Babies’ First Names

2022

Published on 30 March 2023

This statistical report looks at the most

common babies’ names for Scotland and
council areas in 2022, from birth certificates.
Babies first names 2022 Summary

Noah overtakes Jack as the most popular boys name

Noah has become the top name for baby boys for the first time, overtaking Jack which had been the most popular name
for fourteen consecutive years. Noah's upward arc towards first place began around 2005 when it first entered the top
hundred, and has generally risen since then. Jack fell to second, followed by Leo, Harris and Luca.

Most popular boys' names by rank within top hundred names, 1974-2022

Rankings outside of the top hundred not shown

1st Noah 2nd Jack 3rd Leo 4th Harris

5th Luca 6th Oliver 7th Rory 8th Archie

9th Alfie 9th James 9th Theo 12th Finlay

1974 2021

12th Lewis 14th Alexander 15th Charlie 16th Brodie

1974 2022 1974 2022 1974 2022 1974 2022

17th Lucas 18th Finn 19th Logan 20th Thomas

Fastest rising names between 2021 and 2022 Most common name by age of mother

Teddy (up 35 places to =66th) Aged under 25 - Noah

Parker (up 33 places to =98th) Aged 25 to 29 - Noah

Hudson (up 30 places to 53th) Aged 30 to 34 - Jack

Theodore (up 29 places to =49th) Aged 35 and over - Noah

www.nrscotland.gov.uk
Source: Babies First Names, Scotland, 2022
Babies first names 2022 Summary

Olivia remains the most popular girls' name

Olivia remained the most popular name for baby girls in 2022, as it was in 2021. It was previously the top name between
2016 and 2019, so it has been a highly popular name for a few years now. Olivia first broke into the top hundred in 1993
and has been in the top five consistently since 2008.

Most popular girls' names by rank within top hundred names, 1974-2022
Rankings outside of the top hundred not shown

1st Olivia 2nd Isla 3rd Freya 4th Millie

5th Emily 6th Amelia 7th Grace 7th Sophie

9th Ella 9th Ava 11th Lily 12th Charlotte

13th Sophia 14th Aria 15th Harper 15th Ivy

1974 2022 1974 2022 1974 2022 1974 2022

17th Evie 18th Lucy 19th Mia 20th Rosie

Fastest rising names between 2021 and 2022 Most common name by age of mother

Nova (up 73 places to =62nd) Aged under 25 - Millie

Maeva (up 59 places to =90th) Aged 25 to 29 - Freya

Annie (up 55 places to =80th) Aged 30 to 34 - Isla

Nina (up 46 places to =80th) Aged 35 and over- Sophie

www.nrscotland.gov.uk
Source: Babies First Names, Scotland, 2022
Babies first names 2022 Summary

Variation across Scotland

The top girls name, Olivia, was the most (or joint most) common girls' name in five of Scotland's council areas. The op
boys' name, Noah, was the top name in seven areas. No council area had both Olivia and Noah as the top names, showing
the huge variation in the way babies are named around the country.

Most popular names by council area, 2022

Aberdeen City Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll and Bute

Girl: Olivia Girl: Isla Girl: Daisy Girl: Emily
Boy: Leo Boy: Brodie Boy: Rory Boy: Alfie

City of Edinburgh Clackmannanshire Dumfries and Galloway Dundee City

Girl: Isla Girl: Olivia Girl: Olivia, Millie Girl: Olivia, Millie
Boy: Noah Boy: Archie, Harris, Tommy Boy: Archie Boy: Leo

East Ayrshire East Dunbartonshire East Lothian East Renfrewshire

Girl: Freya Girl: Emily Girl: Isla, Ivy Girl: Sophie
Boy: Harris Boy: Jack Boy: Finlay Boy: Rory

Falkirk Fife Glasgow City Highland

Girl: Amelia, Sophie Girl: Emily Girl: Grace Girl: Isla
Boy: Leo Boy: Noah Boy: Muhammad Boy: Angus

