Lily has shot up the rankings to become the second most popular girls’ name in England and Wales, knocking Amelia down to third, as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released its annual baby name data for 2025. Olivia held the top spot for the fourth year in a row, while Muhammad topped the boys’ list for the third consecutive year, having been in the top ten since 2016.
Noah remained in second place for boys, with Leo rising to third. The rest of the top ten boys’ names were Luca, Arthur, Oliver, George, Oscar, Theodore and Freddie. Oliver, once third, has fallen to sixth, according to the data. For girls, Isla took fourth, followed by Florence, Freya, Poppy, Elsie, Ivy and new entry Isabella. Ivy, previously fifth, dropped to ninth.
“Olivia and Muhammad retain top spots, Lily rises to second, and Ellie drops out of top 100.”
The ONS, which uses birth registration data from the last full calendar year, noted several new entries into the top 100. Eliana, Gracie, Alba and Lilah appeared for the first time on the girls’ list, while Carter, Ruben, Stanley and Vincent were new for boys. Meanwhile, long‑standing favourites have disappeared entirely: Ellie, Amelie and Jessica are no longer among the 100 most popular girls’ names, and Grayson, Brody and Bodhi have fallen out of the boys’ list.
Further down the rankings, Vinnie climbed a remarkable 33 places to 58th, while Charlie slipped from 17th to 22nd, moving out of the top 20 in a major shift. The data, published on Wednesday, underscores how quickly parental preferences can evolve – with once‑ubiquitous names vanishing and fresh monikers emerging to take their place.