Hey, Jude! Three Lions' World Cup hero's name is the 14th most popular in England and Wales after more than doubling in the last decade

By ROBERT FOLKER, NEWS REPORTER and RORY TINGLE, HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT and CAMERON ROY, DATA JOURNALIST Published: 16:58, 9 July 2026 | Updated: 17:05, 9 July 2026 England's World Cup hero Jude Bellingham has seemingly inspired the next generation of baby names, with a 107 per cent increase in boys called Jude compared to a decade ago.  Bellingham burst onto the scene just aged 16, with his rapid rise seeing the now 23-year-old become England's poster boy at this year's World Cup. A rapid brace scored in just 96 seconds helped England beat Mexico at the Azteca in the round of 16, regarded by many as one of England's greatest ever World Cup victories.  Alongside his England heroics, his inspirational journey from Birmingham City to now playing for Spanish giants Real Madrid has seen thousands of parents decide to call their newborn Jude.  The song 'Hey Jude' has also kept the name in public consciousness for generations, with the song now sung by England supporters to serenade the midfielder.  Last year, 2,153 boys were named Jude out of more than 300,000 born, more than doubling in the last 10 years. It ranked 14th on the list of boys' names, a rise of 47 places over a decade. The name peaked in 2024, when 2,540 newborn babies were given the name Jude. That was the same year Bellingham scored a dramatic overhead kick equaliser in the dying seconds of England's Euro 2024 round of 16 match against Slovakia to keep them in the tournament. Jude comes in at 14th, a rise of 47 places over a decade, potentially pointing to the popularity of England star Jude Bellingham  Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. England went on to make the final, where Bellingham assisted Cole Palmer's equaliser against Spain, but it ended in a 2-1 defeat.  Bellingham arrived on the scene in 2019 when he became Birmingham City's youngest-ever first-team player and goalscorer at the age of just 16 years and 38 days. His rapid rise earned him the EFL Young Player of the Season in 2019, and his impact saw Birmingham City retire his iconic 22 shirt when he moved to Borussia Dortmund for an initial £25 million. He made 132 appearances for the German side over three seasons, during which he won the German Cup and was named Bundesliga Player of the Season in 2022/23. Following the standout season, he earned a move to Spanish giants Real Madrid in a £88.5 million transfer, aged just 19. In his debut campaign, he was the club's top league scorer, winning both La Liga and the UEFA Champions League, while individually taking home the La Liga Player of the Season award.  As well as breaking records at club level, Bellingham became England's youngest-ever player at a major tournament when he appeared aged 17 at Euro 2020, in which Sir Gareth Southgate's men finished runners-up, losing the final to Italy on penalties. He has since been one of England's standout performers in tournaments. Bellingham became the first person born in the 21st century to score in a World Cup in the 2022 tournament in Qatar, where he also became the second youngest World Cup scorer for England, only behind Michael Owen. And despite still being only 23, Bellingham has already played in two European Championship finals and will be hoping to reach his first World Cup final in the USA this summer. If England can finally 'bring it home', Jude's name will surely continue to rise in popularity, having already been a major driving force in England's success in this year's tournament so far.   Taking the top spot for the most popular boys' name in 2025 was Muhammad, with Olivia the most popular name for girls. A total of 5,957 boys were given the specific spelling of Muhammad in 2025, a rise of 4 per cent on last year – according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Muhammad has led the list for three years running, while Olivia claimed the top spot for girls for the fourth year and Lily has moved up the charts into second place. Amelia, which had been the second most popular girls' name in 2024, has dropped to third, while Noah comes in second place for boys, followed by Leo. Out of the top ten boys' names, the one that has seen the biggest rise in the last decade is Luca, which has rocketed up 49 places to be ranked fourth, while Oliver, down five, had the biggest drop. Mohammed, the version of the name that features an 'o' rather than a 'u', entered the top 100 boys' names for England and Wales 100 years ago, debuting at 91st in 1924. Its popularity fell considerably in the lead-up to and during the Second World War, but began to rise in the 1960s. What do you think of this year¿s most popular baby names? What's your view?That particular iteration of the name was the only one to appear in the ONS' top 100 data from 1924, until Mohammad joined in the early 1980s. Muhammad, now the most popular of the trio, first broke into the top 100 in the mid-1980s, and has seen the fastest growth of all three iterations since. The name means 'praiseworthy' or 'commendable', and comes from the Arabic word 'hamad' meaning 'to praise', and is shared with the founder of Islam, the prophet Muhammad. Increasing sizes of Muslim communities across the UK fuelled by immigration, as well as the popularity of sporting figures such as long-distance runner Mo Farah, footballer Mohamed Salah and the late boxer Muhammad Ali are likely to have sparked the increase. The ONS only provides statistics based on the exact spelling and does not group names, as some groupings are subjective and not straightforward. On the whole, royal names have continued to fall in popularity. George ranked seventh, with 3,082 babies being given the name, and William came in 25th. Louis came in 49th and Charlotte ranked 25th. And despite an initial boost in popularity for the name Meghan after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's engagement in 2017, only 12 babies with the name were born last year. Previous analysis of baby names shows they now come from a much wider range of countries and languages than they used to. The favourite baby names at the turn of the millennium were predominantly of English, Hebrew and Latin origin. Now, two decades later, Italian, Arabic, Norse and even Scottish-Spanish names also top the list.