Last year, the English county of Oxfordshire welcomed 7,672 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Lily and Oliver, according to data released by the Oxfordshire County Council’s Registration Service.
Here are Oxfordshire’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2017:
Girl names
- Lily
- Olivia
- Amelia
- Poppy
- Isla
- Ava
- Emily
- Evie
- Florence
- Isabella
Boy names
- Oliver
- George
- Harry
- Jack
- Arthur
- Alfie
- Oscar
- Jacob
- Muhammed
- Benjamin
In the girls’ top 10, Poppy and Florence replaced Sophia and Sophie.
In the boys’ top 10, most of the names are new: Arthur, Alfie, Oscar, Jacob, Muhammed, and Benjamin replaced Henry, Joshua, Thomas, William, Samuel, and James.
Alicja Gilroy, Superintendent Registrar, also made note of two recent trends: using hyphenated first names, and using “names that would once have been nick names from a longer name: Charlie, Albie, Archie, Ollie, Bobby, Reggie, Teddy, Vinnie, Ronnie, Freddie, Pippa, Maggie, Rosie, Ellie, Tilly are a few of the more popular ones.”
In 2016, the top two names in Oxfordshire were Lily and Jack.
Update, Oct. 2018: The top baby names in England and Wales in 2017 were Olivia and Oliver. (Lily came in 10th.)
Sources:
- “Oliver and Lily top the list of Oxfordshire most popular baby names in 2017.” Oxfordshire County Council 25 Jan. 2018.
- Hughes, Pete. “Revealed: Most popular baby names for Oxfordshire in 2017.” Oxford Mail 25 Jan. 2018.
Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)
