Thirty years of Lyra
Lyra in numbers
Lyra is still climbing: from 3 girls in 1999 (its first published year) to 643 in 2025, its highest count so far. Its biggest three-year rise came between 2019 and 2022, from 342 to 641. It ranked 3,900th in 1999 and reached 70th in 2025, its best place so far.
† Shapes, averages and turning points are Baby Data calculations from the ONS counts.
What the official statisticians said
“Parents may have been inspired by Lyra Belacqua, the heroine of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials”
National Records of Scotland, on 2025 births in Scotland. Read the source
Quoted word for word from the official releases, including their own “may” and “could”. Baby Data has not added reasons of its own. Releases for Scotland and Northern Ireland are about babies there, not in England and Wales.
Milestones
First year in each bandChange
- On last year+12%573 to 643
- 5 years+15%559 to 643
- 10 years+174%235 to 643
- 20 years+1,686%36 to 643
- Since 1999 (first published)×2143 to 643
- Total, 1996 to 20256,467girls
† 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 70 · ONS · 573 in 2024
Rank 106 · NRS · 40 in 2024
Rank 334 · NISRA · 3 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 | 70 | 643 | +12% | 1 in 443 |
| 2024 | 83 | 573 | -3% | 1 in 506 |
| 2023 | 80 | 593 | -7% | 1 in 486 |
| 2022 | =78 | 641 | +2% | 1 in 460 |
| 2021 | 80 | 630 | +13% | 1 in 484 |
| 2020 | 92 | 559 | +63% | 1 in 536 |
| 2019 | 150 | 342 | -6% | 1 in 910 |
| 2018 | 142 | 362 | +24% | 1 in 883 |
| 2017 | =183 | 293 | +18% | 1 in 1,130 |
| 2016 | =212 | 248 | +6% | 1 in 1,368 |
| 2015 | =222 | 235 | -10% | 1 in 1,446 |
| 2014 | =205 | 261 | +11% | 1 in 1,297 |
| 2013 * | 218 | 236 | +23% | 1 in 1,447 |
| 2012 | =255 | 192 | +31% | 1 in 1,851 |
| 2011 | 327 | 147 | +20% | 1 in 2,401 |
| 2010 | =372 | 122 | -20% | 1 in 2,887 |
| 2009 | =304 | 152 | +100% | 1 in 2,264 |
| 2008 | =510 | 76 | +85% | 1 in 4,549 |
| 2007 | =793 | 41 | +0% | 1 in 8,183 |
| 2006 | =753 | 41 | +14% | 1 in 7,980 |
| 2005 | =790 | 36 | +100% | 1 in 8,756 |
| 2004 | =1,252 | 18 | +80% | 1 in 17,298 |
| 2003 | =1,843 | 10 | +25% | 1 in 30,303 |
| 2002 | =2,105 | 8 | +60% | 1 in 36,256 |
| 2001 | =2,783 | 5 | 1 in 57,996 | |
| 2000 | n/a | under 3 | ||
| 1999 | =3,900 | 3 | 1 in 100,869 | |
| 1998 | n/a | under 3 | ||
| 1997 | n/a | under 3 | ||
| 1996 | n/a | under 3 |
* ONS’s girls’ 2013 file repeats the May total as April, so the 2013 births total is about 1,360 too high and 1 in X for 2013 is slightly too high. 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 Lyra
Draws the second name on the chart above, on a shared scale.
Share and download
Lyra 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
Lyra is in our lists: Short baby names.