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The most popular names in Scotland, 2004

Birth forenames in 2004

The following tables give information on the top 100 boys' and girls' birth names in 2004

a) in order of popularity; and

b) in alphabetic order.

A further table gives the top ten boys' and girls' names for each of the 32 Scottish local authority areas.

There is a printable copy of this paper. (171Kb in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format)

Commentary

Boys' names

For the second year, Lewis is the most popular boys’ name for new babies. Jack remains in second place whilst James (up 1 place to 3rd) has continued to climb the top five, following last year’s progress from 5th to 4th place. Liam (up 8 places to 6th) has returned to the top ten after falling last year from 7th to 14th.

Names making significant advances in the top 50 are Aiden (up 25 places to 32nd) and Sam (up 24 places to 34th). The biggest jump into the top 100 has been Leo (up 39 places to 83rd). MacKenzie (up 35 places to 93rd), Archie (up 22 places to 81st) and Harris (up 5 places to 98th) have also made advances into the top 100. Charles and Joe have both re-entered the top 100 (joint 90th) after falling to 105 and 108 respectively last year.

After entering the top five last year, Kyle has fallen 4 places to 9th; and Matthew (down 2 places to 11th) and Adam (down 4 places to 14th) have both dropped out of the top ten. Elsewhere, there have been notable reductions in popularity for John (down 13 places to 37th) and Craig (down 8 places to 49th). Michael (down 6 places to 28th) and David (down 5 places to 26th) have also dropped significantly.

Names dropping out of the top 100 are Duncan, George, Mohammed, Marcus, Mitchell, Grant, Anthony and Greg.

By mid-December 2004, over 26,200 boys had been registered, with over 2,200 different first names being used. The top 50 names accounted for 55 per cent of the total. Over 1400 boys were given unique (for 2004) first names.

Girls' names

Emma has also retained its position as the most popular girl’s name for new babies. The top five names are the same as in 2003, but Sophie has moved up from 4th to 2nd place. The only new entrant to the top ten is Hannah (up 1 place to 10th) replacing Rachel (down 5 places from 7th to 12th).

The most significant climber in the top 50 is Keira, (up 79 places to 32nd). Other significant climbers are Millie (up 26 places to 42nd) and Amber (up 13 places to 45th). Leah, Zoe, Isla and Brooke all move up 10 places, to 19th, 27th, 30th and 39th places respectively. Abi (up 168 places to 87th), Madison (up 65 places to 85th), and Evie (up 51 places to 94th) are the major movers into the top 100. Alice (up 17 places to 87th) has re-entered the top 100 after falling to 104th last year.

There were no major fallers in the top 50 but in the lower reaches of the top 100 there were large drops for Kate (down 29 places to 94th), Bethany (down 24 places to 65th), Stephanie (down 24 places to 93rd), Georgia (down 23 places to 79th), Jennifer (down 22 places to 52nd), Ciara (down 22 places to 74th) and Carly (down 20 places to 94th).

Hayley, Rhiannon, Claire, Jade, Catherine, Orla, Katherine and Alicia have all dropped out of the top 100. Sinead fell 80 places to 172ndafter climbing 69 places the previous year.

By mid-December 2003, more than 24,600 girls had been registered, with over 3,200 different names being used. The top 50 girls' names accounted for 48 per cent of the registrations, and just over 2,000 girls in Scotland were given unique (for 2004) names.

Changing trends in naming babies

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. The following table illustrates this trend.

Top ten names, as a percentage of all names, selected years, Scotland

	Boys	Girls
1900	68.4	58.1
1950	53.3	36.3
1975	32.6	20.2
2000	21.7	20.4
2004	19.3	18.7

Another aspect of the changing range of names is an increasing variation in spelling. The tables presented here count different spellings separately. If combined, Callum/Calum and Abbi/Abbie/Abby/Abi would both move up to 3rd place in their respective lists. Moreover, if Aimee and Amy were to be combined they would take over the top spot.

Additional names

The number of forenames given in 2004 is summarised in the chart below.

