Jack and Olivia
Top Baby Names in 2006

Jack and Olivia were the most popular names given to babies in England and Wales in 2006.

The figures are compiled each year by National Statistics.

Jack is the top boys’ name the 12th consecutive year while Olivia is up three places from last year. In the girls’ top five, Grace climbed five places to number two. Last year’s top name, Jessica, dropped two places to number three, Ruby shot up 11 places to number four while former number one Emily slipped three places to number five.

Thomas (number 2) and Joshua (number 3) swapped places while Oliver climbed one place to number four and Harry was a new entry at five.

There are three new entries in the girls’ top 50 – Imogen (up 17 places to number 48), Sophia (up 13 to number 49) and Anna returned to the top 50, up two places to number 50.

New boys in the top 50 are Muhammad which climbed 12 places to number 44 (Mohammed rose one place to number 22), Noah (up five to number 46), Oscar (up seven to number 47, Lucas (up ten to number 48 and Rhys (up ten to number 49).

Girls’ names which have become more popular are Evie (up eight to number 21) Freya (up eight to number 23), Poppy (up nine to number 30) and Jasmine (up ten to number 31). As usual, the boys’ top 50 is more stable, but Harrison jumped six places to number 36. Alfie, Cameron and Henry all rose five places to numbers 16, 30 and 39 respectively.

Libby, Aimee and Niamh dropped out of the girls’ top 50 this year while Louis, Brandon, Toby, Kieran and Charles lost favour among the boys.

In Wales, Jack replaced Joshua as the top boys’ name and Megan remained the top girls’ name. Dylan, Rhys, Ffion, Seren and Cerys are all in the top ten.

The most popular names in Scotland are Jack and Sophie and the most popular names in Northern Ireland are Jack and Katie.

Top Boys and Girls Names for 2005
Baby Name Books