What are the most popular baby names in the UK?

In England and Wales in 2025 the most popular girls' names were Olivia, Lily and Amelia, and the most popular boys' names were Muhammad, Noah and Leo, according to the ONS baby names datasets for girls and boys, published on 9 July 2026.

Scotland publishes its own list. National Records of Scotland's Babies' First Names, 2025 shows Freya as the top girls' name for the first time and Noah as the top boys' name. NISRA publishes a baby names dashboard for Northern Ireland.

The ONS counts each spelling separately, so Muhammad, Mohammed and Mohammad are ranked as different names. Rankings that group spellings together will differ from the official tables.

Official sources: ONS: baby names for girls · NRS: Babies' First Names, 2025 · NISRA: baby names dashboard

The latest figure

The newest value is at Office for National Statistics (ONS). More on it: Live births in England and Wales.

When is the next figure out?

Annual. The ONS now publishes a first count in May (Births in England and Wales) and final rates in late summer or autumn (Birth summary tables). The 2025 final rates were published on 8 September 2026; the bulletin gives the next release as May 2027. Quarterly provisional counts are also published. The .xlsx file name includes the year, so the link changes each year

Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.

Terms used in this answer

• Crude rate
  A rate calculated by dividing events by the whole population, with no adjustment for differences in age structure between places or over time.
• Calendar year
  January to December. Used for GDP annual totals, registered deaths and many international comparisons, unlike the April to March financial year.
• England and Wales
  A single legal jurisdiction, so crime, courts, prisons and death registration statistics are often published for England and Wales together.
• Administrative data
  Information collected by organisations while running a service, such as tax records, benefit claims or hospital activity, and then used to produce statistics.
• Provisional figures
  Early estimates published before all data are in, so users get timely figures. They are expected to be updated when later data arrive.

Where the figures come from

• UK population and vital statistics (ONS, National Records of Scotland and NISRA)
  Where to find official UK figures on births, fertility, baby names, marriage, divorce, households, population estimates, projections and the census.

Related questions

• How many babies are born in the UK each year?
• Where can I find UK census data?
• What is the UK fertility rate?

This answer says where the official figures are published and how they are defined. It gives no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request. More questions about population, births and families: all Population, births and families questions.