Baby names: Olivia and Oliver stand strong in Wales
- Published
The top choices for baby names in Wales remain solidly Oliver and Olivia, according to latest registration statistics.
But Rosie and Elsie have both jumped into the top 20 for girls.
Noah, Jacob and George remain unchanged as the next favourite boys' names.
There are still strong regional differences - Caio and Tomos for boys and Megan for girls are top rankings in Gwynedd whereas Osian and Lili are favourites in Ceredigion.
Ruby was the favourite girl's name in Wales 10 years ago, but is now in 16th position, in statistics published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Ava leapfrogged Amelia into second, behind Olivia.
TV drama Peaky Blinders has been credited with growing popularity for the name Ada, external - ranking at 45 in Wales, up from 155th in 2017 and even more pronounced than the jump in England.
Mabli, Annabelle, Ayla, Lyla, Cora and Lois are other new entries in the top 100.
But Megan, third in Wales in 2008, is now outside the top 30, along with Seren (32nd) while Ffion has slipped from 8th to 29th.
Little is happening with the top rankings for boys' names - Sebastian has crawled into the top 30, while Hunter has been gathering pace (up 42 places to 36th).
The Welsh name Macsen - popularised by the legend of Macsen Wledig in The Mabinogion - is also moving up, to 51st.
Brody and Grayson have both broken into the top 100 and new parents in Wales are Keeping Faith with Evan, up seven places to 32.
Blaenau Gwent, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot, Powys, Rhondda Cynon Taff and Swansea all had both Olivia and Oliver as their most popular names.
Oscar was also the joint most-popular baby name for boys born in Blaenau Gwent, while Leo and Ava were favourites in Wrexham.
Published statistics do not include baby names with a count of two or less.
- Published29 August 2019
- Published8 May 2019