Inverclyde Midlothian Moray Na h-Eileanan Siar

Girl: Millie Girl: Freya Girl: Ava Girl: Annie, Ella, Freya
Boy: Leo, Noah Boy: Leo Boy: Brodie Boy: Leo, Finlay, Noah

North Ayrshire North Lanarkshire Orkney Islands Perth and Kinross

Girl: Emily, Freya Girl: Millie Girl: Girl: Charlotte
Boy: Noah Boy: Noah Boy: Jack, Tommy Boy: Alexander

Renfrewshire Scottish Borders Shetland Islands South Ayrshire

Girl: Evie Girl: Olivia, Freya Girl: Girl: Amelia
Boy: Jack Boy: Archie Boy: Theo Boy: Noah

South Lanarkshire Stirling West Dunbartonshire West Lothian

Girl: Ava Girl: Sophie Girl: Ava Girl: Olivia, Millie
Boy: Jack Boy: Lewis Boy: Jack Boy: Logan

*Names by council area are only calculated for names with three or more occurrences.
Some areas had no names with three or more occurrences.

www.nrscotland.gov.uk
Source: Babies First Names, Scotland, 2022
Contents

Key findings ......................................................................................................................... 6

Most common names........................................................................................................... 6
Names by age of mother...................................................................................................... 8
Variety of names chosen ..................................................................................................... 9
Names and popular culture ................................................................................................ 11
Names by area within Scotland ......................................................................................... 11
Notes on statistical publications ......................................................................................... 12

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Key findings

• NOAH and OLIVIA were the most popular names for girls and boys in Scotland in
2021.
− Noah becomes the top name for the first time, overtaking Jack which had
been most popular for fourteen consecutive years.
− Olivia remains the most popular name for girls, for the sixth time out of the
last seven years.

• Within the top tens, LUCA rose by 20 places to 5th in the top boys’ names, and
MILLIE rose to 6th within the top girls’ names.

• NOVA (up 73 places to 62nd), MAEVA (up 59 places to joint 90th) and ANNIE (up 55
places to joint 80th) rose by the largest amount of places in the top 100 girls’ names.

• For boys, TEDDY (up 35 places to 66th), PARKER (up 33 places to 98th) and
HUDSON (up 30 places to 53rd) rose by the largest number of places in the top
hundred.

How has the popularity of your name changed?

Visit our interactive charts and search for any name to see how many babies were
given this name between 1974 and 2022 in Scotland.

• MILLIE and NOAH were the most common names for girls and boys with mothers
aged under 25. For mothers aged 35 and over, the most common names were
NOAH and SOPHIE.

• The number of different names given to boys reached an all-time high in 2022, as
did the number of unique names (not given to any other baby that year) for boys.
But the variety of names given to girls is still much greater.
• The top girls’ name, Olivia, was the most (or joint most) common girls’ name in five
of Scotland’s council areas. The top boys’ name, Noah, was the most (or joint most)
common name in seven areas. No council area had both Olivia and Noah as the top
names, showing the huge variation in the way babies are named around the
country.

Data for this publication:

All names given to babies in 2022

All names given to babies between 1974-2022
Charts and tables from this publication

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Most common names
The most common babies names for girls and boys in Scotland in 2022 were NOAH and
OLIVIA. Noah overtakes Jack as top name, which was most popular every year between
2008 and 2021. Olivia has been the most common girls name for six out of the last seven
years. The top 20 names for boys and girls are shown below in Table 1.

