Olivia and Jack are Scotland’s top baby names

National Records of Scotland reveals most popular names in 2018

Olivia and Jack were the most popular first forenames for babies whose births were registered in 2018, National Records of Scotland (NRS) announced today. Olivia was the top girls’ name for a third consecutive year; Jack has been the most popular boys’ name for eleven years running.

Emily remained the second most popular name for girls. Grace (up five places at eighth) was the only entrant to the girls’ Top Ten; Charlotte (down two places to eleventh) dropped out of it. There were two entrants to the girls’ Top Twenty: Eilidh (up two places to nineteenth) and Mia (up three places to twentieth).

The joint second most popular names for boys were Oliver (second in 2017) and James (up from third). Rory (which rose eight places to ninth) was the only entrant to the boys' Top Ten, while Harry (down two places to twelfth) dropped out of it. There were two entrants to the boys’ Top Twenty: Max (up five places to nineteenth) and Finn (up five places to twentieth).

The biggest climbers within the Top Fifties were:

• Georgia (up thirteen places to 24th);
• Rosie (up thirteen places to 27th);
• Jaxon (up ten places to joint 33rd). 

Particularly fast-rising entrants to the Top Fifties were:

• Mila (up sixteen places to 36th);
• Ivy (up twenty places to joint 38th);
• Hunter (up 38 places to 30th);
• Arthur (up 43 places to 46th);
• Luca (up 55 places to joint 47th);
• Robert (up 17 places to 50th). 

NRS registered the births of 23,253 girls and 24,532 boys in the period covered by these figures. Parents chose 4,130 different first forenames for girls and 3,322 different first forenames for boys. In total, 2,635 girls and 2,085 boys were given first forenames that were unique. The numbers of different names, and of unique names, were well above the levels of 10 and, much more so, 40 years ago. For example, the number of boys with unique first forenames was greater this year (2,085 in the period covered by these figures) than in the whole of 2008 (1,932) and 1978 (843).

Background

Among the top first forenames for girls, Isla, Sophie and Amelia remained third, fourth and fifth (respectively), Ella rose from eighth to sixth, Ava remained seventh, Aria was up one place at ninth, Jessica fell four places to tenth and Sophia was up four places at twelfth.

As for the most popular names for boys, Logan rose from fifth to fourth, Lewis was down one place at fifth, Leo climbed three places to sixth, two names were joint seventh (Alexander, which was up one place, and Harris, which remained seventh), Noah was down four places at tenth, Lucas rose five places to eleventh, and Thomas was up five places at fourteenth.

The Top Fifty girls’ first names accounted for 37% of all those registered, and the Top Fifty boys’ first names accounted for 39% of registrations. Olivia was the first name of just 1.8% of girls and Jack was the first name of only 1.6% of boys.

‘Babies’ First Names 2018’ is accompanied by lists of the Top Hundred first forenames for each sex for Scotland as a whole, and the Top Ten for each sex for each council area. 

The publication Babies' First Names 2018 and an Infographic are available on this website.