2018 England and Wales Baby Names: Fun Facts and Headlines

 

 

The Numbers:

This table was part of the ONS statistical bulletin which provides information on the number of different names registered to boys and girls and 2018:

 

This table from the same release demonstrates how increasingly less common it is to receive a "popular" name:

 

Seasonal Names:

Once again, Poppy and Holly prove to be popular seasonal favourites. 

Poppy, ranked #11 overall, moved up to #5 in November, coinciding with Remembrance Day and the wearing of poppies. 

Holly, ranked #23 overall, moved to #8 in December -- the only month in which it ranked in the top 10. 

 

New Names in the top 500:

The following names have all entered the top 500 in 2018 for the first time since 1996:

Name	2018 rank	2017 rank	Increase in Rank
DUA	387	661	274
ROBIN	370	576	206
NOLA	365	541	176
JUNIPER	478	814	336
ARLA	387	576	189
MEADOW	378	541	163
EADIE	392	582	190
NOA	415	609	194
AVERY	442	637	195
WYNTER	458	673	215
JUNO	392	514	122
THEODORA	449	624	175
INDIGO	478	683	205
AMAL	419	565	146
EMBER	478	648	170
AIDA	454	589	135
ASIYA	419	511	92
PHOENIX	497	616	119
HARPER-ROSE	442	533	91
PEGGY	494	576	82
HAWA	449	503	54
MINA	478	533	55
MIRA	472	514	42
INDIANA	484	526	42
ARIAH	484	514	30
HUXLEY	371	554	183
MIKAEEL	425	546	121
AVERY	449	581	132
RARES	492	597	105
ODIN	465	546	81
MACSEN	485	546	61
ACE	486	537	51
JETT	492	546	54
HUGHIE	497	537	40

 

Name spikes:

The following names (most thanks to popular culture, saw an interesting upward spike in use in 2018:

Royal wedding effect

"Half of my heart is in Havana, ooh-na-na"

Thanks, Ms Lipa

Could this be thanks to "Call Me By Your Name" (2017)?

French World Cup star Kylian Mbappe

Delayed Kimye effect?

The above charts are taken from http://names.darkgreener.com which has happily already been updated with the 2018 stats. Happy hunting!