Top Names in Scotland: Jack and Sophie rule on
The Scottish Registry General’s Office has released the country’s most popular names for 2009, showing very little change at the top. Jack and Sophie remained in first place, and the girls’ list wasn’t so dissimilar to ours, with Olivia, Ava, Emily, Chloe and Emma all in the top ten, along with Lucy, Katie, Amy and Erin. For the boys, there were long-term Scottish favorites heading the list: Lewis, James, Liam, Logan, Ryan, Cameron and Callum (which would have been higher if merged with the Calum spelling) coming up behind Jack, plus the biblical Daniel and Aaron.
It gets more interesting as you look at some of the names that are rising choices for Scots parents. One of the biggest leaps was taken by Miley (tailed by Mylea, Mylee, Mylie and Myley), which jumped 190 places, showing Hannah Montana‘s tremendous international clout. The biggest climber for the boys was Owen, which is also moving up in the US.
Some of the other noteworthy names on the rise in Scotland–showing a persistent preference for nickname names:
LUCAS (thought to be influenced by the lead character in the BBC drama Spooks)
It’s when we look further down the list that we come upon some choices less known or used in this country. These include:
GIRLS
CAOIMHE (KWEE-va or KEE-va)
MIRREN
MURRAN
BOYS
EOGHAN (OHN or as Owen)
STRUAN