BabyCentre reveals the top baby names of 2022
– Parents bring women’s football names home
– 90s revival see retro names soar
– Love Island contestants make their mark on the charts
– Small screen influences range from Derry Girls to kids’ TV
– Girls get their A game on
Today BabyCentre unveils the top 100 baby boys’ and girls’ names of 2022, as well as the biggest trends influencing parents.
Experts at the leading pregnancy and parenting resource have crunched tens of thousands of name registrations over the year to offer up a full report on the ups and down of this year’s chart. And data has been scoured both in and outside the top 100 to discover what might be inspiring naming choices.
BabyCentre can reveal that parents are seeking inspiration from sources as diverse as reality TV show Love Island and the 90s revival. Small screen shows continued to influence mums and dads while England’s UEFA victory brought football names home.
One surprise was that royal names didn’t continue to climb the charts as the nation mourned the loss of the queen and crowned a new king. Despite Elizabeth rising up the charts in BabyCentre’s half year data, there was no increase in the full year results.
Other royal names including Lilibet, Charlie, William, Kate, Harry and Meghan didn’t see an increase in registrations either. Regal names have enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years though and remain firm favourites for parents.
Women’s football baby names
The England women’s football squad not only took the UEFA Championship title but also won in the name charts. Leah (Williamson), Millie (Bright) and winning goal scorer Chloe (Kelly) all climbed the top 100 while Lauren (Hemp) saw a rise in registrations.
And it wasn’t just the players who provided naming inspiration. Football fever meant the presenters and pundits who were there through the lionesses’ journey to victory also scored with parents. Gabby (Logan), Alexandra (Alex Scott), Susan (Sue Smith) and Isobel (Izzy Christiansen) have all surged in popularity.
Sarah Redshaw, UK Managing Editor for BabyCentre, said: “After their incredible 2-1 win over Germany at Wembley Stadium in July, parents seem to have been inspired not only by the England women’s but the team of presenters too.
“As the lionesses ended years of hurt for footy fans, parents made sure their names came home. It’s now over to the men to make the same kind of impact – no pressure!”
Love Island baby names
Contestants from Love Island past and present have made a big impact on the chart with 2022 runner up Luca (Bish) one of the highest climbers this year, leaping 21 places into the top ten. Following closely 2021’s Toby (Aromolaran) rose 20 places while his fellow runner up Chloe (Burrows) also went up a place.
2021 winners Millie (Court) and Liam (Reardon) flew 14 and 10 places respectively while another fan favourite from that year Teddy (Soares) proved true to his name, going up 18 places.
Maura (Higgins) saw registrations for the first time this year while fellow season 5 islander Ovie (Soko) was registered for the first time since finding fame in the 2019 Love Island season.
Other Love Island contestants turned social media stars Dr Alex (George) went up seven places to number 66 and Zara (Mcdermott) climbed eight places to break into the top 20 at number 16. Theo (Campbell), controversial season three islander, went up three places to number three in the charts.
The Love Island inspiration didn’t stop at contestants. Maya leapt up 10 places to break into the top 10 at number nine after Maya Jama was announced as the new Love Island host for 2023.
Sarah said: “Love Islander names are definitely parents’ type on paper. And BabyCentre parents haven’t been putting all their eggs in the 2022 Love Island basket either. It’s possible that the islanders’ continued fame on social media and more reality TV is causing this surge. We now want to keep a watch on the names of 2022 winners Ekin-Su and Davide to see if they become more popular as they go on to bigger things.”
90s baby names
With a 90s revival in full-swing, parents have been naming their little ones after the decade’s icons, as well as resurrecting the most popular names from back in the day too.
Top 90s names are seeing a resurgence with Thomas, Jack, Daniel, Matthew, Samuel, Charlotte and Emily all making a comeback in BabyCentre’s registrations.
90s music had an influence too with Liam rocking up 10 places in the charts although brother, rival and former Oasis bandmate Noel went down in registrations.
Blur’s Damon (Albarn) saw an increase in registrations outside the top 100 while Alex (James) stepped up the chart. Mani (Mounfield) bassist of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream and Justine (Frischmann) lead singer of Elastica and founding member of Suede both saw more registrations than last year. Outside of Britpop, Jason (Donovan) and singers Gabrielle and Aaliyah all had an uptick in registrations.
Fans of classic 90s comedy Friends sent Matthew (Perry/LeBlanc), David (Schwimmer) and Lisa (Kudrow) soaring in popularity.
Sarah said: “We wonder if parents are just excited to be dusting off their bucket hats or if 90s babies are now starting to have their own and giving into nostalgia when it comes to naming their little ones!”
Popular TV names in 2022
Ninjango characters Kai, Jayden, Maya and Cole flew up the chats. Much loved classic children’s character Thomas (the Tank Engine) went steaming up to number 19 and Ada, the leading character in Ada Twist, Scientist rose seven places to number 30.
Other TV-inspired names this year came from Derry Girls, after the much anticipated third and final series hit living rooms in May 2022. Erin jumped 15 places to number 49 and Orla edged up one place to number 87.
