Thirty years of Sonny
Sonny in numbers
Sonny is still climbing: from 127 boys in 1996 to 1,137 in 2025, its highest count so far. Its biggest three-year rise came between 2022 and 2025, from 825 to 1,137. It ranked 237th in 1996 and reached 45th in 2025, its best place so far. On average it was given to 143 boys a year in the late 1990s, 404 in the 2000s, 615 in the 2010s and 900 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+11%1,022 to 1,137
- 5 years+63%699 to 1,137
- 10 years+70%670 to 1,137
- 20 years+135%484 to 1,137
- Since 1996×9127 to 1,137
- Total, 1996 to 202516,165boys
† 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 45 · ONS · 1,022 in 2024
Rank 26 · NRS · 100 in 2024
Rank 52 · NISRA · 32 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 | 45 | 1,137 | +11% | 1 in 264 |
| 2024 | 51 | 1,022 | +7% | 1 in 298 |
| 2023 | 56 | 955 | +16% | 1 in 317 |
| 2022 | 69 | 825 | +8% | 1 in 376 |
| 2021 | 75 | 762 | +9% | 1 in 420 |
| 2020 | 81 | 699 | +13% | 1 in 450 |
| 2019 | 103 | 620 | -3% | 1 in 531 |
| 2018 | 99 | 640 | +15% | 1 in 527 |
| 2017 | 114 | 555 | -1% | 1 in 627 |
| 2016 * | 116 | 563 | -16% | 1 in 633 |
| 2015 | 97 | 670 | +5% | 1 in 535 |
| 2014 | 95 | 640 | +2% | 1 in 557 |
| 2013 | 100 | 630 | -8% | 1 in 569 |
| 2012 | 90 | 686 | +16% | 1 in 546 |
| 2011 | =108 | 590 | +6% | 1 in 629 |
| 2010 | =111 | 558 | -0% | 1 in 665 |
| 2009 | 108 | 560 | +1% | 1 in 647 |
| 2008 | 108 | 552 | -5% | 1 in 658 |
| 2007 | 103 | 580 | +15% | 1 in 611 |
| 2006 | 112 | 503 | +4% | 1 in 681 |
| 2005 | 114 | 484 | +16% | 1 in 683 |
| 2004 | 126 | 419 | +47% | 1 in 784 |
| 2003 | 157 | 285 | +13% | 1 in 1,117 |
| 2002 | 156 | 252 | +18% | 1 in 1,214 |
| 2001 | =165 | 214 | +11% | 1 in 1,423 |
| 2000 | =179 | 193 | +43% | 1 in 1,604 |
| 1999 | =226 | 135 | -16% | 1 in 2,365 |
| 1998 | 203 | 160 | +7% | 1 in 2,037 |
| 1997 | =217 | 149 | +17% | 1 in 2,212 |
| 1996 | 237 | 127 | 1 in 2,626 |
* 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 Sonny
Draws the second name on the chart above, on a shared scale.
Share and download
Sonny 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