Full list of names for 2019

The full list of baby names for 2019 was published today by National Records of Scotland (NRS), with Jack and Olivia retaining their titles as the most popular baby names in Scotland.

In 2019, 49,863 births were registered, with 5,031 having first forenames that were unique for their sex in that year. The lists show that the year’s most popular first forenames were:

• for boys, Jack (449 babies), Oliver (359) and James (345);
• for girls, Olivia (394 babies), Emily (388) and Isla (364).

These new lists replace the top 100 lists published in December, and include the first forename of every baby whose birth was registered in December.

NRS’s website identifies the top names in each decade.  For example, the top three first forenames for births that were registered from 2010 to 2019 were:

• boys – Jack (5,424 babies in ten years), James (4,140) and Lewis (3,921);
• girls – Sophie (5,002 babies in ten years), Emily (4,765) and Olivia (4,732).

The name James continues to be popular and is the only name to have been in the top ten for its sex in every year from 1974 (the first for which the NRS website provides this information). However, many once popular names have now gone out of fashion. For example, David, John and Paul, were the top three boys’ names in 1975, but they were not in their top tens in 2000 or 2015 and, in 2019, 101 boys had David as their first forename, 79 were named John and only 22 were named Paul.

Alan Ferrier, Head of Demographic Statistics at National Records of Scotland said:

“Jack and Olivia continue to be the most popular baby names in Scotland, however, this year, over 5,000 unique baby names were registered, which suggests that parents may be striving for originality and individuality when naming their children.

“Looking outside the top 100 names, it’s interesting to see the impact that popular culture is having on how parents name their children. More boys than ever are now called Ezra, which may be a result of the popularity of singer George Ezra.

“The Peaky Blinders trend has continued outside the top 100 names, the latest statistics show a continued rise in the number of babies named Cillian following the launch of the hit TV show and star actor Cillian Murphy, the names Polly and Chester have also increased in popularity in this time.”

Today, NRS also published a list of the most common surnames in the Birth, Marriage and Death registers for 2019.  Smith, Brown and Wilson have been the three most popular surnames since the first such list, which is for 1975, and remained the top three in 2019.

The Babies' First Names, 2019 (Full List) and Most Common Surnames in Birth, Marriage and Death registers are available on this website.