5,000 unique baby names registered in Scotland last year as parents get creative
● Unique names popular but Jack and Olivia still top
Scotland may face a plummeting birth rate, but when it comes to parents creating an eye-catching first name for their babies, things are definitely on the rise.
Newly published statistics reveal that of 49,863 births registered last year, 5,031 were given forenames unique for their sex.
The full list of baby names shows that such unusual examples as Dicaprio, Armani, Duke, Poet, King, and Wolf were all given by parents.
In what appears to be a tributetothelegendaryamerican singer-songwriter, one child was named Bobby-dylan, while two babies were named Persephone - after the Greek goddess of vegetation.
Hyphenated first names are also becoming increasingly popular. Poppy-blue, Macaulay-martin, Wilsonalexander, Raini-may, and Cruz-orson are just some of the unique combinations registered in Scotland in 2019.
Jack and Olivia remain the most popular names for boys and girls.
Alan Ferrier, head of demographic statistics at the National Records of Scotland, said yesterday: “This year, over 5,000 unique baby names were registered, which suggests that parents may be striving for originality and individuality when naming their children.
“Looking outside the top 100 names, it’s interesting to see the impact that popular culture is having on how parents name their children. More boys than ever are now called
Ezra, which may be a result of the popularity of singer George Ezra.
“The Peaky Blinders trend has continued outside the top 100 names, the latest statistics show a continued rise in the number of babies named Cillian following the launch of the hit TV show and star actor Cillian Murphy, the names Polly and Chester have also increased in popularity in this time.”
The name James continues to be popular and is the only name to have been in the top 423 babies 370 362 342 337 320 289 288 284 265 ten for its sex in every year from 1974 onwards.
But many once popular names have now gone out of fashion. David, John and Paul, were the top three boys’ names in 1975, but were not in their top tens in 2000 or 2015 and, in 2019, 101 boys had David as their first forename, 79 were named John and only 22 were named Paul.
Scotland’s birthrate in the second quarter of last year was the lowest since records began in 1885, prompting Holyrood ministers to issue a fresh reminder of the importance of migration to the country.
In the three months from April-june, there were 12,253 births registered north of the Border – a drop of 5.4 per cent from the same period last year.
Registrars said there was no single reason for the fall in the number of births.
Experts speculated that causes may include the postponement of childbearing until older ages and economic uncertainty influencing decisions around childbearing – particularly given that the beginning of the recent fall coincided with the financial crash a decade ago.
Julia Karlstedt, manager of Edinburgh-based charity Pregnancy Counselling & Care (Scotland), told The Scotsman in September last year that the cost of childcare may be putting off adults from starting families.
“The demand for our services has risen steadily in the last five years and we expect that to continue,” she said.