK), 2011

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

According to the Office for National Statistics, the new top baby names in England and Wales are Harry and Amelia.

They beat out 2010’s top names, Oliver and Olivia.

Here are the current top 25 names for both boys and girls:

Girl Names

  1. Amelia
  2. Olivia
  3. Lily
  4. Jessica
  5. Emily
  6. Sophie
  7. Ruby
  8. Grace
  9. Ava
  10. Isabella
  11. Evie
  12. Chloe
  13. Mia
  14. Poppy
  15. Isla
  16. Ella
  17. Isabelle
  18. Sophia
  19. Freya
  20. Daisy
  21. Charlotte
  22. Maisie
  23. Lucy
  24. Phoebe
  25. Scarlett

Boy Names

  1. Harry
  2. Oliver
  3. Jack
  4. Alfie
  5. Charlie
  6. Thomas
  7. Jacob
  8. James
  9. Joshua
  10. William
  11. Ethan
  12. George
  13. Riley
  14. Daniel
  15. Samuel
  16. Noah
  17. Oscar
  18. Joseph
  19. Mohammed
  20. Max
  21. Dylan
  22. Muhammad
  23. Alexander
  24. Archie
  25. Benjamin

In Wales specifically, the top names were Oliver and Lily. In London, Daniel and Isabella.

A few other things I noticed…

Usage of Pippa increased in 2011, thanks to the royal wedding:

  • 2011: 250 baby girls named Pippa (rank: 204th)
  • 2010: 124 baby girls named Pippa (rank: 365th)
  • 2009: 125 baby girls named Pippa (rank: 351st)

Usage of another quirky P-name, Pixie, is also on the up thanks to English pop star Pixie Lott:

  • 2011: 99 baby girls named Pixie (rank: 432nd)
    • +6 named Pixie-Lou
    • +5 named Pixie-Leigh
  • 2010: 83 baby girls named Pixie (rank: 485th)
    • +3 named Pixie-Lou
    • +3 named Pixie-Rose
  • 2009: 33 baby girls named Pixie (rank: 982nd)

I also spotted 5 baby girls named Renesmee, 4 named Coraline and 4 named Io.

The most insightful article I’ve seen about this batch of names so far is Ed West’s “Britain’s divided nation is revealed in our baby names.” Some snippets:

  • “…the annually-published list does show that, for the first time in nine centuries, English people are easily identifiable by class solely by their name, since most names in the 2011 list have strong class biases either way.”
  • “Social mobility will be achieved only when we all give our children the same names.”

Have you spotted anything interesting or surprising on the England and Wales 2011 list?

Source: Baby names in England and Wales: 2011

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

Popular baby names in Scotland (UK), 2011

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

Scotland’s General Register Office has just announced the top baby names in Scotland for 2011:

Girl Names

  1. Sophie
  2. Lily
  3. Ava
  4. Olivia
  5. Emily
  6. Lucy
  7. Isla
  8. Jessica
  9. Chloe
  10. Ellie

Boy Names

  1. Jack
  2. Lewis
  3. James
  4. Logan
  5. Ethan
  6. Daniel
  7. Ryan
  8. Alexander
  9. Harry
  10. Aaron

Fast-risers outside the top ten include Riley, Mason and Ruaridh for boys and Kara, Sophia and Lilly for girls.

As far as very Scottish names go, there were 192 babies named Eilidh, 15 named Mhairi and 9 named Murdo, but none named Alexina, Angusina, Murdina or Williamina.

One-of-a-kind names include Boo-Tiger (boy), Eniileri (girl), Jesuslovesme (boy), Holly-Madison (girl), Iowa (girl), Laedemi (boy), Legion (boy), Occeanna-Lake (girl), Process (boy), Texas (girl), Thora-Toshihime-Kyoko-Freya (girl) and Willieboy (boy).

To learn more, download the name/data tables at the page Babies’ First Names 2011.

Source: Revealed: Scotland’s most popular baby names

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

Baby names needed: Girl names for twin sisters

A reader named Grace would like some help naming her twin girls, due in a couple of months. She and her husband John already have three boys, Jackson, Samuel and Lucas.

So far, their favorite girl names are Juliet, Isla, Susannah and Norah. But they’re also considering a family name:

We would love to honor my mother, Denise Marie, but we despise both names. I would love some ideas on how to use that without actually using those names.

For the middle spots, they’re aiming for virtue names. They already have Honor picked out, and “[i]f there is another virtue name you would suggest so they both had one that would be great!”

Their last name is similar to Cawston.

–
On the current favorites…
I like all of the current favorites. The pairing I like best, though, is Juliet and Susannah. I just think they sound good together. I also like how they can both be shortened, just like the boys’ names — Jack, Sam, Luke, Jules & Sue (or Julie & Susie).

On incorporating Denise Marie…
One way to incorporate Denise Marie would be to find a name that features the sounds of both Denise and Marie (especially those D- and M-sounds). Names with these sounds include Madeline, Demetria, Dominique/Domenica, Damaris, Adamina, Amadea and Idamae.

Another approach would be to use initials — either the initials “D. M.” for one twin or a D-name for twin #1 and an M-name for twin #2. Some possibilities (beyond the names above) include Dahlia, Daisy, Damiana, Daphne, Dara, Delphine, Diana, Dina, Dora, Dorothy and Drusilla for D-names and Mara, Marian, Marlene, Martina, Mina, Mirabelle, Miranda, Miriam, Molly, Monica and Mona for M-names.

On virtuous middles…
My first thought was Mercy, because it sounds a lot like Marie. Other virtue names that might make nice middles are Amity, Charity, Clementine/Clemency, Hope, Joy, Patience, Peace/Pax, Temperance and Verity.

–
Now it’s your turn! Which of Juliet, Isla, Susannah and Norah do you like best for twins? What names can you come up with to honor Denise Marie? Which virtue names do you like best for middle names?