Muhammad has once again topped the list of most popular baby boy names in England and Wales, marking its second consecutive year at number one, official figures show. The name has remained in the top 10 since 2016.
Noah and Oliver held onto their second and third positions respectively, mirroring 2023’s rankings.
For girls, Olivia and Amelia remained the top two choices for the third year running. However, Isla dropped out of the top three, replaced by Lily.
Olivia’s enduring popularity is clear, having featured in the top three every year since 2006, with 2,761 girls given the name in 2024.
The rankings are based on the exact spellings of names given at birth registration, meaning similar names with different spellings are counted separately.
The data, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), revealed the more unusual names given to babies born in 2024. Names given to baby boys less than five times in 2024 include Cuthbert, Crispin, Awesome and Beckham.
Names given to baby girls less than five times include Orchid, Poem, Sicily and Everest.
The ONS data also shows that three variant spellings of Muhammad made the list of the top 100 baby boys’ names in England and Wales in 2024.
Muhammad ranked first with 5,721 boys being given the name, while Mohammed came in 21st with 1,760 and Mohammad came 53rd with 986.
The ONS found that royal names continued to fall in popularity on the whole. Their data found that George ranked sixth overall with 3,257 babies being given the name and William came in 27th.
Louis came in 47th for boys, while Charlotte ranked 23rd for girls.
Other popular names for boys in the top 10 included Arthur, Leo, Luca, Theodore, Oscar and Archie, while the top names for girls include Ivy, Florence, Freya, Poppy, Ava and Elsie.
