There were no new entries in the 2008 top 10 most popular names for baby boys in England and Wales. Jack remained at number one, as in 2007. Oliver and Harry each rose one place to number two and four respectively, while Thomas moved down to number three and Joshua to number five. Alfie advanced four places to number six. Riley showed the largest rise within the top 100, gaining 24 places to reach number 33.
Girls
Olivia climbed to the top from number three in 2007. Among the top 10, Ruby dropped to number two, Emily rose one place to number three and Grace dropped two places to number four. Jessica remained at number five. Evie was the only new entry in the top 10, climbing five places since 2007 to reach number 10 and replacing Ella which fell from number nine to number 12. Lexi, which rose 40 places to number 73, was the highest climber within the top 100.
Changes between 1998 and 2008
Among baby boys, Alfie (up 65 to number six) was the highest climbing new entry to the top 10 since 1998, while Jordan fell the furthest from the 1998 top 10, down 140 to number 150. Kian, up 436 to number 67, was the highest climber over the 10 year period.
Evie (up 186 to number 10) was the highest climbing new entry to the girls’ top 10 since 1998, while Rebecca (down 56 to number 65) fell the furthest. Lexi, up 4,917 to number 73, was the highest climber over the 10 year period.
Regional Variations
Jack was the top boy’s name and Ruby the top girl’s name among babies born to mothers usually resident in Wales. Jack was also the top boy’s name in six of the English government regions. The popularity of the name Mohammed showed large regional variation. The name is within the top 10 in four regions (number two in the West Midlands, number three in London, number four in Yorkshire and the Humber and number 10 in the North West) but was number 151 in the South West.
Among baby girls, Olivia was the top name in four English regions, Ruby and Grace in two regions each and Emily in one region.
Source: Office for National Statistics
Notes:
These statistics have been derived from final annual births registration data which includes all live births occurring in England and Wales in 2008. For further information on the contents of this dataset see Section 2.2 in Birth statistics Series FM1 which can be found here on the National Statistics website.
Baby name rankings previously appearing on this website were published by the General Register Office and were not derived from final annual births registration data. As a result, there may be differences between the GRO rankings previously published and ONS rankings for 1998 and 2007 published on 8 September 2009.
The published rankings have been produced using exact spelling of first names given on the birth certificate. Grouping names with similar pronunciation would change the rankings. However, although some groupings are straightforward, others are more a matter of opinion, and thus raw data are given so users can group if they wish.
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Baby Names