UK baby name trends 2026: what the new ONS data shows

On 9 July 2026 the Office for National Statistics published its annual baby names data for England and Wales, covering every 2025 birth registration. Most coverage stops at the top ten. The more useful story is underneath: which styles are gathering speed, which are quietly emptying out, and what that means if you're naming a baby this year. We've built the full tables — top 100 boys, top 100 girls, climbers & fallers and new entries — this is the analysis.

The headlines

Muhammad is №1 for boys for the third year running, with 5,957 registrations — and that's counting the one spelling alone; Mohammed and Mohammad chart separately in the ONS data. Olivia extends a reign that began with the 2016 data, leading the girls on 2,386. The quiet drama is just below: Lily slipped past Amelia into second place, and the boys' top four — Muhammad, Noah, Leo, Luca — now sounds more Mediterranean than any top four in the chart's history. Arthur at №5 and Theodore at №9 keep the vintage flag flying at the very top.

Trend 1 — the Euro-classic wave

The most striking long arc in the data: names that work in Rome, Madrid and Manchester alike. Luca sits at №4 having climbed 49 places in a decade; Enzo is up another 8 this year to №84 — 228 places higher than in 2015; Ruben is a new entry at №100; and on the girls' side Raya (№82) has risen more than 400 places since 2015, with Eliana arriving at №62 as the year's highest new entry anywhere. Alba — Latin for "dawn", and the Gaelic name for Scotland — joins her. If this is your sound, start with our Italian, Spanish and French lists.

Trend 2 — the vintage revival deepens

Grandparent-era names keep converting scoffers. Mabel is the girls' biggest climber, up 21 places to №16; Ottilie rose 16 to №55; Matilda, Eleanor and Nora all climbed double digits. For boys, Vincent and Stanley re-entered the top 100 alongside stalwarts Arthur, Oscar and Freddie. A century ago these were the names on ration books; now they're the fastest risers in the country. Browse the seam properly: vintage girl names, vintage boy names — and if you're reviving a name from your own family tree, our guide to honouring a family name is the companion piece.

Trend 3 — nickname-first naming goes legit

The chart's cheekiest current: short forms charting as full names. Vinnie is the biggest climber on either chart, up 33 places to №58 — while Vincent, the formal version, re-enters the 100 separately. Ronnie rose 10; Gracie, Frankie and Marnie all entered the girls' top 100 this year. Britain has form here (Alfie, Archie, Elsie and Evie never left), but the wave is widening. Whether to put the nickname on the birth certificate is a genuine decision with trade-offs — our nickname guide walks through both directions.

Trend 4 — skyward and garden-ward

The girls' chart is practically a meadow: Lily (№2), Florence (№5), Poppy (№7), Ivy (№9) and Daisy all in or near the top ten — see nature names and names that mean flower. Above the meadow, the sky keeps rising: Lyra up 13 places, Nova up 12, joining Luna in the upper reaches — the celestial list has the whole constellation.

Trend 5 — the chart looks like Britain

Muhammad's №1 is the visible tip of a broader pattern: Britain's multicultural naming traditions showing up, on their own terms, in the official data. Yahya climbed 12 places to №81 and Musa 9 to №64; Anaya — beloved in both South Asian and Muslim families — entered the girls' top 100 at №86. These aren't crossover novelties; they're mainstream British names now. We've just built hand-curated lists with proper care for exactly these traditions: Muslim boy names, Muslim girl names, Indian boy names and Indian girl names.

What's fading

Every wave that arrives displaces one. The American surname style — Jaxon (−22), Mason (−14), Hunter (−13), Logan (−11) — is receding fastest, though Carter bucks the trend with a re-entry. On the girls' side, Bonnie's remarkable run reversed hard (−32 places), and the 2010s heartland of Chloe, Emma, Bella and Sophie keeps drifting down. None of this makes them bad names — a name near its cyclical low is arguably the savvy pick, as every Mabel parent just proved. If chart position is weighing on you either way, read our regret guide before you strike anything off.

How to actually use trend data

Two honest options. Ride a wave early: the new entries tell you which styles are arriving before you hear them at soft play — being a year ahead beats being a year behind. Or ignore the charts entirely and choose on taste: popularity only matters if it matters to you. Either way, the deciding is easier with two of you swiping the same deck.

Quick answers

Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby names in England and Wales: 2025, released 9 July 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The ONS counts each exact spelling separately.