As the year comes to an end, the most popular baby names of 2020 have been revealed.
BabyCentre, a maternity and child care website has unveiled the new top 100 names for boys and girls, using data from thousands of parents registering their name choices on the website.
According to the site, Sophia is the most popular girls’ name for the first time in three years, knocking Olivia off the top spot. Olivia has only dropped into second place, followed by Amelia, with Lily and Isla making up the top five.
The top choice stayed the same for boys – Muhammad – followed by Noah, Oliver, Arthur and Leo.
As well as old favourites there are some brand new entries into the top 100 list, with Ellis, Albert, Mlio, Hudson, Jasper, Austin and Ayaan making an appearance for the boys.
While 2020 has seen a wealth of new names grow in popularity, due to the pandemic and the need for reassurance in these trying times, some names have fallen out of favour.
According to the site, Karen, is no longer as popular as it was in the past.
The name Karen saw its popularity peak in the 1960s, according to the ONS, but in 2018 only 21 girls in the UK were given that name.
Top 100 names for girls in 2020 according to the website are;
Sarah Redshaw, the UK Managing Editor for BabyCentre, said: “A global pandemic has had us looking for ways to find optimism, reflected in a rise in positive and heroic names.
“TV really showed its impact when the name Connell made an appearance for the first time after the Normal People hero, played by Paul Mescal, dominated TV chat, along with his chain.
“And with staying in forcibly becoming the new going out we’ve all been turning to social channels to keep us feeling part of a community, reflected in the increasing influence that Insta stars are having on us.
“With tech acting as a lifeline for work, staying in touch with our loved ones and keeping us entertained it remains to be seen whether Zoom, Nintendo or Tik Tok will appear in next year’s list!”
