London:
427 years after William Shakespeare wrote it for the first time in the great “tragedy” Romeo & Juliet, England is asking the quintessential question – “What’s in a name?” – And this time wondering what significance that question might hold in another 42.7 years.
The Department of Statistics in the United Kingdom has revealed in its latest dataset that Muhammad is officially the most popular name for a newborn boy in England and Wales. More than 4,600 babies were registered with that name in 2023 – the highest for a boy. Muhammad was the second-most popular name in 2022 as well.
Noah, once the most popular name in UK, came a distant second this year, according to the Office for National Statistics or ONS.
But the staff at Great Britain’s statistical office has in-fact been observing the trend for a while now. Jotting down the most popular names in the UK, besides other important statistics, it revealed that Muhammad has been among the top 10 names for baby boys since 2016.
Adding to the cheer, the Department of Statistics said that other spellings of the name Muhammad – namely Mohammed and Mohammad – also made the top 100 list for England and Wales. This, the ONS explained, is because it considers each spelling as a separate name.
George, Harry, and Charlotte are no longer popular names for children in the UK, the data showed, adding that Elizabeth and Charles are also not a favourite among young parents.
The nine other top names for newborn boys in Britain are – Noah, Oliver, George, Leo, Arthur, Luca, Theodore, Oscar, and Henry.
For newborn girls, the ten most popular names in Britain in 2023 were – Olivia, Amelia, Isla, Lily, Freya, Ava, Ivy, Florence, Willow, and Isabella. The top three names for girls have remained unchanged for a third consecutive year.
The statistical office also said that new entries to the list of top 100 baby names include Hazel, Lilah, Autumn, Nevaeh and Raya for girls, and Jax, Enzo, and Bodhi for boys.
It further noted that the time of year also played an important part in parents choosing a name. In the month of December, Holly, Robyn and Joseph were more popular, whereas names like Summer and Autumn were popular in their respective seasons.
Data revealed that pop culture also played a big part in how baby names were chosen. The most popular celebrity names for babies include music artists Billie Eilish and Lana Del Rey, baby names from the Kardashian-Jenner family such as Reign and Saint, and movie stars such as Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy.
The statistical office said that the top names for boys had much higher counts than those for girls. This is because, there are many more unique names for baby girls as compared to baby boys. The pool of unique names for girls are over 35,000 in count, while for boys the pool, including variations of the same name, stands at 29,560.
