Jack and Sophie Remain Scotland’s Top Baby Names

20 December 2011

Registrar General for Scotland announces most popular names for 2011

Jack and Sophie were the most popular baby names in 2011, the Registrar General for Scotland announced today.

New data released by National Records of Scotland shows Jack remains the top boys’ name with Lewis in second place – both for a fourth consecutive year.

Between them, Jack and Lewis have been the top two boys’ names for the past thirteen consecutive years. Jack has been number one (with Lewis second) in nine of those years and Lewis has been top (with Jack second) for the other four.

James and Logan stay in third and fourth places respectively and Ethan climbs six places to fifth.

For the seventh year in a row, Sophie is the most popular girls’ name with Lily climbing seven places to second. Ava stays in third place while Olivia falls two places to fourth and Emily falls one place to fifth.

Big climbers in the 2011 baby name charts include Riley (up 22 places to 17th), Mason (up 24 places to 31st) and Ruaridh (up 45 places to 85th) for boys, and Lilly (up 27 places to 42nd), Sophia (up 24 places to 60th) and Kara (up 21 places to 75th) for girls.

The top 50 boys’ names accounted for 45 per cent of all those registered and the top 50 girls' names accounted for 43 per cent of the registrations.

George MacKenzie, Registrar General for Scotland, said:

“The list of favourite baby names provides a fascinating insight into Scotland's people. We registered the births of nearly 28,000 boys and over 26,000 girls in the period to late November 2011. Parents chose more than 7,000 different names for their children and over 4,000 of these were unique.

“Jack remains the most popular name for boys for the fourth year in a row. Ethan, Alexander and Harry are new entrants to the top 10 and Charlie, Riley, Dylan and Aiden join the top 20. Those going down included Ross, Alex and Craig.

For girls, Sophie is top for a seventh year, Lily climbs seven places to second and Jessica joins the top 10. Milly, Sophia and Kayla are new entrants in the top 20, while Lucie, Nieve and Courtney are less popular than last year.

Further down the chart, Lilly, Molly, Poppy and Lacey are new girls’ names in the top 50 and Mason, Leo, Jay and Harris are new for boys.

The full publication, Babies' First Names 2011, is available on this website.