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Muhammad Is NOT The Most Popular Baby Boy’s Name – But What Is?

It's been widely reported that Muhammad topped the favourite boys' names list this year, but a different set of stats could see Oliver return to the top spot

We were a little surprised when research revealed yesterday that Muhammad was the most popular boy’s name of 2014. And apparently we weren’t the only ones.
 
Reports have resurfaced from the Office of National Statistics’ (ONS) official baby name records released in August 2014, showing that Oliver is definitely still the nation’s favourite.

So Oliver could be more popular after all? (REX)
So Oliver could be more popular after all? (REX)


 
Research by BabyCentre.co.uk warded Oliver second place, with Muhammad taking the lead. But according to the ONS, the name Muhammad didn’t even make the top 10 – despite being the most popular boy’s name in London and West Midlands. In fact it came in at number 15 overall.
 
Reportedly, BabyCentre combined lots of different spellings of Muhammad, which helped to peg it as the UK’s top choice – but that didn’t happen with other names such as Eric/Erik.
 
Nothing’s been said about the baby girls name list, but it looks like that’s different too with Amelia being shown by the ONS report as the favourite girl’s name – rather than Sophia.
 
Just like Muhammad, Sophia was found to be the 15th most popular baby name by the ONS.

Sarah Redshaw, Managing Editor of BabyCentre UK said: “BabyCentre’s annual baby name data has been created to be an indication of naming trends across the UK, provided by our members. Currently this is based on 56,157 babies named this year.

"The top 100 boys’ and girls’ names charts combine names that sound the same but have different spellings, giving a measure of baby name popularity. We have found, in the past, that this is a good indicator of the ONS statistics that are released the following year.”
 
Check the ONS’ report of the top 20 baby boy and top 20 baby girl’s names below…
 
Top Boys Names
1.     Oliver
2.     Jack
3.     Harry
4.     Jacob
5.     Charlie
6.     Thomas
7.     Oscar
8.     William
9.     James
10. George
11. Alfie
12. Joshua
13. Noah
14. Ethan
15. Muhammad
16. Archie
17. Leo
18. Henry
19. Joseph
20. Samuel

Peter Andre's daughter Amelia has a very popular name on both lists... (Twitter)
Peter Andre's daughter Amelia has a very popular name on both lists... (Twitter)


 
Top Girls Names
1.     Amelia
2.     Olivia
3.     Emily
4.     Ava
5.     Isla
6.     Jessica
7.     Poppy
8.     Isabella
9.     Sophie
10. Mia
11. Ruby
12. Lily
13. Grace
14. Evie
15. Sophia
16. Ella
17. Scarlett
18. Chloe
19. Isabelle
20. Freya

See how the compare to BabyCentre's list.
 
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Is your little one’s name in these lists? Let us know in the comments!