Table 1: Top 20 babies’ names in Scotland, 2022

Boys Girls
Change in Change in
Ranking Ranking
Rank1 Name Number 2021-2022 Rank1 Name Number 2021-2022
1 Noah 373 +1 1 Olivia 309 no change
2 Jack 342 -1 2 Isla 296 +1
3 Leo 310 no change 3 Freya 294 +1
4 Harris 274 +1 4 Millie 280 +6
5 Luca 273 +20 5 Emily 244 -3
6 Oliver 261 -2 6 Amelia 234 no change
7 Rory 251 +2 7= Grace 233 +2
8 Archie 246 +7 7= Sophie 233 +1
9= Theo 243 +5 9= Ella 226 -4
9= Alfie 243 +3 9= Ava 226 -2
9= James 243 -1 11 Lily 218 no change
12= Finlay 234 -6 12 Charlotte 214 +1
12= Lewis 234 -5 13 Sophia 184 -1
14 Alexander 230 -4 14 Aria 177 +1
15 Charlie 226 -2 15= Harper 169 +10
16 Brodie 221 -5 15= Ivy 169 +6
17 Lucas 203 -1 17 Evie 161 -1
18 Finn 201 no change 18 Lucy 158 no change
19 Logan 195 +3 19 Mia 156 -1
20 Thomas 183 -1 20 Rosie 154 -6

click here to view the full list

Within the top 100 girls’ names, there were ten names that rose by 20 places or more.
These were: NOVA, MAEVA, ANNIE, NINA, VIOLET, MATILDA, ELSIE, EVELYN,
MAEVE and ELIZABETH.

Within the top 100 boys’ names, there were eleven names that rose by 20 places or more.
These were: TEDDY, PARKER, HUDSON, THEODORE, CODY, BRODY, ANDREW,
RUARIDH, STRUAN, MUHAMMAD and LUCA.

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Names by age of mother
NOAH, the most popular name for boys in 2022, was the also the most popular name with
mothers aged 35 and above, and with mothers aged under 25. JACK (previous top name
for boys) was the second most popular name for babies with mothers aged 35 and over,
but was 28th for babies with mothers under 25.

Only 2 of the 10 leading boys’ names (LEO and NOAH) chosen by mothers aged under 25
also feature in the top 10 for mothers aged 35 and older.

Figure 1a: Ranked boys’ names by mothers’ age group (selected names)

Rank with mothers aged under 25 Rank with mothers aged 35 and over

NOAH (1) NOAH (1)

JACK (2)
LUCAS (6)

TOMMY (13)

JACK (28)

LUCAS (36)

TOMMY (79)

OLIVIA, the most popular name for girls in 2022, was the fourth most popular name for a
girl with mothers under 25 and for mothers aged 35 and over. SOPHIE was most popular
for babies with mothers in the oldest age group, but was 51st for babies with mothers in
the youngest age group. MILLIE was the most popular girls’ name for babies with mothers
aged 25 and under, but was 41st for babies with mothers in the oldest age group.

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Figure 1b: Ranked girls’ names by mothers’ age group (selected names)

Rank with mothers aged under 25 Rank with mothers aged 35 and over
MILLIE (1) SOPHIE (1)
OLIVIA (4) OLIVIA (4)

LAYLA (13)

MILLIE (41)

SOPHIE (51)

LAYLA (82)

Variety of names chosen

In Scotland in 2022, there were 4,408 different first names given to girls and 3,667
different first names given to boys. These statistics are based on the birth registrations of
22,698 girls and 24,255 boys.

The rate of different names per 1,000 births rose between 2021 and 2022 from 181 to 194
for girls. The rate for boys rose from 141 to 151.

Figure 2: Rate of different names per 1,000 births

250 Different names per 1,000 girls
Different names per 1,000 boys

194 different names per

200 1,000 baby girls in 2022
Different names per 1,000 babies

150

151 different names

per 1,000 baby boys in
100 2022
58 different names per
1,000 baby girls in 1974

50

33 different names per

1,000 baby boys in 1974
0
1974 2022

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A random selection of 1,000 baby girls born in 2022 would have 194 different names
among them, meaning that any one baby would be likely to share their name with 5 others.
For baby girls born in 1974, there would have been around 58 different names per 1,000
babies; meaning that any one baby would share their name with an average of 17 others.
Figure 3a and Figure 3b show how the popularity of the most common baby names and
unique baby names have changed over time.

