Top baby names of 2013 revealed and Prince George has had an unexpected effect

With all the royal furore throughout 2012, we were quite expecting a bevvie of Williams, Harrys, Catherines and Kates to be born this year.

And with the arrival of Prince George in July, it seemed almost a dead cert that the name would shoot to the top of the most-popular list.

But it seems that wasn't the case. In fact, most new parents in the UK steered away from royal monikers, with only Harry making it into the top 10 (though dropping three places from the previous year).

According to the list from BabyCentre, the top 10 boys names of 2013 were Oliver, Jack, Charlie, Harry, Oscar, Thomas, Jacob, Ethan, Noah and James.

For girls, it was Olivia, Emily, Sophia, Lily, Isabella, Isabelle, Amelia, Isla, Sophie and Ava that took the top spots.

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It's clear that mums were concerned about being seen to be copying the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as the name George fell out of the top 10 after the little Prince's birth. It had been climbing steadily in popularity since 2010 and was at number nine in the boys’ chart in June 2013 before falling to unlucky number 13 in the final stats.
 
“So much speculation about the royal baby and regal names could be responsible for the decline of many names associated with our royal family over the past 12 months,” says Sarah Barrett, Managing Editor for BabyCentre.

William (-11 per cent), Harry (-31 per cent), Charles (-16 per cent), Kate (-18 per cent) and Catherine (-47 per cent) as well as Prince George’s middle name Louis (-60 per cent) have all declined in popularity this year.

But we don't expect this to be a trend that continues.

“This was the year that some of the nation’s favourite royal names fell out of favour, particularly for baby boys," Sarah told us.

"Non-regal Oliver knocked Harry off the number one spot and unlike last year, both William and George failed to make the top 10.

“Though there may be a few less baby Harrys, Williams and Georges around at the moment, these traditional British baby names will bounce back. We expect to see George back in the top 10 by this time next year”.

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The stats also showed that though there's been something of a royal obsession in recent years, actually we get our inspiration from places closer to home - namely, our telly box.

Breaking Bad has been a big influence, with Jesse and Skyler on the rise and the first ever baby Hank registered in the UK.

Homeland, Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey have all put name ideas in our heads too, with Violet, Arya, Brody and Sansa all seeing rises.

Do you think we'll see a George resurgence next year? Give us your predictions on Twitter.