Lancaster’s most popular baby names revealed

ONS figures show that 12 newborns were given the name Sophia last year – making it as popular a girl’s name as previous top ranker Olivia.

Meanwhile, 19 boys were called either Jack or Oliver in 2018 – three more than George the year before.

The 785 babies who were called Muhammad across the North West meant it was the most popular boys’ name throughout the region, beating Oliver and Harry to top spot.

Olivia was the top North West girls’ name – 552 newborns were handed the moniker by their parents, pushing it to the top of the list, ahead of Amelia and Isla.

Nationally, Oliver remained the most popular name for boys in England and Wales for the sixth year in a row, ahead of George and Harry.

The ONS data showed Grayson, Rowan and Tobias entered the top 100 names for boys for the first time in 2018.

Olivia topped the girls’ list for the third year in succession, with Amelia and Ava in second and third respectively.

Ada, Delilah, Ayla, Zoe, Margot and Felicity entered the top 100 names.

Arthur was the only new entry in the top 10 names for boys in 2018, in seventh, moving Jacob down to 11th. Sophia and Grace, at eighth and 10th respectively, replaced Poppy and Lily in the top 10 names for girls.

Nick Stripe, from the ONS, said: “Oliver and Olivia remained the most popular baby names in 2018, although there are the first signs that Oliver’s six-year reign as the number one name for boys is under threat.

“Arthur surged into the top 10 boys’ names for the first time since the 1920s, and Ada jumped into the girls’ top 100 for the first time in a century too, both perhaps inspired by characters in the BBC TV drama Peaky Blinders.

“On the flip side, the growth in the use of technology assistants in our homes may help to explain why the number of baby girls named Alexa has more than halved compared with 2017.

“Communicating with young children can be hard enough at the best of times.”

The top girls’ names across the North West in 2018 were:

1) Olivia: 552

2) Amelia: 510

3) Isla: 443

4) Ava: 410

5) Emily: 380

6) Charlotte: 342

7) Isabella: 334

8) Sophia: 330

9) Ella: 307

10) Grace: 302

The top boys’ names across the North West in 2018 were:

1) Muhammad: 785

2) Oliver: 736

3) Harry: 709

4) George: 705

5) Jack: 579

6) Noah: 553

7) Thomas: 538

8) Jacob: 510

9) Leo: 490

10) Theo: 441