It starts with an Oliv: Oliver and Olivia the most popular baby names
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The Office for National Statistics published today a survey with the names of the babies born in England and Wales in 2009.
In total there were 706, 248 new babies: 362,135 of them were boys; 18,022 more than the baby girls (344,113). This means that on average 1,935 babies are born in England and Wales every day.
Names wise, Jack went down one position and it was second in popularity in boys’ names after having enjoyed more than a decade on No 1. Oliver is the new Jack* for 2009; 7,364 Olivers will be struggling to differentiate themselves from the rest for the rest of their lives.
In girls, Olivias will have a similar issue: 5,201 only in 2009; mind you that Olivia was the top name in 2008 too: another 5,317 girls. On No 2 stands Ruby; same as in 2008.
*A look at the map shows that Jack is still the most popular name up north (North England) and Wales. Sophie (for girls) is the Southern’s favourite.
Sources:
Office for National Statistics Baby Names 2009
Credits:
The ‘name cloud’ was designed with Wordle
