BABY NAME GAME
Jack and Grace are top of the tots in North Lanarkshire.
It’s the baby name game that everyone loves playing.
And we have just learned the most popular names across the area in 2019, after the official records were published.
In North Lanarkshire, the most popular boys’ name was Jack, with 39 tots being called that and with 38, Grace was the top name for girls in the county.
In neighbouring South Lanarkshire, Olivia remains in the top spot for the third year in a row, but Jack knocked Lewis off his perch at the top, down to number two. A total of 40 boys were named Jack across South Lanarkshire last year, while 36 girls were called Olivia.
And the popularity of the names was also mirrored across the country – they came in at the top of the table for Scotland as a whole.
Alan Ferrier, head of demographic statistics at National Records of Scotland said: “Jack and Olivia continue to be the most popular baby names in Scotland.
“However, this year, over 5000 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.”
Across Scotland, a total of 49,863 births were registered in 2019, with 5031 having first forenames that were unique for their sex in that year.
The lists show that the year’s most popular first forenames were:
■ for boys, Jack (449 babies), Oliver (359) and James (345);
■ for girls, Olivia (394 babies), Emily (388) and Isla (364).
These new lists replace the top 100 published in the middle of December, and include the first forename of every baby whose birth was registered throughout the whole of December.