The new prince effect?
George moved up from 12th in 2012 to 10th in 2013 (although less babies in total were named George in 2013 than 2012).
However, the choice of name for the new prince might be more of a kiss of death for the name. It featured in the top 10 each month from Feb to July, then disappears suggesting parents perhaps didn’t want to be seen naming their new baby after the Royals.
Does pop culture influence names?
Game of Thrones
For boys, not really, there were 11 Theons, down from 15 in 2012, and six Tyrions, up from 4 in 2012. But mostly the names associated with the programme aren’t seeing any major boost.
Maybe more so for girls - Arya is fairly popular, 187 in 2013 putting it at 257th in popularity, up from 104 in 2012. The number of babies named Khaleesi has more than doubled from 21 to 50, and there are now 4 girls named Daenerys too. Sansa was up from four to 5 in 2013.
How many newborns share your name
Doctor Who
Apart from the complete dominance of Amelia. (although Amy is falling in popularity), Rory continued a slow climb into top 100, up to 96th now.
There were nearly 100 more Claras in 2013 compared to 2012 (381 up from 284).
River has been climbing slowly since 2010, (26), up to 58 in 2013.
Other findings from the ONS
Cristiano and Thierry both have peaks that correspond with Ronaldo and Henry’s times at English football clubs - Cristiano peaked in 2007 (at 33), the first time he won the Premier League with Manchester United. Thierry peaked a little earlier (at 51), corresponding with Arsenal’s “invincible” season (where they were unbeaten for the whole 2003-2004 season).
Breaking Bad - The power couple Walter and Skyler White appear to have had an effect on baby names after the TV series aired and gained popularity, with 58 Walters and 72 Skylers in 2013. There were also 11 baby boys called Skyler in 2013.
There were 37 boys called Loki in 2013 and 13 called Thor (also 7 boys called Zeus)
Renesmee (created by the Twilight author Stephanie Meyer) continues, against all good sense, to gain in popularity, 18 girls named this in 2013.
Overview
There were six new entries in the 100 most popular boys’ names in 2013:
Teddy at number 86 (up 55 places from 141),
Ibrahim at number 89 (up 18 places from 107),
Ronnie at number 90 (up 15 places from 105),
Felix at number 91 (up 23 places from 114),
Austin at number 94 (up 14 places from 108), and
Albert at number 99 (up 10 places from 109).
These replaced Rhys (101), Ellis (103), Kayden (104), Bailey (113), Taylor (118) and Kyle (120) which fell out of the top 100.
Theodore showed the largest rise within the top 100, gaining 19 places to reach number 78. Reuben and Hugo (up 14 places to 54 and 74 respectively), Elijah (up 13 places to 69), Oscar and Blake (up 10 places to 7 and 56 respectively) were also high climbers within the top 100.
Callum (down 22 places to number 73), Liam (down 17 places to 67), Tyler and Cameron (down 16 places to 37 and 93 respectively) and Riley (down 13 places to 21) showed the largest falls within the top 100.
There were three new entries in the top 100 most popular girls’ names, in 2013:
Victoria at number 88 (up 18 places from 106),
Darcy at number 93 (up 14 places from 107), and
Beatrice at number 95 (up 19 places from 114).
These replaced Keira (110) and Caitlin (114) which fell out of the top 100. In 2013, Lydia and Sara share the same ranking at number 100, consequently three names entered the top 100 in 2013 with only two names leaving.
Elsie showed the largest rise within the top 100 for the second year running, gaining 23 places to number 47 (climbing 17 places in 2012 from number 87 in 2011), Ivy and Violet (up 22 places to 66 and 78 respectively), Willow (up 15 places to 54), Sofia and Mollie (up 13 places to 30 and 71 respectively) were also high climbers within the top 100.
Hollie (down 21 places to number 75), Paige (down 18 places to 98), Madison (down 17 places to 92), Heidi (down 16 places to 99) and Amy (down 14 places to 76) showed the largest falls within the top 100.
