Revealed: The top baby names in England and Wales as Muhammad takes top spot for boys for third year running and Olivia is most popular girls name

By RORY TINGLE, HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT Published: 10:41, 9 July 2026 | Updated: 10:48, 9 July 2026 The most popular baby names in England and Wales were revealed today, with Muhammad taking the top spot for boys and Olivia for girls.  A total of 5,957 boys were given the specific spelling of Muhammad in 2025, a rise of four per cent on last year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Muhammad has led the list for three years running. Olivia holds the top spot for girls' names for the fourth year while 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 was the biggest faller (down five).  Jude comes in at fourteenth, a rise of 47 places over a decade - potentially pointing to the popularity of England star Jude Bellingham. 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. The top baby names in England and Wales have been revealed by the Office of National Statistics (ONS)   Its prevalence dropped considerably in the lead up to and during WW2 but began to rise in the 1960s. 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 stems 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 Mo Farah, Mohamed Salah and 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. Royal names continued to fall in popularity on the whole. George ranked seventh, with 3,082 babies being given the name and William came in 25th. Jude comes in at fourteenth, a rise of 47 places over a decade - potentially pointing to the popularity of England star Jude Bellingham  Louis came in 49th for boys and Charlotte ranked 25th for girls.  Previous analysis of baby names show 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.