Parents drop classic names when making baby choices
A MOTHER of three who became pregnant at 14 is celebrating after qualifying as a midwife – and now hopes to inspire other teenage parents.
Stephanie Walker, 29, fell pregnant with Daniel while studying for her GCSEs.
She achieved four Es, four Ds and one C as she looked after her little bump.
But she managed to retake her exams at Newcastle College before going on to Tyne
Metropolitan College and Northumbria University. Stephanie has now graduated from a midwifery studies course at Northumbria – having delivered nearly 50 babies in three years.
She is now doing shifts with the same midwife who helped with her
Top class...midwife Stephanie Walker own first pregnancy. Stephanie, from Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, said: “I can’t believe I’ve done it.
“I never had a career and had every potential to stay at home to raise my children.
“But I knew I had to get back into it and make something of myself. I hope I can inspire other women.
“There’s such a stigma attached to teenage mums. We’re expected to never achieve anything.”
Stephanie also has children Isaac, seven, and Freddy, six.
SOME of the 20th century’s top names for babies have fallen out of favour as younger mothers follow popular culture, it has emerged.
Margaret topped the girl’s chart in 1924, 1934 and 1944 and Susan was favourite in 1954 and 1964.
But last year saw just 109 Margarets and seven Susans, dropping to 396th and 3,151st place respectively, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said yesterday.
John, the top boy’s name in 1914, 1924, 1934 and 1944, fell nearly 74 per cent to 131st in 2019 with just 431 named in England andWales.
Thomas saw a 69 per cent drop in popularity, from topping the list in 1994 to 13th place last year.
Modern
Oliver remained the most popular boy’s name for the seventh year in a row, while Olivia topped the girls’ list for the fourth year running.
Freya and Lily replaced Emily and Ella in the top 10 girls’ list. There were no new boys’ top 10 entries.
David Corps of the ONS said: “Younger mothers opted for more modern names like Harper [David Beckham’s daughter] and shortened boys’ names like Freddie. Older mothers chose more traditional names such as Jack and Charlotte.”
The number of girls named Dua doubled from 63 to 126 last year following Dua Lipa’s first UK number one single in 2017. For boys, Kylo
Oliver
Noah
Harry
Olivia
Isla
Mia
Muhammad
Charlie
TOP 10 BOYS
TOP 10 GIRLS
Sophia
Lily 2019 figures for babies in England and Wales
rose from 10 to 67 last
Kylo Ren in Star Wars.
The most popular boy’s name with mothers under 25 was Noah, then Leo and Archie – the name of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s son.
Archie was also 26th for mothers aged 30 to 34 and 43rd for over 35s.
The top girl’s name with mothers under 25 was Amelia with Harper seventh, while Olivia topped the list in the other age brackets.
Alfred entered the boys’ top 100 list for the first time since 1944 and newbies were Chester, Hudson, Ibrahim and Oakley. But Matthew plunged 17 places to 99th.
Mabel and Lara were the only two new entrants in the top 100 girls’ names. year after