Parents now use far more different names than they did in the 1990s. The 10 most popular girls’ names covered 19.3% of girls born in 1996 and 6.8% in 2025. For boys the share fell from 24.0% to 11.3%. All figures are our calculation from the ONS yearly baby names files for England and Wales (sources and method below).
| England and Wales | 1996 | 2005 | 2015 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Girls given a top-10 name | 19.3% | 12.8% | 10.4% | 6.8% |
| Boys given a top-10 name | 24.0% | 17.3% | 13.6% | 11.3% |
| Girls given a top-100 name | 60.3% | 49.4% | 42.6% | 34.8% |
| Boys given a top-100 name | 72.9% | 60.9% | 51.9% | 43.0% |
| Different girls’ names published (3 or more babies) | 4,957 | 6,219 | 7,469 | 7,617 |
| Different boys’ names published (3 or more babies) | 3,714 | 5,003 | 6,079 | 6,583 |
| Girls not in the published list (name given to fewer than 3 babies, or no name stated) | 6.3% | 8.6% | 9.4% | 11.0% |
| Boys not in the published list (name given to fewer than 3 babies, or no name stated) | 4.5% | 6.4% | 6.9% | 9.0% |
Table: our calculation from the ONS yearly files, Baby names for girls and Baby names for boys in England and Wales.
Fewer babies share the top 10
Share given a top-10 name, 1996 to 2025Dark line: girls. Grey line: boys. Both lines on one scale from 0% to 25%. Girls 1998 is not shown (one ONS monthly total is blank); the dotted line bridges it. Every year’s figure is in the table at the end.
The girls’ share fell in almost every year. In the years we can measure, it went up only once, from 12.8% in 2005 to 13.0% in 2006. The boys’ share fell in almost every year to 2021, then stayed at about 11% (11.2% from 2021 to 2024, 11.3% in 2025). Every year’s figure is in the table at the end (ONS girls’ and boys’ files, our calculation).
The most popular girls’ name now covers far fewer girls. Sophie, number one in 1996, was given to 2.24% of girls (ONS girls’ files). Olivia, number one in 2025, was given to 0.84% (ONS girls’ files, our calculation).
Jack, number one in 1996, was given to 3.23% of boys (ONS boys’ files). The top boys’ name reached its lowest share in 2020, when Oliver was given to 1.34% of boys (ONS boys’ files). Muhammad has been the top boys’ name since 2023 (ONS boys’ files) and was given to 1.98% of boys in 2025, up from 1.16% in 2021 (ONS boys’ files, our calculation).
The number of babies fell over the same period. About 585,400 babies were born in England and Wales in 2025, against about 649,500 in 1996, 9.9% fewer (our calculation from the monthly birth totals ONS publishes in its girls’ and boys’ names files). Yet the number of different names given to 3 or more babies rose from 4,957 to 7,617 for girls and from 3,714 to 6,583 for boys.
ONS does not publish names given to fewer than 3 babies in a year. In 2025, up to 11.0% of girls (about one in nine) and up to 9.0% of boys had a name too rare to appear in the published list. These are upper limits: the births we compare against also include babies whose name was not stated. In 1996 the figures were up to 6.3% of girls and 4.5% of boys.
Spelling counts
ONS counts each spelling as a separate name, so the same name spelt different ways adds to the number of different names. The 2025 boys’ list has at least ten spellings of Muhammad, including Mohammed, Mohammad, Muhammed and Mohamed. Together they were given to 3.08% of boys (ONS boys’ 2025 file, our calculation). We use ONS’s names exactly as published.
How we worked this out
- Top-10 and top-100 share: babies given the 10 (or 100) most popular names that year, divided by all babies of that sex born that year. Births come from the monthly totals in each ONS yearly file.
- Not in the published list: all births of that sex minus every published name count. ONS’s monthly totals include babies whose name was not stated, so this is an upper limit for names given to fewer than 3 babies.
- Different names: the number of names ONS lists for that year (each given to 3 or more babies).
- Which files: we use the ONS single-year files for every year. ONS’s combined 1996 to 2025 workbook leaves out some boys’ names for 2025, so its 2025 boys’ figures differ from the ones here.
- Girls, 1998: left out. One monthly total is blank in the ONS file, so we cannot get the full count of girls born that year.
- Two monthly totals look wrong in the ONS files: girls 2013 (April repeats May) and boys 2016 (September repeats October). We use them as published; correcting them does not change any figure shown here. See how we calculate.
- The figures cover England and Wales only. Scotland and Northern Ireland publish their own names data on different rules.
Source: Office for National Statistics, Baby names for girls and Baby names for boys in England and Wales, single-year files 1996 to 2025 (2025 files released 9 July 2026), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See also: name trends, the full data and downloads.
Every year
Share given a top-10 name| Year | Girls | Boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 19.3% | 24.0% |
| 1997 | 19.0% | 23.3% |
| 1998 | not shown | 22.5% |
| 1999 | 18.6% | 22.3% |
| 2000 | 17.5% | 21.5% |
| 2001 | 17.0% | 20.7% |
| 2002 | 15.9% | 20.2% |
| 2003 | 14.7% | 19.3% |
| 2004 | 14.0% | 18.8% |
| 2005 | 12.8% | 17.3% |
| 2006 | 13.0% | 16.7% |
| 2007 | 12.9% | 16.4% |
| 2008 | 12.8% | 16.4% |
| 2009 | 12.4% | 15.7% |
| 2010 | 11.8% | 15.6% |
| 2011 | 11.6% | 15.4% |
| 2012 | 11.6% | 14.6% |
| 2013 | 11.0% | 14.2% |
| 2014 | 10.8% | 13.7% |
| 2015 | 10.4% | 13.6% |
| 2016 | 9.9% | 13.1% |
| 2017 | 9.7% | 12.5% |
| 2018 | 9.1% | 12.0% |
| 2019 | 8.9% | 11.9% |
| 2020 | 8.4% | 11.4% |
| 2021 | 8.2% | 11.2% |
| 2022 | 8.0% | 11.2% |
| 2023 | 7.6% | 11.2% |
| 2024 | 7.1% | 11.2% |
| 2025 | 6.8% | 11.3% |