Popular Names for Children 2003

5th January 2004

After four years at the top, Jack and Chloe are no longer the most popular baby names.

Scottish parents have turned their favour to Lewis and Emma according to the official lists published today by the Register General for Scotland.

Boys' Names

Jack has been replaced by Lewis as the most popular boys' name for new babies. A new entrant to the top five is Kyle (up 6 places to 5th), whilst Ben (up 6 places to 7th) has maintained last year's steady progress up the chart. Other significant advances made in the top 50 are Logan (up 16 places to 30th), Ethan (up 12 places to 35th) and Owen (up 9 places to 46th).

There have been notable reductions in popularity for Liam (down 7 places to 14th), Ross (down 6 places to 15th), Scott (down 8 places to 26th) and Euan (down 7 places to 36th). Ewan (down 11 places to 47th) and Jordan (down 14 places to 48th) have also dropped significantly.

Names dropping out of the top 100 are Gary, Charles, Joe, Finn and Bradley. The biggest jump in placings has been Evan (up 28 places to 83rd).

By mid-December 2003, nearly 25,000 boys had been registered, with just over 2,100 different first names being used. The top 50 names accounted for 57 per cent of the total. Over 1300 boys were given unique (for 2003) first names.

Girls' Names

Scotland also has a new favourite amongst girls' names with Emma replacing Chloe, which held the top spot for the previous five years. The top seven names are the same as in 2002, but there have been significant changes in their order. Emma has moved from 3rd to 1st place, Ellie has jumped from 6th to 2nd, and Chloe has dropped to 5th.

Other significant changes in the top 50 are: Aimee (up 11 places to 18th), Niamh (up 14 places to 19th), Mia (up 20 places to 26th), Molly (up 16 places to 28th), Isla (up 13 places to 40th), Jenna (up 16 places to 44th) and Grace (up 13 places to 44th). Orla (up 45 places to 78th), Daisy (up 50 places to 81st) and Sinead (up 72 places to 89th), have made strong advances into the lower reaches of the top 100.

The major fallers in the top 50 were Nicole (down 18 places to 35th) and Zoe (down 11 places to 37th). Samantha (down 18 places to 65th), Stephanie (down 16 places to 68th), Jade (down 51 places to 87th), Hayley (down 17 places to 81st) and Claire (down 19 places to 89th) were also notably less popular in 2003.

Lisa, Alice, Nicola and Hollie have all dropped out of the top 100, along with other previously popular names such as Fiona, Catriona and Eleanor.

By mid-December 2003, just under 23,700 girls had been registered, with nearly 3,200 different names being used. The top 50 girls' names accounted for 47 per cent of the registrations, and just over 2,000 girls in Scotland were given unique (for 2003) names.

More Details

For both boys and girls, the range of names used has been consistently widening over the last 100 years. Parents are increasingly selecting names which are different.

There are few changes in the lists of second names from year to year, with James and John, Louise and Elizabeth being consistently popular.

Regional Variations

Lewis was top boys' name in 12 council areas, whilst Jack was top in 11 areas.

Emma was the most popular girls' name in 14 council areas, well ahead of any other name. Last year's top name, Chloe, was top in only one council area.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland

An analysis by the Office for National Statistics covering England and Wales has shown that Jack and Emily were the most popular names in 2003. Further details can be found on the ONS website.

The most popular names in Northern Ireland were Jack and Emma. Further details may be found at NISRA's website.

Notes for News Editors

1. Tables available on the GROS website give the top 100 boys' and girls' birth names in 2003:

in order of popularity,
in alphabetic order,
second names in order of popularity,
also available for downloading is a file containing the top ten boys' and girls' names for each of the 32 Scottish local authority areas.

2. An Occasional Paper published in January 2001, entitled Popular Forenames in Scotland 1900 - 2000, gives details of trends in forenames in the 20th century.

3. An Occasional Paper on Surnames in Scotland was published on the General Register Office for Scotland website early in 2003.

4. The Registrar General's registration records, which date back to 1855, have been augmented to include a computerised index to the Church of Scotland parish registers back to 1553. This has enabled customers to analyse the frequency of occurrence of Scottish forenames and surnames over four centuries. For further information on the availability of data please contact GROS Customer Services.

5. There are many websites dedicated to name lists, such as www.babynames.com, which give much background information and links to other sites of interest.

6. All births have, by law, to be registered, and the records sent in by local registrars to the General Register Office for Scotland. This allows the production of tables showing the most popular first forenames, not just for a section of the population or those announced in a particular newspaper, but for all new babies born in Scotland.

7. All the information for 2003 contained in these tables is provisional. It is based on births registered up to mid-December 2003. The information for 2002 contained in this paper is for the full year, and therefore varies from that contained in last year's paper.

8. The rankings were based on the first forename recorded on the birth register. Different spellings, e.g. Stephen, Steven, were counted separately. Accents were ignored.