Following on with our tradition of analysing names for the children attending Musical Minis classes, the list below is for the children who attended during 2011. It isn't necessarily children who were born in 2011. It doesn't include children who attend Children's Centre sessions or nursery sessions. The numbers in brackets following the name are the position for the name last year in 2010.
Top 10 Boys Names:-
=1. James (1)
=1. Oliver (3)
=3 Daniel (6)
=3 Harry(6)
=3 William (8)
6 Jack (2)
7 Thomas (4)
=8 Joshua (4)
=8 George (10)
=8 Benjamin
The only name to have dropped out of the top 10 boys names is Henry and this has been replaced with Benjamin. James remains as the most popular name with Oliver, Daniel, Harry, William and George becoming more popular whilst Jack, Thomas and Joshua have became less popular.
Top 10 Girls Names:-
1 Emily (1)
2 Olivia (2)
3 Sophie (2)
4 Ava
=5 Lucy (2)
=5 Jessica (7)
7 Holly
8 Chloe
=9 Ruby (5)
=9 Charlotte (9)
There have been more changes in the girls names. Emily remains as the most popular girls name with Olivia remaining in 2nd place. New entrants are Ava, Holly and Chloe whilst Amelia, Grace, Hannah, Isla, Katie and Phoebe have dropped out. Last year there were a number of names tying for places so the top 10 had more than 10 names. Jessica is the only name in the top 10 to have become more popular whilst Sophie, Lucy and Ruby have became less popular.
From the popular names to the unusual names, from Aaran to Zora (in our A - Z for 2011), there is a huge variety of names. It was interesting to see how names differ across the UK. In Scotland the most popular names were Finlay for a boy and Ava for a girl. In Wales the most popular names were Charlie for a boy and Chloe for a girl. In the North, James was most popular for a boy and Emily for a girl. In the South, Oliver was the most popular boys name and Emily the most popular girls name.
Names are obviously a personal choice by the parents. What one person loves another might not. If you would like to know how popular your child's name is or fancy finding a unique name for your baby, just let me know.
It's my 18 year old daughter, Emily, who has analysed the list of names and she is eagerly awaiting the end of the year so she can find out if her name is the top girls name for the 3rd year in a row!