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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Grace Hoffman

Lionesses inspire the best baby names of 2022 after incredible Euros win

Not only did The Lionesses bring football home this year, but their success has inspired a wave of new parents too, as names from the squad have surged in popularity.

BabyCentre has released its list of the most popular baby names alongside the biggest naming trends parents have been following.

The iconic women's football team sparked a huge interest in this year's list as team members' names shot up in the rankings - with Millie landing the highest spot of all the sportswomen at 17th. The name - seemingly influenced by Millie Bright - originally ranked 17th in last year's list and shot up a whopping 14 spaces.

Chloe moved up one spot on this year's list (UEFA via Getty Images)

While thousands of parents have registered their baby name choices on the pregnancy and parenting site, experts have used the data to see where inspiration may have been coming from.

This year's report shows that mums and dads have been loving the successful footballers, as they've taken inspiration from their sporting resilience when choosing fitting names for their daughters.

It comes as the England women's football squad took the UEFA Championship title back in August.

Within the top 100 names, Leah, Millie and Chloe all climbed the charts.

Following the success of wining goal scorer Chloe Kelly, the name's popularity sat at 43rd place, moving up a single spot in the rankings from last year's date.

Leah landed the 56th spot (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Leah Williamson inspired her own surge of names as Leah wasn't close behind in the ranks at 56th place. The name moved up five spaces from last year after securing a space at 51st.

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!"

Lauren also saw a rise in registrations this year thanks to iconic sportswoman Lauren Hemp, but that wasn't the only close contender in this year's statistics.

It wasn't just the players who provided naming inspiration this year as the football fever meant that presenter and pundit names also joined the rankings following their part in the team's journey to victory.

Parents saw an increased interest in names including Gabby (Logan), Alexandra (Alex Scott), Susan (Sue Smith) and Isobel (Izzy Christiansen).

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