Figure 3a: Most popular names and unique names (girls), 1974-2022
15% Girls with top name Girls with unique name

unique names are

becoming more popular
Percentage of all girls that year

10%

OLIVIA
CLAIRE becomes the LAURA becomes the top spends a few
most popular for a year name (1979-1989) years as the
(1977) SOPHIE most popular
CHLOE becomes the becomes the name (2016-
5% most common 2019) ISLA becomes
top girls name in
Scotland (1998-2002) name (2005- Scotland's most
2013) common baby girls'
name (2020)

EMMA becomes EMMA becomes OLIVIA

NICOLA is the most the most common Scotland's top name for becomes
popular name for girls name (1990-1997) baby girls for a second EMILY becomes the most Scotland's
(1974-1976, 1978) time (2003-2004) common name (2014-2015) most
0% common
1974 2022 name for a
second
time (2021)
In 2022, 1.4% of baby girls born in Scotland had the most common name (Olivia), and
12.8% had a name that no other baby girl was given (highest ever percentage). The
popularity of the most common name has generally decreased over time, with the name
Laura being given to nearly one in every twenty-five girls born in 1983 (3.9%), more than
twice as common as Olivia is now.

Figure 3b: Most popular names and unique names (boys), 1974-2022
Boys with top name Boys with unique name

More boys
with unique
names

6%
Percentage of all boys born that year

RYAN becomes LEWIS becomes the top

the top name name for the first time
(1994-1998) (2003-2005)
DAVID is the most LEWIS
common name for boys becomes the
(1974-1992) most common
ANDREW name for a
goes top for a second time
(2007) NOAH becomes
3% year(1993)
the top name for
the first time
JACK becomes the top (2022)
name for the first time
Fewer boys (1999-2002)
JACK becomes the top
with unique name for a second time
names (2006) JACK becomes the most
common name for a third time
(2008-2021)
0%
1974 2022
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The name Noah was given to 1.5% of boys born in 2022, while 9.6% of boys shared their
name with no other baby boy born last year (highest ever percentage). Up until 1994, more
boys were given the most common name for the year than were given unique names. In
1979, nearly 1 in 18 babies born was given the name David (5.7%), while around 1 in
every 43 babies was given a unique name (2.3%).

Names and popular culture

Many names become popular due to appearing on TV or film, or due to a celebrity having
this name or choosing it for their baby.

Appearances on the TV show Love Island seems to coincide with increased popularity for
a number of names in recent years. This year’s data is no different, with a huge increase
in the number of baby boys called LUCA, Which rose twenty places in the rankings to fifth
placed. A total of 273 babies born last year were called Luca. It was the third most popular
boys name for babies with mothers aged under 25 and aged 25 to 29. This could be in
part due to Luca Bish’s appearance on Love Island in 2022.

There was also a noticeable rise in the number of baby girls called TILLY in 2022, this
could be in part due to Tilly Ramsay’s appearance on Strictly Come Dancing in late 2021.
There were 43 baby girls called Tilly in 2022, which is 20 more than in 2021.

Names by area within Scotland

The top girls’ name, OLIVIA, was the most (or joint most) common girls’ name in five of
Scotland’s council areas (out of thirty-two). The top (or joint top) boys’ name, NOAH, was
the top name in seven areas. No council area had both Olivia and Noah as the top names,
showing the huge variation in the way babies are named around the country.

A table with the most popular names in each council area is available at the beginning of
this report.

Council area baby name statistics are only available for names that had three instances or
more. Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands had no girls names used three or more times
in 2022.

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Notes on statistical publications
National Records of Scotland

We, the National Records of Scotland, are a non-ministerial department of the devolved
Scottish Administration. Our aim is to provide relevant and reliable information, analysis
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available for current and future generations, and we make available important
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marriages, civil partnerships, deaths, divorces and adoptions in Scotland.
• Informing the future – We are responsible for the Census of Population in Scotland
which we use, with other sources of information, to produce statistics on the
population and households.

You can get other detailed statistics that we have produced from the Statistics section of
our website. Scottish Census statistics are available on the Scotland’s Census website.

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