Jack and Olivia have once again been revealed as Scotland’s most popular baby names.
National Records of Scotland announced today the list of names registered in 2019, with Jack coming in top for boys for the 12th year in a row and Olivia top for girls for the fourth consecutive year.
Oliver remained the second most popular names for boys, with James in third place and Charlie climbing up seven places to fourth. Harris, Noah, Lewis, Leo, Rory and Alfie make up the rest of the top ten.
Emily was again the second most popular name for girls, with Isla and Sophie remaining third and fourth respectively. Ella, Amelia, Ava, Grace, Freya and Charlotte are also in the top ten.
The top 50 boys’ first names accounted for 38% of all those registered, and the Top fifty girls’ first names accounted for 36% of registrations.
NRS registered the births of 23,955 boys and 22,568 girls in the period covered by these figures. Parents chose 3,370 different first forenames for boys and 4,095 different first forenames for girls.
Jack was the first name of just 1.8% of boys and Olivia was the first name of only 1.6% of girls.
In total, 2,138 boys and 2,668 girls were given first forenames that were unique. Per 100 babies, the numbers of different names and of unique names were well above the levels of 10 and, much more so, 40 years ago.
Alan Ferrier, head of demographic statistics at National Records of Scotland said: “Once again Jack and Olivia are the most popular first names in Scotland, however, there have been some fascinating changes in the top names for 2019.
“The fastest climbers in the boys’ top 50 are Tommy and Arthur. Tommy is up 41 places to 48th and Arthur is up 20 places to 26th. For the girls, the big climbers are Gracie, Ayla and Hallie, who are now all in the top 50.
“Jackson had the biggest fall in popularity for the boys names in the top 100, dropping 20 places to 79th, and for the girls it was Cara, down 31 places to joint 96th.”
Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “It is always a pleasure to read the top baby names of the year, which give an insight into one of the most cherished moments in every parent’s life.
“While Olivia and Jack have shown their enduring appeal by retaining the top spot yet again, it’s interesting to see newer entries such as Ayla and Hallie in the top 50.”
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