The most popular baby names of 2021 were Muhammad for boys and Olivia for girls

Whether it’s the endless hours spent watching Netflix when there was nowhere to go, or joy of emerging from lockdown and being able to travel again, the pandemic has certainly had an impact on thei year’s most popular baby names.

British parenting website BabyCentre has revealed the top 100 boys and girls names registered by its users in 2021, with Muhammad and Olivia taking the top spots in each category.

Olivia was briefly knocked off the top spot last year by Sophia, but is back at number one for girls. Meanwhile, Muhammad usually comes out on top when all the different spelling variations are combined.

The website noted that following a period of uncertainty due to the coronavirus, hopeful parents opted for names synonymous with new beginnings, such as Aurora, throughout the year.

In a year where people made the most of their streaming platforms’ releases at home, names made popular by Disney+ shows like Luca and Netflix series like Bridgerton’s Penelope and Sex Education’s Maeve also climbed up to the top 100.

And following Euro 2020 and the Tokyo Olympics, sports enthusiasts have also named their kin after this year’s athletes of the moment, including Jack – inspired by Jack Grealish – Jason – inspired by Olympian Jason Kenny – and Luke – after Luke Shaw – all making it into the top 100.

However, the website noted the name Piers fell out of favour this year, alongside names like Maud, Elliott and Dwayne.

British parenting website BabyCentre has revealed the top 100 names for boys and girls that were the most popular with parents in 2021, stock image

The top five for boys included Muhammad, a name of Arabic origin, as well as Noah, Oliver, George and Leo.

Meanwhile, names ending in ‘a’ were a popular choice for girls, with Olivia and Sophia take the two top spots, followed by Lily, Amelia and Ava.

BabyCentre also noted that as the coronavirus pandemic is still progressing, some names’ popularity is particularly telling.

For instance, Sarah Gilbert, who developed the Oxford vaccine to fight the pandemic was a popular choice this year, with the name going up five places compared to 2020, to number 42.

Optimistic parents also went for names such as ‘Aurora and Eden,’ symbolising new beginnings, for girls.

Top 100 baby girls’ names of 2021

1. Olivia

2. Sophia

3. Lily

4. Amelia

5. Ava

6. Mia

7. Isla

8. Freya

9. Ella

10. Rosie

11. Aria

12. Ivy

13. Emily

14. Grace

15. Isabella

16. Poppy

17. Mila

18. Evie

19. Maya

20. Willow

21. Hannah

22. Sophie

23. Luna

24. Zara

25. Florence

26. Layla

27. Daisy

28. Elsie

29. Evelyn

30. Phoebe

31. Millie

32. Nur

33. Sienna

34. Charlotte

35. Emilia

36. Zoe

37. Ada

38. Alice

39. Fatima

40. Eva

41. Ruby

42. Sarah

43. Hallie

44. Chloe

45. Maisie

46. Isabelle

47. Ayla

48. Emma

49. Maryam

50. Scarlett

51. Matilda

52. Ellie

53. Lyla

54. Harper

55. Molly

56. Jessica

57. Eliza

58. Thea

59 Arabella

60. Eliana

61. Leah

62. Violet

63. Maria

64. Erin

65. Lucy

66. Lottie

67. Holly

68. Aurora

69. Robyn

70. Imogen

71. Penelope

72. Anna

73. Bonnie

74. Iris

75. Jasmine

76. Maeve

77. Eleanor

78. Kiara

79. Gracie

80. Esme

81. Abigail

82. Rose

83. Bella

84. Delilah

85. Nancy

86. Elizabeth

87. Amelie

88. Orla

89. Amber

90. Georgia

91. Gianna

92. Eden

93. Lola

94. Lara

95. Hazel

96. Clara

97. Summer

98. Mirha

99. Elodie

100. Olive

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Top 100 baby boys’ names of 2021

