Noah and Olivia were the top picks for new baby names in England and Wales last year, but in Merseyside things were a little different.
A total of 4,525 boys were named Noah and 3,649 girls were named Olivia in England and Wales in 2021, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics. That makes them the most popular baby names in the country.
It is the first time since 2013 that Oliver hasn’t topped the charts for boys. Oliver is now the second most popular name for a boy, with 4,167 newborns last year.
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That is followed by George with 4,141, Arthur with 3,766, and Muhammad with 3,722.
It is a sixth consecutive year at the top of the girls’ chart for Olivia. Amelia is the next most popular girl’s name overall, with 3,164, followed by Isla with 2,683, Ava with 2,576, and Ivy with 2,245.
Oliver is top of the boys’ charts in four areas of Merseyside - Knowsley (19), Liverpool (46), St. Helens (21), and Sefton (28).
In Wirral, however, Archie is the most popular boy’s name with 27.
Olivia is outright on top of the girls’ charts in four areas - Knowsley (14), Liverpool (35), St. Helens (19), and Sefton (23) - while Isla, Olivia and Penelope are joint top in Wirral with 21 each.
Jen Bowker, Franchise-owner and teacher at Bloom Baby Classes - which is a multi-award winning baby development classes in Aintree, Bootle and Fazakerely - explained why certain names start to trend.
Jen, who has a Bloom Baby Classes Facebook page and website, said: "I think certain names become popular because of demographics. And I think pop culture also plays a part. Oliver is top of the boys' chart in four Merseyside areas possibly because of Oliver Twist and more recently because of Harry Potter with the reference to Oliivander - he's the expert wandmaker in Harry Potter.
"Pop culture definitely plays a big part in the way parents choose baby names. When Peaky Blinders was on you had names like Tommy and Arthur that became popular in baby names. And with the Game of Thrones there was the rise of the name Emilia and that's because of the actress Emilia Clarke. So I can only think that it's to do with TV and pop culture.
"Archie is the most popular boys name in Wirral with 27 and that's probably to do with the Royal Family - Harry and Meghan named their son Archie.
"With Olivia being the top of the charts for four areas of Merseyside, I think it's to do with Harry Potter again. It might be the female equivalent of the boys name Oliver.
"Regarding the popular name Penelope, my friend recently called her daughter Penelope - she said she wanted a traditional name but she also wanted it to be a unique name. So there was nothing that was too unusual. So I wonder if people are looking at quite traditional names that are not heard that much these days and choosing that name to name their baby. You don't want to go to school and everyone has the same name in the class, so parents go for something different. The name Penelope could be linked to Lady Penelope from the Thunderbirds too.
"It's not in the baby list name data, but I have noticed in my classes that we have a lot of names that begin with the letter V. So we have Vinny, Violet and Vienna. And there is also Alby for a boy, we have a few of them too. Maybe that's a trend specific to North Liverpool? Maybe the parents just want a name that's not heard all of the time and it's slightly different. Of course, in the end those names will then become a trend.
"Maybe Vienna has a certain meaning to the parents, and with Violet it's traditional and it might be linked to the names of grandparents.
"We have names like Emily and Isabella which are more popular now, so that could be to do family names. So names could be to do with going back generations.
"It's not in the list, but I've noticed the name Beaux is on the up. It's French for beautiful. There are no harsh consonants in a lot of these these names either so the soft sounds could be something that parents might like in a name."
Jen added: "I reckon Noah is a popular name nationally because of the film The Notebook. The main character is called Noah and he is played by Ryan Gosling. It's a love story film. At first you think of a biblical reference with the name Noah but I think The Notebook has made it popular recently.
"George is popular because you have little Prince George, and Arthur is in there because of Peaky Blinders. Muhammad is a popular cultural name too."
James Tucker, Head of Health and Life Events Analysis, Office for National Statistics said: "Noah has replaced Oliver as the most popular name for boys in 2021, moving Oliver into second place and ending an eight-year reign at the top.
“Olivia remained the most popular girls name in 2021, having held the top spot since 2016.
“Interestingly, Noah was not top in any of the English regions, but has risen up the ranks in most regions since last year to take first place overall.
“While Noah and Olivia are enjoying their places at the top, some names could be in danger of falling out of favour. Leslie has had relatively little popularity in recent years with fewer than seven boys named each year since 2018. Others such as Clifford, Nigel and Norman have not fared much better with ten or fewer boys being named. Girls' names such as Glenda and Kerry, that were more common before, are also becoming endangered and we have seen less than five girls being named each year since 2018."
