British Popularity List 2013: Oliver and Amelia on top

British Popularity List 2013: Oliver and Amelia on top

By Eleanor Nickerson, British Baby Names

It’s official! The number 1 names in 2013 for England and Wales were Amelia, for the third year running, and Oliver, last at #1 in 2010. Steep climbers Ava and Isla both made it to the Top 5 and Oscar and Poppy were in the Top 10 for the first time.

According to a study on baby name trends by the Office of National Statistics , the Prince George Effect on names has been so far overrated — though the names of royals Harry, William, and George all now rank in the Top 10 for boys.

Here is a list of the Top 30 names:

1

OLIVER

1

AMELIA

2

JACK

2

OLIVIA

3

HARRY

3

EMILY

4

JACOB

4

AVA

5

CHARLIE

5

ISLA

6

THOMAS

6

JESSICA

7

OSCAR

7

POPPY

8

WILLIAM

8

ISABELLA

9

JAMES

9

SOPHIE

10

GEORGE

10

MIA

11

ALFIE

11

RUBY

12

JOSHUA

12

LILY

13

NOAH

13

GRACE

14

ETHAN

14

EVIE

15

MUHAMMAD

15

SOPHIA

16

ARCHIE

16

ELLA

17

LEO

17

SCARLETT

18

HENRY

18

CHLOE

19

JOSEPH

19

ISABELLE

20

SAMUEL

20

FREYA

21

RILEY

21

CHARLOTTE

22

DANIEL

22

SIENNA

23

MOHAMMED

23

DAISY

24

ALEXANDER

24

PHOEBE

25

MAX

25

MILLIE

26

LUCAS

26

EVA

27

MASON

27

ALICE

28

LOGAN

28

LUCY

29

ISAAC

29

FLORENCE

30

BENJAMIN

30

SOFIA

New to the Top 100 for the first time are Teddy (86), Ibrahim (89), Ronnie (90), Felix (91) and Albert (99) for boys and Darcy (93) and Beatrice (95) for girls.  Austin (92) and Victoria (88) also returned back into the Top 100 having fallen out of it previously. The biggest movers and shakers within the Top 100 for girls were Elsie (47), up 23 places, and the botanical Ivy (66), Violet (78), both up 22 places, and Willow (54), up 15 places. For boys, Theodore (78), up 19 places, Reuben (54) and Hugo (74), both up 14 places, and Elijah (69), up 13 places, made the largest gains.

The “Prince George Effect”: George did move up two places overall in 2013, breaking back into the top 10 since it was last at #9 in  2010. However, looking at the breakdown by month, George was most popular from February to July (it peaked at #5 in April) but actually fell out of the top 10 after Prince George‘s birth, showing a decline in popularity.

Graphic thanks to The Office of National Statistics

About the Author

Eleanor Nickerson

Eleanor Nickerson

Eleanor Nickerson, better known to Nameberry message board visitors as Elea, is a primary school teacher living in Coventry, England and author of the blog British Baby Names.