For the first time in four years, Lily has not managed to claim the top spot for girls in the combined spellings poll. Amelia, bolstered by her homonym sister Emilia, takes the number one spot for the first time in 2012.
Muhammad claimed it again for third time in the last four years for the boys.
Noticeably there is much less movement in the boys' chart than the girls' thanks to the greater number of spelling variations within girls' names.
Zac (136), Jackson (113), Layton (163), Dominic (116), Rowan (137), Ayaan (115), Bradley (102), Cody (123), Milo (161), Rayyan (199), Ibrahim (107), Yusuf (126), John (104), Aaliyah (125), Macie (181), Alisha (129), Alicia (147), Lyla (132), Casey (265), Alyssa (161), Fatima (113), Victoria (106), Amina (187) and Gabriella (120) all move into the Top 100 when spellings are combined.
Kayden, Louie, Aiden, Elliot, Maya, Darcey, Annabelle and Madison are the highest movers into the Top 50.
Here is a brief rundown of the combined spellings Top 20 (links to the full list are at the bottom of this post):
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The table below shows the names within this combined spellings "top 200" that have made the greatest gains.
The first number denotes the name's original, individual, ONS rank.
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Grouping Methodology:
There is a fine line between the pronunciation and spellings of many names which cause problems when combining spellings. Is Masie a Macy or a Maisie? Should Emma-Leigh be counted among the Emmas, or the Emilys? Realistically, the pronunciation of many names are very subjective.
Some names are homonymous, having the same pronunciation but a different origin. Cameron is a Scottish surname, Kamran is a Persian name, however, in "the classroom test" they would both respond to "KAM-ron." Given also that the multitude of variant spellings make it impossible to know which parents are using Kamran as the Persian name, and which are using it as an alternate spelling of Cameron, the two cannot be accurately serparated.
I have grouped the spellings in a way that I felt reflect the same sound. For full disclosure, I have listed all the variations, in order of their individual rank, to give a full picture of all the spellings that have been coined. I have also included the birth count of each name so that, should you want to take certain spellings out of a category, you can adjust the rankings easily yourself.
Problematic names:
Alicia - As Alicia can be either be pronounced with a "liss" or a "leesh" sound, it is impossible to know exactly how many of the 389 parents who named their daughter Alicia in 2012 are using the former, or the latter, pronunciation. Does Alicia belong with Alisha, or should they be kept separate? And where do Elecia and Elysia fit in?
I have opted to keep the two separate, grouping "ia" variants with Alicia (putting it at #83) and "sh" variants with Alisha (putting it at #81). If, however, the two spellings were added together, Alisha/Alicia would rank #40.
Emilia - It is difficult putting Emilia in the same category as Amelia. Many feel that Amelia and Emilia have a different style, yet while that is true, they do, nonetheless, have the same (or incredibly similar) pronunciation. If you keep Emilia and Amelia separate, however, where would Emelia go? Or Amilia?
I have placed the two in the same group (as I feel the majority of Brits pronounce them both ə-MEE-lee-ə). If Emilia, Emilija, Emilia-Rose and Emiliya were taken out, Amelia would move down to #2, and Lily would take the top spot.
Louis - Louis always proves a problem for me as there is a disagreement over pronunciation in the UK. Some named Louis are, the traditional French, LOO-ee (Louis Walsh and Louis Tomlinson, for example). However, some are the old British pronunciation Loo-iss (like Olympian Louis Smith). Personally I have met boys called Louis pronounced both ways and this leads to the problem of whether Louis should be added to Lewis or Louie. I have opted to put it with Louie. If the spelling Louis was added to Lewis, it would bump the name up from #42 to #33.
Miah - Mia or Maya? There does not seem to be a consensus on this one. I have put it with Maya (#21), but it makes little difference as if it was added to Mia (#10), Mia would still stay at the same rank.
You can see the complete Top 100 Combined Spellings tables (complete with variant spellings) on these pages:
Combined Spellings 2012 - Girls
Combined Spellings 2012 - Boys
