Scotland's top baby names revealed as Luca and Isla

Getty Images newborn baby Getty Images

Luca has taken the top spot as the most popular baby boy's name in Scotland, according to new figures.

For baby girls, the most popular name was Isla for the second time.

Scotland's top baby names were revealed by the National Records of Scotland (NRS).

Luca pushed last year's most popular boy's name - Noah - into second place, with Leo coming in third.

With 344 baby boys named Luca it climbed four places from the previous year.

For the first time since 1996, Jack was not in the top three names for boys - this year coming in fourth.

Olivia was pushed out of the top spot in the girls' list by Isla, which last took the top spot in 2020. Freya came in third.

Blockbuster names

Disney/Pixar Luca film Disney/Pixar
The name Luca has risen in popularity following the release of a children's film with the name

The rise of the name Luca is down to the release of a Disney Pixar film of that name in 2021, the NRS said.

The animated film, set on the Italian Riviera, is about a boy named Luca and his newfound best friend.

The name has climbed from 43rd in the charts since the film's release.

Universal Cillian Murphy as Robert OppenheimerUniversal
Cillian Murphy as Robert Oppenheimer

Last summer's blockbusters, Oppenheimer and Barbie, also brought popularity to names linked with the films.

Cillian climber 24 places to number 99 in the list thanks to the Irish actor Cillian Murphy who portrayed Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who developed the first nuclear bomb.

Warner Bros/Alamy Margot Robbie as BarbieWarner Bros/Alamy
Margot Robbie as Barbie

And Margot took the 106th spot, climbing 57 places. The actress who played Barbie was Margot Robbie.

Oakley was a new entrant in the top 100 boys' names, coming in at number 87 - a rise of 64 places.

On the girls' list, Mabel took the joint 93rd spot, having climbed 102 spaces.

Along with Luca, other Disney-related names on the 2023 list included Tarzan, Aladdin and Woody.

'All-time high' for different names

Phillipa Haxton, an NRS statistician, said there were more names in use today than there were in previous generations.

“The number of different names for boys reached a new all-time high in 2023, as did the number of unique names given to only one child in the year," she said.

“The same pattern was observed for girls’ names, and the variety of names given to girls is still greater than for boys.”

The full list of names is available on the NRS website.

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