A bar chart showing the number of forenames held by girls and boys in 2004

The following table shows the relative popularity of second names:

Most popular second forenames, Scotland, 2004

Boys			Girls
	Name	Count		Name	Count
1	James	1847	1	Louise	1145
2	John	1424	2	Elizabeth	995
3	William	982	3	Jane	625
4	Alexander	936	4	Margaret	528
5	David	820	5	Anne	517
6	Robert	721	6	Mary	421
7	Thomas	700	7	Ann	420
8	Andrew	514	8	Rose	390
9	George	382	9	Catherine	371
10	Michael	363	10	Marie	352
11	Joseph	282	11	Grace	274
12	Paul	259	12	Jean	235
13	Scott	251	13=	Helen	207
14	Peter	250	13=	Sarah	207
15	Ian	198	15	May	204
16	Patrick	195	16	Isabella	133
17	Stephen	171	17	Leigh	132
18	Christopher	170	18	Frances	124
19	Edward	169	19	Alexandra	116
20	Stuart	166	20	Nicole	111

It is clear that second names are more “traditional”, reflecting the names of previous generations in many cases. There are few changes in the lists of second names from year to year, with James and John, and Louise and Elizabeth being consistently popular.

Regional variations (link to table of Scottish council areas)

Lewis was top boys’ name in 11 council areas, whilst Jack was top in 7 areas.

Emma was the most popular girls’ name in 10 council areas, whilst Ellie was top in 8 areas.

An analysis by the Office for National Statistics covering England and Wales has shown that Jack and Emily were the most popular names there in 2004. Further details can be found on the ONS website.

The most popular names in Northern Ireland were Jack and Katie. Further details may be found on the NISRA website.

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

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

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 us at Statistics Customer Services using our Contact Form.

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.

Notes

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.
All the information for 2004 contained in these tables is provisional. It is based on births registered up to mid-December 2004. The information for 2003 contained in this paper is for the full year, and therefore varies from that contained in last year's paper.
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.

Top 100 boys' names, Scotland, 2004, together with changes since 2003

	2004		2003		Change in Ranking
Rank	Name	Count	Rank	Count		2003-2004
1	Lewis	694	1	818		No change
2	Jack	667	2	759		No change
3	James	502	4	507		+1
4	Cameron	496	3	623		-1
5	Ryan	488	6	460		+1
6	Liam	452	14	391		+8
7	Jamie	450	11	407		+4
8	Ben	441	7	432		-1
9	Kyle	434	5	479		-4
10	Callum	427	8	427		-2
11	Matthew	409	9	424		-2
12	Daniel	402	12	406		No change
13	Connor	341	13	404		No change
14	Adam	335	10	418		-4
15	Dylan	332	16	360		+1
16	Andrew	329	17	346		+1
17=	Aidan	310	18	312		+1
17=	Ross	310	15	373		-2
19	Scott	304	26	280		+7
20	Nathan	285	19	308		-1
21	Thomas	267	27=	266		+6
22	Kieran	264	20	306		-2
23	Alexander	260	25	284		+2
24	Aaron	258	27=	266		+3
25	Joshua	254	23	289		-2
26	David	253	21	297		-5
27	Finlay	232	32	213		+5
28	Michael	226	22	295		-6
29	Logan	224	31	227		+2
30=	Josh	221	29	248		-1
30=	Luke	221	30	234		No change
32	Aiden	218	57	132		+25
33	William	205	37=	187		+4
34=	Euan	204	35	203		+1
34=	Sam	204	58	131		+24
36	Sean	197	33	210		-3
37=	Ethan	187	36	202		-1
37=	John	187	24	285		-13
39	Samuel	185	43	162		+4
40=	Christopher	177	37=	187		-3
40=	Joseph	177	46	158		+6
42	Fraser	174	39	182		-3
43	Robert	167	40	179		-3
44	Robbie	166	44	161		No change
45	Jay	165	42	167		-3
46	Calum	160	34	208		-12
47=	Benjamin	155	49	144		+2
47=	Owen	155	45	159		-2
49	Craig	152	41	175		-8
50	Mark	144	51=	140		+1