1. Muhammad

2. Noah

3. Oliver

4. George

5. Leo

6. Theo

7. Freddie

8. Harry

9. Jack

10. Arthur

11. Charlie

12. Ryan

13. Ethan

14. Henry

15. Archie

16. Finley

17. Lucas

18. Oscar

19. Jacob

20. Thomas

21. Isaac

22. Adam

23. Alfie

24. Elijah

25. Jaxon

26. Aiden

27. Louie

28. Joshua

29. Luca

30. Tommy

31. James

32. Max

33. Daniel

34. Reuben

35. Liam

36. Teddy

37. Arlo

38. Alexander

39. Logan

40. Jayden

41. William

42. Michael

43. Theodore

44. Mason

45. Yusuf

46. Rory

47. Ezra

48. Albie

49. Dylan

50. Caleb

51. Nathan

52. Roman

53. Jude

54. Ollie

55. Benjamin

56. Myles

57. Ayaan

58. Finn

59. Zachary

60. Zayn

61. Joseph

62. Samuel

63. Hugo

64. Ali

65. Sebastian

66. Reggie

67. Hunter

68. Kai

69. Harrison

70. Rowan

71. David

72. Edward

73. Alex

74. Ronnie

75. Toby

76. Riley

77. Jesse

78. Luke

79. Omar

80. Ibrahim

81. Frankie

82. Blake

83. Gabriel

84. Jason

85. Grayson

86. Levi

87. Jasper

88. Eli

89. Milo

90. Abdul

91. Matthew

92. Asher

93. John

94. Hudson

95. Carter

96. Nathaniel

97. Jake

98. Leon

99. Bobby

100. Stanley

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Sarah Redshaw, UK Managing Editor for BabyCentre, said: ‘Parents don’t just reflect popular trends with their baby name picks, what they don’t choose can be just as revealing.

‘We predict there will be a rise in superhero names as Marvel and DC films continue to dominate and inspire many more parents to call their baby Thor, Thanos or Sylvie,’ she added.

‘But despite all this inspiration it can take a long time for parents to decide on a name.

‘Our poll showed that 8 per cent of parents were still undecided about what to call their baby more than a week after they were born. And however long it takes to decide, many parents – nearly 13 per cent – end up regretting their name choice.’

Top baby naming trends of 2021: New parents take inspiration from Netflix hits and sporting heroes, but old fashioned monikers like Bertha and Roger fall out of favour

POPULAR CULTURE

Without contest, 2021 was the year where pop culture was one of the biggest trend among baby names, with monikers inspired by Netflix shows breaking into the top 100.

Maeve, Otis and Eric, made popular by the character from Netflix’s raunchy series Sex Education, entered the top 100, while YOU-inspired names Love and Henry moved up the charts.

Penelope rose to number 71, perhaps influended by Miss Featherington in Bridgerton, names inspired by Made in Chelsea also rose in popularity, with Myles reaching number 56, Harry making it into the top ten, Millie in 31st position and Ollie climbing 13 places.

SPORTING HEROES

After a summer filled with sporting competitions including the UEFA European Championship which kicked off in June and the Olympics and Paralympics in July and August, sports enthusiasts took inspiration from their heroes as well.

Harry Kane and Harry McGuire’s exploits during the Euros saw the name making it into the top ten, while Jack was also a popular option following Jack Grealish’s rise in popularity this year.

Team GB had their second best Olympics ever in the Tokyo games this year, winning 65 medals.

Jason Kenny, first Briton to win seven Olympic gold medals with a spectacular defence of his men’s keirin title, saw the name Jason reach number 84 in the boys’ top 100 names list.

TRAVEL

With international travel being a big topic of conversation this year, with restrictions being updated to reflect the stat of the pandemic, some parents opted for wanderlust names, picking patronyms like Ocean and Destiny making the girls’ top 100.

GENDER NEUTRAL

Meanwhile, gender neutral names were also a popular trend of 2021, with Willow reaching number 20 in the girls’ top 100 list and climbing outside of the top 100 for boys as well.

Noah was a big favourite for boys, making it to second place, and it climbed in popularity with girls too, as well as Blake.

DEATH OF OLD-FASHIONED NAMES

However, some names fell out of favour this year, with no new registrations recorded by BabyCentre.

This was the case for Piers, as well as Elliott, Clive, Maurice, Roger, Clifford, Dwayne, Vernon and Daryl.

Girls name that were not registered this year included Maud, Tina, Pauline, Doreen, Doris, Edna, Glynis, Bertha, Kerry and Gertrude.

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