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Peaky Blinders influences year's top Scottish baby names

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The hit TV drama Peaky Blinders is having an influence on Scotland's most popular baby names.

Jack and Olivia are reigning name champions of 2019 according to the National Records of Scotland.

Jack leads for a 12th consecutive year while Olivia tops the girls' list for the fourth time.

However, rising at speed were Arthur and Tommy, possibly brought back in vogue by the BBC drama set in 1920s Birmingham.

In 2019, Arthur rose 20 places to 26th and Tommy soared 41 places to 48th.

John Shelby (Joe Cole), Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and Arthur Shelby (Paul Anderson)
Peaky Blinders could have inspired a surge in Arthurs and Tommys. L-R: John Shelby (Joe Cole), Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and Arthur Shelby (Paul Anderson)

Oliver remained the number two boys' name with Emily in second place for the girls.

There was no move in third place for James while Charlie climbed seven places to fourth.

Scottish islands remained popular with Harris rising three places to fifth and Lewis dropping one place into seventh.

A sign of the wet summer perhaps, Noah was up three places to sixth.

NRS releases the year's name trends every December.

A total of 23,955 boys and 22,568 girls were registered in the 2019 figures.

Parents chose 3,370 different first forenames for boys and 4,095 different first forenames for girls.

In total, 2,138 boys and 2,668 girls were given first forenames that were unique.

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"Look Harper, there are 181 baby girls with your name."

Per 100 babies, the numbers of different names and unique names were well above the levels of 10 years ago and, much more so, 40 years ago.

The percentage of boys with unique first forenames was greater this year (8.9%, in the period covered by these figures) than in the whole of 2009 (6.7%) and 1979 (2.3%).

As for the girls, parents kept it traditional.

Isla and Sophie remained third and fourth respectively, Ella rose one place to fifth, Amelia (down one place) and Ava (up one place) were joint sixth, Grace remained eighth, Freya climbed four places to ninth and Charlotte was up one place at 10th.

There were two entrants to the girls' Top 20: Rosie, which rose seven places to 19th, and Millie which was up one place to 20th.

The highest climbers within the Top 50s were:

  • Arthur (up 20 places to 26th)
  • Willow (up 10 places to 24th)
  • Daisy (up 11 places to 38th)

Fast-rising entrants into the Top 50 included:

  • George (up 13 places to joint 40th)
  • Tommy (up 41 places to 48th)
  • Andrew (up 13 places to joint 49th)
  • Gracie (up 22 places to joint 39th)
  • Hallie (up 15 places to 44th)
  • Ayla (up 19 places to joint 47th)
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What has happened to Jackson? The name dropped 20 places in 2019

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "It is always a pleasure to read the top baby names of the year, which give an insight into one of the most cherished moments in every parent's life.

"While Olivia and Jack have shown their enduring appeal by retaining the top spot yet again, it's interesting to see newer entries such as Ayla and Hallie in the Top 50."

Out of favour

Alan Ferrier, head of demographic statistics at NRS said: "Once again Jack and Olivia are the most popular first names in Scotland, however, there have been some fascinating changes in the top names for 2019.

"Jackson had the biggest fall in popularity for the boys names in the top 100, dropping 20 places to 79th, and for the girls it was Cara, down 31 places to joint 96th."