Thirty years of Hunter
Hunter in numbers
Hunter has risen from 4 boys in 1996 to 595 in 2025, though it is below its peak of 1,410 in 2018. Its biggest three-year rise came between 2015 and 2018, from 446 to 1,410. It ranked 2,357th in 1996, reached 44th in 2018 and ranks 91st now. On average it was given to 5 boys a year in the late 1990s, 15 in the 2000s, 540 in the 2010s and 897 in the 2020s so far.
† Shapes, averages and turning points are Baby Data calculations from the ONS counts.
Milestones
First year in each bandChange
- On last year-14%692 to 595
- 5 years-47%1,114 to 595
- 10 years+33%446 to 595
- 20 years+3,206%18 to 595
- Since 1996×1494 to 595
- Total, 1996 to 202510,945boys
† All changes and totals are Baby Data calculations from ONS counts. A total adds only the published years.
Across the three nations, 2025
Each from its own statistics office, never added togetherRank 91 · ONS · 692 in 2024
Rank 54 · NRS · 86 in 2024
Rank 90 · NISRA · 25 in 2024
England and Wales (ONS) count births in the calendar year; Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland (NISRA) count births registered in the year. Each comes from its own statistics office and they are never added together.
Year by year, 1996 to 2025 Show all 30 yearsHide the table
| Year | Rank | Babies | Change† | 1 in X† |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 91 | 595 | -14% | 1 in 505 |
| 2024 | 78 | 692 | -26% | 1 in 441 |
| 2023 | 57 | 932 | -7% | 1 in 325 |
| 2022 | 58 | 1,006 | -3% | 1 in 309 |
| 2021 | 60 | 1,042 | -6% | 1 in 307 |
| 2020 | 58 | 1,114 | -13% | 1 in 282 |
| 2019 | 52 | 1,278 | -9% | 1 in 258 |
| 2018 | 44 | 1,410 | +68% | 1 in 239 |
| 2017 | 78 | 841 | +56% | 1 in 414 |
| 2016 * | 117 | 538 | +21% | 1 in 662 |
| 2015 | 133 | 446 | +54% | 1 in 803 |
| 2014 | 198 | 289 | +14% | 1 in 1,234 |
| 2013 | 211 | 254 | +20% | 1 in 1,411 |
| 2012 | =238 | 212 | +172% | 1 in 1,766 |
| 2011 | =473 | 78 | +50% | 1 in 4,756 |
| 2010 | =625 | 52 | +58% | 1 in 7,134 |
| 2009 | =848 | 33 | +43% | 1 in 10,973 |
| 2008 | =1,085 | 23 | -15% | 1 in 15,780 |
| 2007 | =926 | 27 | +145% | 1 in 13,128 |
| 2006 | =1,643 | 11 | -39% | 1 in 31,128 |
| 2005 | =1,135 | 18 | +125% | 1 in 18,365 |
| 2004 | =1,878 | 8 | +100% | 1 in 41,041 |
| 2003 | =2,857 | 4 | -20% | 1 in 79,604 |
| 2002 | =2,254 | 5 | -50% | 1 in 61,209 |
| 2001 | =1,379 | 10 | +11% | 1 in 30,461 |
| 2000 | =1,425 | 9 | +125% | 1 in 34,401 |
| 1999 | =2,425 | 4 | -33% | 1 in 79,811 |
| 1998 | =1,821 | 6 | +50% | 1 in 54,316 |
| 1997 | =2,337 | 4 | +0% | 1 in 82,391 |
| 1996 | =2,357 | 4 | 1 in 83,370 |
* ONS’s boys’ 2016 file repeats the October total as September, so the 2016 births total is about 932 too low and 1 in X for 2016 is slightly too low. Rank follows ONS: names with the same count share a rank (shown with =). “Under 3” means the name was given to fewer than 3 babies that year, so ONS did not publish it.
Compare Hunter
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Hunter is in the free dataset (CSV and JSON), with the method and how to cite it.
Source: Office for National Statistics, Baby names in England and Wales, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0; National Records of Scotland; NISRA. Exact spellings are counted separately and names given to fewer than 3 babies are not published. Figures marked † are Baby Data calculations. How we calculate