Scottish baby names: Olivia and Jack's reign continues

The trend for unusual names continues but more than a third of parents chose from the top 50

Olivia and Jack have continued their reign as the most popular baby names in Scotland in 2018.

Jack has now topped the boys' list for 11 years running, while Olivia is number one for a third year.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) revealed that Emily was again in second place for girls while James and Oliver tied for the boys' number two position.

Grace and Rory were new entries in the top 10s, with Georgia, Rosie and Jaxon among the fastest risers.

NRS registered the births of 23,253 girls and 24,532 boys in the period up to 1 December.

Unique forenames

The long-term trend for parents to choose unusual names for their children has continued.

In total, 2,635 girls and 2,085 boys were given first forenames that were unique. Forty years ago only 843 boys had unique first names.

However, more than a third of parents opted for names that are consistently popular.

The top 50 girls' first names accounted for 37% of all those registered, while for boys the figure was 39%

The fastest climbers within the boys' top 20 were Rory, which leapt eight places to make it into the top 10; Lucas, which was up five places to 11th, and Thomas, which rose five places to 14th.

Other big risers included Jaxon (up 10 places to joint 33rd), Liam (up 9 places to joint 33rd) and Freddie (up nine places to 36th). Further down the rankings big gains were made by Hunter, Arthur and Luca.

Harry fell out of the top 10, while Meghan has yet to make the top 100 north of the border

The influence of royalty may be waning slightly; Charlotte and Harry dropped out of their respective top 10s and there is no evidence that Meghan is influencing name choices yet - although with another royal baby on the way, that could change next year.

For girls, Grace was a popular choice, up five places to eighth. Georgia was up 13 places to 24th, Rosie gained by the same amount to take 27th place and Willow was up 11 places to joint 34th.

Sophia (up four places to 12th), Eilidh (up two places to 19th) and Mia (up three places to 20th) also gained in popularity. Mila and Ivy may be names to watch in future as they rose rapidly up the lower rankings.

The top five girls' names - Olivia, Emily, Isla, Sophie and Amelia - were unchanged since last year.

Looking back over trends, four girls' names have each been top in at least five of the years from 1974 to 2018: Laura, Emma, Chloe and Sophie.

In all cases, their popularity has tended to rise rapidly, be around the top for a number of years, and then fall away quite quickly.

In the boys' list, Jack, James and Oliver remain consistently popular.

Three boys' names have each been top in at least five of the years from 1974 to 2018: David, Ryan and Jack.

David was top for many years, then its popularity declined rapidly; Ryan rose swiftly, peaked, and subsequently fell away.

Over time the variety of names has increased. At the beginning of the 20th Century roughly two thirds of names were ranked in the top 10.

By the 1970s those proportions had halved, and the latest statistics reveal the top 10 account for less than a fifth of Scotland's registered names.

Put it another way, if you have just named your child Jack or Olivia, the chances of them encountering another Jack or Olivia when they start school or nursery is less than one in 50.