	2004		2003		Change in Ranking
Rank	Name	Count	Rank	Count		2003-2004
51	Ewan	143	47	153		-4
52	Reece	132	50	141		-2
53=	Declan	129	54	136		+1
53=	Rory	129	56	133		+3
55	Oliver	123	60	121		+5
56	Jake	119	67	104		+11
57	Max	116	63=	116		+6
58	Lee	112	51=	140		-7
59	Kai	111	59	124		No change
60	Jordan	109	48	148		-12
61	Brandon	108	53	138		-8
62	Ciaran	107	69	95		+7
63=	Charlie	106	73	89		+10
63=	Rhys	106	65	111		+2
65	Paul	104	66	106		+1
66=	Harry	102	55	135		-11
66=	Steven	102	62	118		-4
66=	Taylor	102	74	85		+8
69	Louis	94	83=	66		+14
70=	Blair	92	61	119		-9
70=	Shaun	92	63=	116		-7
72=	Murray	91	88	63		+16
72=	Tyler	91	75	82		+3
74	Evan	86	83=	66		+9
75	Stephen	85	70	93		-5
76	Jacob	84	76	81		No change
77=	Angus	80	77	79		No change
77=	Arran	80	89=	62		+12
79=	Marc	79	81	70		+2
79=	Stuart	79	68	96		-11
81	Archie	76	103=	50		+22
82	Gregor	73	71	92		-11
83	Leo	72	122=	39		+39
84	Leon	71	93=	58		+9
85	Patrick	70	82	67		-3
86=	Jonathan	68	80	71		-6
86=	Kian	68	72	91		-14
88=	Hamish	65	93=	58		+5
88=	Lucas	65	95	57		+7
90=	Charles	64	105=	49		+15
90=	Finn	64	99	52		+9
90=	Joe	64	108=	47		+18
93	MacKenzie	62	128	36		+35
94=	Dean	61	78	78		-16
94=	Jason	61	89=	62		-5
94=	Peter	61	85=	65		-9
97	Alex	60	87	64		-10
98	Harris	59	103=	50		+5
99=	Conor	58	92	59		-7
99=	Darren	58	79	72		-20

Top 100 girls' names, Scotland, 2004, together with changes since 2003

	2004		2003		Change in Ranking
Rank	Name	Count	Rank	Count		2003-2004
1	Emma	627	1	672		No Change
2	Sophie	544	4	496		+2
3	Ellie	540	2	561		-1
4	Amy	511	3	504		-1
5	Chloe	432	5	452		No Change
6	Katie	428	9	358		+3
7	Erin	407	6	409		-1
8	Emily	387	10	357		+2
9	Lucy	364	8	360		-1
10	Hannah	361	11	354		+1
11	Rebecca	352	13	342		+2
12	Rachel	319	7	362		-5
13	Abbie	295	16	297		+3
14	Lauren	289	12	351		-2
15	Megan	269	14	323		-1
16=	Aimee	252	18	261		+2
16=	Olivia	252	21	215		+5
18	Caitlin	239	17	292		-1
19	Leah	238	29	174		+10
20	Niamh	232	19	226		-1
21	Sarah	223	20	217		-1
22	Jessica	221	23	206		+1
23	Holly	210	15	314		-8
24=	Anna	186	24	189		No Change
24=	Eilidh	186	22	212		-2
26	Molly	171	28	175		+2
27=	Nicole	169	34	158		+7
27=	Zoe	169	37	143		+10
29	Mia	168	26=	176		-3
30	Isla	165	40	133		+10
31	Morgan	164	25	188		-6
32	Keira	156	111=	41		+79
33	Abigail	152	26=	176		-7
34	Cara	148	38=	138		+4
35	Shannon	145	31	169		-4
36	Abby	142	35	156		-1
37	Eve	140	33	164		-4
38	Charlotte	139	32	166		-6
39	Brooke	138	49	102		+10
40	Grace	130	43=	114		+3
41	Louise	127	36	149		-5
42	Millie	119	68	71		+26
43	Courtney	113	38=	138		-5
44	Kirsty	112	42	119		-2
45=	Amber	107	58	88		+13
45=	Beth	107	43=	114		-2
47	Taylor