Sarah said: “Now that season one and two are available on Netflix, could we see the other Derry Girls names Clare, Michelle, and James grow in 2023?”
A plus for baby girls’ names
No less than 12 girls’ names in the BabyCentre top 100 start and end in A – around one in eight baby girls’ names in the charts. This is four more than last year with newcomers Anaya at number 68, Aisha at 85 and Amira at 93. Aaliyah also includes the alternative spelling Aaliya and was the highest new entry at number 53.
The most popular of the A plus names was Ava, a top five favourite, closely followed by Amelia at number 6 and Aria up 3 places to number 8.
Elsewhere in the chart, Ada and Ayla both climbed seven places to numbers 30 and 40 respectively. Aurora flew up 16 places to number 52, making it one of our biggest climbers, Anna rose 11 to number 61 and Arabella was at number 70.
The full top 100 names for boys and girls are:
Girls’ names
1. Sophia +1
2. Lily +1
3. Olivia -2
4. Isla +3
5. Ava +0
6. Amelia -2
7. Freya +1
8. Aria +3
9. Maya +10
10. Ivy +2
11. Emily +2
12. Isabella +3
13. Mia -7
14. Grace +0
15. Evie +3
16. Zara +8
17. Millie +14
18. Ella -9
19. Hannah +2
20. Daisy +7
21. Rosie -11
22. Elsie +6
23. Willow -3
24. Luna -1
25. Poppy -9
26. Zoe +10
27. Isabelle +19
28. Sophie -6
29. Sienna +4
30. Ada +7
31. Nur +1
32. Florence -7
33. Charlotte +1
34. Evelyn -5
35. Emilia +0
36. Maryam +13
37. Fatima +2
38. Harper +16
39. Phoebe -9
40. Ayla +7
41. Mila -24
42. Maisie +3
43. Chloe +1
44. Hallie -1
45. Eliana +15
46. Layla -20
47. Lyla +6
48. Emma +0
49. Erin +15
50. Eva -10
51. Alice -13
52. Aurora +16
53. Aaliyah new
54. Ruby -13
55. Matilda -4
56. Leah +5
57. Bella +26
58. Thea +0
59. Nora new
60. Molly -5
61. Anna +11
62. Darcie new
63. Lottie +3
64. Eleanor +13
65. Robyn +4
66. Violet -4
67. Maeve +9
68. Anaya new
69. Maddison new
70. Arabella -11
71. Maria -8
72. Holly -5
73. Ellie -21
74. Penelope -3
75. Imogen -5
76. Lucy -11
77. Talia new
78. Rose +4
79. Mirha +19
80. Bonnie -7
81. Eliza -24
82. Iris -8
83. Abigail -2
84. Nova new
85. Aisha new
86. Nancy -1
87. Orla +1
88. Gabriella new
89. Gracie -10
90. Esme -10
91. Jessica -35
92. Scarlett -42
93. Amira new
94. Elizabeth -8
95. Jasmine -20
96. Olive +4
97. Lara -3
98. Lola -5
99. Mabel new
100. Harriet new
Boys’ names
1. Muhammad +0
2. Noah +0
3. Theo +3
4. Leo +1
5. Oliver -2
6. Jack +3
7. George -3
8. Luca +21
9. Ethan +4
10. Freddie -3
11. Arthur -1
12. Ryan +0
13. Harry -5
14. Oscar +4
15. Henry -1
16. Charlie -5
17. Archie -2
18. Teddy +18
19. Thomas +1
20. Adam +2
21. Aiden +5
22. Alfie +1
23. Louie +4
24. Finley -8
25. Liam +10
26. Jacob -7
27. Lucas -10
28. Daniel +5
29. Caleb +21
30. Joshua -2
31. Jaxon -6
32. Max +0
33. Isaac -12
34. Elijah -10
35. Zayn +25
36. Theodore +7
37. Reuben -3
38. Arlo -1
39. Jayden +1
40. James -9
41. William +0
42. Jude +11
43. Tommy -13
44. Mason +0
45. Ali +19
46. Albie +2
47. Ezra +0
48. Alexander -10
49. Nathan +2
50. Dylan -1
51. Yusuf -6
52. Kai +16
53. Rory -7
54. Logan -15
55. Toby +20
56. Roman -4
57. Samuel +5
58. Michael -16
59. Elliot new
60. Myles -4
61. Ayaan -4
62. Sebastian +3
63. Finn -5
64. Kian new
65. Harrison +4
66. Alex +7
67. Jesse +10
68. Jason +16
69. David +2
70. Grayson +15
71. Levi +15
72. Benjamin -17
73. Hunter -6
74. Hudson +20
75. Gabriel +8
76. Ollie -22
77. Rowan -7
78. Zachary -19
79. Asher +13
80. Ibrahim +0
81. Riley -5
82. Brodie new
83. Eli +5
84. Oakley new
85. Abdul +5
86. Luke -8
87. Matthew +4
88. Joseph -27
89. Milo +0
90. Hugo -27
91. Reggie -25
92. Edward -20
93. Ronnie -19
94. Aaron new
95. Jasper -8
96. Omar -17
97. Zion new
98. Bobby +1
99. Abdullah new
100. Syed new