Baby names 2018: What are the most popular?

Baby-names.Image source, Getty Images

Oliver and Olivia are the most popular baby names in England and Wales for the third year in a row.

In fact Oliver has been number one among boys for six years now.

There are lots of different organisations that keep their own records, for example BabyCentre's list of top 20 boys and girls baby names for 2018.

But this new list comes from the Office of National Statistics, who are the official record keepers.

There are also separate statistics for the most popular baby names in Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

Was your name one of the most popular among babies last year? Keep scrolling to see the full lists below.

Which names are up, and which are down?

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Arthur was the only new entry into the top 10 names for boys in 2018, replacing Jacob, while Sophia and Grace replaced Poppy and Lily in the top 10 names for girls.

There were some other new additions too. Grayson, Rowan and Tobias entered the top 100 names for boys. None of them have ever previously been included!

Delilah, Ayla and Margot also made their first ever appearances in the top 100 for girls.

There's now much wider variety in the range of names being chosen than there was in the past.

Last year, less than half of babies had a name within the top 100, but back in 1996 two thirds of babies' names were on it.

Names from the Bible are a lot less popular than they used to be, but that hasn't stopped Noah (famous for building an ark) from taking the number four spot on the list

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Image caption,

Names from the Bible are a lot less popular than they used to be, but Noah still came in fourth

Names from the Bible are a lot less popular than they used to be, but that hasn't stopped Noah (famous for building an ark) from taking the number four spot on the list.

This could be down to a lot of different factors for example, less people going to church and as a result less people choosing names from the Bible.

There's also the growing influence of celebrities. The number of babies called Margot has more than doubled since 2015, with it entering the 2018 top 100 names for girls for the first time.

Maybe lots of parents were inspired by the famous Hollywood actress Margot Robbie, or the character Margo from Despicable Me?

The number of girls named Harper has also increased since the birth of David and Victoria Beckham's daughter in 2011.

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Image caption,

The name Harper has become more popular since David and Victoria Beckham named their youngest child Harper

The name Meghan has doubled in popularity in 2018 compared with the year before, which could be down to the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex!

There were 101 babies given the name compared with 49 the year before, making it the 431st most popular name for girls.

But the number of babies called Alexa has almost halved in the past year, possibly due to how many of us already have an 'Alexa' - of the technology variety - in our homes.

There's also the fact that lots of people want to be original when picking a name, and that more babies are also being born to parents not originally from the UK.

Mums aged 35 years and over generally prefer more "traditional" names. While mums under 25 years old were more likely to choose more "non-traditional", shortened or hyphenated names.

There are also patterns depending on where in the country you live.

Although Olivia was the most popular name for girls throughout England and Wales, Muhammad was more popular than Oliver in four of the nine English regions.

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In the North East Harry was the most popular for boys.

In Northern Ireland James shared the top spot with Noah in 2018, while Grace takes first place among the girls.

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

Baby names that are making a come back

Arthur has surged into the top 10 boys names. There was around a third more babies called Arthur in 2018 compared to 2017, with the name climbing 12 places to seventh place, even replacing Jacob in the top 10.

The name Arthur has not been in the top 10 names in England and Wales since 1924.

Ada jumped into the girls' top 100 for the first time in a century too. Maybe the women's Footballer of the Year has something to do with that?

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Check out the full lists below and see if your name is on there!

Top 100 baby boy names of 2018

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  1. Oliver

  2. George

  3. Harry

  4. Noah

  5. Jack

  6. Leo

  7. Arthur

  8. Muhammad

  9. Oscar

  10. Charlie

  11. Jacob

  12. Thomas

  13. Henry

  14. William

  15. Alfie

  16. Archie

  17. Joshua

  18. Freddie

  19. Theo

  20. Isaac

  21. James

  22. Alexander

  23. Logan

  24. Edward

  25. Ethan

  26. Lucas

  27. Joseph

  28. Sebastian

  29. Theodore

  30. Finley

  31. Max

  32. Mohammed

  33. Samuel

  34. Harrison

  35. Benjamin

  36. Arlo

  37. Daniel

  38. Adam

  39. Teddy

  40. Mason

  41. Elijah

  42. Reuben

  43. Dylan

  44. Hunter

  45. Reggie

  46. Jaxon

  47. Rory

  48. Louie

  49. David

  50. Tommy

  51. Luca

  52. Albie

  53. Hugo

  54. Zachary

  55. Albert

  56. Jude

  57. Toby

  58. Riley

  59. Ezra

  60. Carter

  61. Gabriel

  62. Roman

  63. Frankie

  64. Harley

  65. Frederick

  66. Ronnie

  67. Jake

  68. Elliot

  69. Louis

  70. Jenson

  71. Mohammad

  72. Stanley

  73. Bobby

  74. Michael

  75. Jesse

  76. Finn

  77. Jayden

  78. Harvey

  79. Caleb

  80. Jackson

  81. Charles

  82. Matthew

  83. Grayson

  84. Blake

  85. Liam

  86. Elliott

  87. Ellis

  88. Ralph

  89. Jasper

  90. Rowan

  91. Alex

  92. Ryan

  93. Felix

  94. Luke

  95. Dexter

  96. Ollie

  97. Leon

  98. Tobias

  99. Sonny

  100. Dominic/Kai

Top 100 baby girl names of 2018

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  1. Olivia

  2. Amelia

  3. Ava

  4. Isla

  5. Emily

  6. Mia

  7. Isabella

  8. Sophia

  9. Ella

  10. Grace

  11. Poppy

  12. Charlotte

  13. Lily

  14. Ivy

  15. Florence

  16. Evie

  17. Sophie

  18. Freya

  19. Evelyn

  20. Willow

  21. Phoebe

  22. Elsie

  23. Sienna

  24. Alice

  25. Jessica

  26. Rosie

  27. Harper

  28. Daisy

  29. Sofia

  30. Isabelle

  31. Matilda

  32. Ruby

  33. Eva

  34. Emilia

  35. Scarlett

  36. Chloe

  37. Maya

  38. Esme

  39. Eliza

  40. Millie

  41. Imogen

  42. Aria

  43. Luna

  44. Layla

  45. Harriet

  46. Maisie

  47. Elizabeth

  48. Penelope

  49. Mila

  50. Erin

  51. Eleanor

  52. Lola

  53. Violet

  54. Bella

  55. Rose

  56. Emma

  57. Holly

  58. Molly

  59. Thea

  60. Ellie

  61. Lucy

  62. Hannah

  63. Lottie

  64. Nancy

  65. Ada

  66. Maria

  67. Lilly

  68. Zara

  69. Aurora

  70. Amber

  71. Georgia

  72. Robyn

  73. Gracie

  74. Summer

  75. Jasmine

  76. Annabelle

  77. Abigail

  78. Darcie

  79. Hallie

  80. Amelie

  81. Bonnie

  82. Iris

  83. Maryam

  84. Beatrice

  85. Anna

  86. Heidi

  87. Orla

  88. Arabella

  89. Clara

  90. Delilah

  91. Edith

  92. Aisha

  93. Francesca

  94. Martha

  95. Ayla

  96. Zoe

  97. Lyla

  98. Sara

  99. Margot

  100. Felicity