What's The Commonest Baby Name In Your London Borough? Latest Stats Revealed

What are the commonest baby names in your borough?

Every year, the Office for National Statistics releases data on the commonest baby names registered in the past year. It recently got round to sharing the 2022 stats. As usual, the London stats are broken down by borough, allowing us to make the graphic above.

Commonest boys' names in London boroughs

The Noahfication of London continues apace. This year, Noah is the top name in 13 London boroughs lists, up from nine last year. The maritime patriarch's name is also the commonest across London, and England as a whole (4,586 new Noahs in 2022). Moahammed or Muhammed is next, topping eight boroughs, with Leo claiming seven boroughs.

We have one new entry this year, in the unexpected shape of Hugo, the commonest name in Hammersmith & Fulham. Meanwhile, we wave goodbye to Frederick (last year's H&F leader), Theodore (Richmond) and a sharp drop in Arthurs (last year topping Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley).

Commonest girls' names in London boroughs

Here's a stat for you. The commonest baby names for girls in 29 of the 32 boroughs end with the letter 'a'. Maya, Mia, Olivia, Sophia and Amelia flourish in near equal numbers. Only Maryam in Tower Hamlets and Newham, and Leah in Hackney break this pattern. Olivia is the most popular girls' name across England, displacing last year's favourite of Amelia.

This year's surprise new entry is Luna in Lambeth, which is only the 34th most popular girls' name across England. Meanwhile, we lose from the map Ava (commonest last year in Hillingdon, Hounslow and Lambeth), Eva (Redbridge) and Charlotte (H&F).

Commonest names London-wide

Interesting though these stats are, they're also based on small data sets. Typically, a 'top' name was only registered a couple dozen times in the given borough, and the second-place name may have seen only a registration or two fewer. If we instead sum the data across all the London boroughs, then the stats stack up as follows:

BOYS

In total, 54,870 male births were registered in London in 2022, a drop on the 56,875 boys registered in 2021.

GIRLS

In total, 51,826 female babies were registered in 2022, also a drop on the 54,086 girls registered in 2021.

See previous results for 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017