The name Dua has doubled in popularity in England and Wales since the singer Dua Lipa had her first number one single in 2017, official figures have revealed.
Olivia and Amelia remained top of the charts for girls in 2019, while Oliver and George also remained the most popular choices for boys.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) data released on Wednesday showed that 4,082 Olivias and 3,712 Amelias were born in 2019. The next most popular names for girls were Isla in third and Ava in fourth. There were 4,932 Olivers and 4,575 Georges, while Noah and Arthur made up the top four for boys.
“Oliver and Olivia continued their reign as the top boys’ and girls’ names in 2019, but analysis shows choices in baby names can differ depending on the mother’s age,” said David Corps, of the ONS.
“We found younger mothers opted for more modern girls’ names like Harper, which has seen a rise since the Beckhams named their daughter so in 2011, and shortened boys’ names like Freddie.
“In contrast, older mothers chose more traditional names such as Jack and Charlotte.
“Popular culture continues to influence the baby names landscape. Following Dua Lipa’s first UK number one single in 2017, the number of girls named Dua has doubled from 63 to 126 in 2019.”
According to the data, Freya and Lily replaced Emily and Ella in the top 10 names for girls, while there were no new entries in the top 10 boys’ names. It is the first time Freya has been in the top 10 most popular girls’ names and also the first time Emily has not been in the top 10 since 1984, the ONS said. Fifth to eighth for girls were Mia, Isabella, Sophia and Grace.
While there were nominally fewer Olivers and Olivias than in 2018, the drop was not enough to knock either from top spot.
For girls, Hallie had the greatest rankings rise – up 21 places to 58th. Bonnie rose 19 places to 62nd, while Ada rose 18 places to 47th. For boys, the biggest riser was Tommy, which went 24 places to 26th, while Chester, Hudson and Oakley all rose 22 places to 90th, 92nd and 98th, respectively.
Last year, the ONS figures for 2018 showed Arthur and Ada had become as popular as they had in around 100 years, with statisticians speculating that “both [were] perhaps inspired by characters in the BBC TV drama Peaky Blinders”.