THE MOST POPULAR BABY NAMES
| Published: 9th March 2007 21:26 |
Babies' Names 2006
Olivia - she is the one you want!
This year's official babies' names figures show that it's all change for the girls with Olivia and Grace moving up to join Jessica in the top three. Jack, Thomas and Joshua continue to be the three most popular boy's names, following the trend of previous years.
Girls
Olivia, who only entered the top five last year has knocked Jessica off the number one spot. Grace comes in at number two having moved up by 37 per cent since last year. Jessica is now the third most popular name for girls with 4416 registrations in 2006. High climber Ruby (who has risen 69 places since 2001) is fourth. Emily, a regular in the top two for the last five years just manages to hold on to her place in the top five girl's names.
Not quite a girl for all seasons - Summer (with 864 registrations) and Autumn (with 55 registrations) are the seasonal names of choice for girls. No girls were named Spring or Winter in 2006.
Floral names continue to blossom with Lily, Daisy and Poppy all in the top thirty.
Boys
Jack continues to reign at number one with 6928 boys sharing the name in 2006. Thomas has pushed Joshua down to third for the first time since 2001. Oliver has made it to number four whilst Harry has risen four places forcing James out of the top five for the first time in several years.
Theo makes it into the top 100 boys' names for the first time with 646 registrations. Could this have been influenced by young Theo Walcott's appearance in this year's World Cup squad?
I'm a Celebrity
...
The 2005 X-Factor winner, Shayne Ward has a dedicated following with the popularity of his first name increasing by 827 per cent. Celebrity Big Brother is also a big hit with Ordinary Boy Preston moving up 767 places to 148. His wife's name Chantelle hasn't made such an impact, rising only 13 places to 213.
Celebrities' children clearly have an influence, David and Victoria Beckham's youngest son's name Cruz has risen in popularity by 245 per cent. Whilst Maddox, the adopted son of Angelina Jolie is up 88 places on last year and Britney Spears' youngest, Jayden has risen 16 places to number 68.
Lexie, the name given to Steven Gerrard's daughter has risen 239 per cent in the last year making it the 142nd choice for girls.
Peaches Geldof, daughter of Sir Bob and the late Paula Yates has endured a mixed coverage in the media this year, however her name has moved a staggering 2948 places up the rankings.
Box Office
The girl's name Keira has increased in popularity since entering the top 100 at an impressive 51 in 2003. The name, shared by Pirates of the Caribbean star Keira Knightley continues to rise with 1470 registrations in 2006 making it the 33rd most popular girls' name.
Co-star Orlando Bloom hasn't seen the same success however, with the popularity of his name falling by 179 places in 2006. Fellow pirate Mackenzie Crook has also seen a decline in popularity with only 399 boys in 2006 sharing their name with the Brit who found fame in hit TV show The Office.
Source: General Register Office for England and Wales
Editors Footnote : Perhaps you can email me with any unusual baby names (and perhaps a picture too!
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