Oliver and Olivia were the most popular baby names in 2020 across England and Wales. Oliver has remained at the top for the past eight years, while Olivia has been the top girls’ name for five years in a row.
Since 2010, Ivy has risen 221 places to become the sixth most popular girls name in England and Wales in 2020. Ivy and Rosie entered the top 10 for the first time, replacing Grace and Freya.
Arthur and Noah have seen an increase in popularity over the last two decades both rising over 200 places in the ranks to the boys’ top five in 2019 and 2017 respectively (Figure 1). In 2020, Archie entered the top 10 for the first-time replacing Charlie. This is the first time Charlie has not been in the top 10 since 2005.
In 2020, the largest movers into the top 100 boys’ names in England and Wales were Milo (80th) and Otis (96th), both rising 28 places since 2019.
Maeve has risen 124 places since 2019 and was the largest new entry into the top 100 girls’ names (94th) in England and Wales for 2020.
Siân Bradford, Vital Statistics Outputs Branch, Office for National Statistics said:
“Oliver and Olivia held onto the top spots as the most popular boys’ and girls’ names in 2020 but some interesting changes took place beneath them. We continue to see the age of mothers having an impact on the choice of baby name. Archie jumped into the top 10 boys’ names for the first time, driven by younger mothers as well as the obvious Royal link. While on the girls’ side Ivy rose to sixth place.
“Popular culture continues to provide inspiration for baby names, whether it’s characters in our favourite show or trending celebrities. Maeve and Otis, characters from the popular programme ‘Sex Education’, have seen a surge in popularity in 2020. While the name Margot has been rapidly climbing since actress Margot Robbie appeared in the popular film ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’.”
Read more – Baby names in England and Wales – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
