If your name is Molly, Sarah or Lewis you are officially ‘unpopular’, the annual Australian Baby Name Report for 2022 has revealed.
The three names, along with Annabelle, Maddison, Isabel, Clara, Dylan and Marcus have all dropped out of the top 100 this year as Gen Y parents choose new and different names for their edgy Gen Alpha kids.
The McCrindle baby name report is released in May every year after Australia’s states and territories publish the top names given to babies the previous year.
If your name is Molly, Sarah or Lewis you are officially ‘unpopular’, the annual Australian Baby Name Report for 2022 has revealed
While nine names exited the list, there were nine that entered the top 100 for the first time in their place.
For the girls they were Riley, Lyla, Indiana, Nora, Heidi and Zoey and for the boys, Miles, Nicholas and Elias.
In more recent years, some of the newer ‘Generation Alpha’ girls’ names that have made a debut also include Mila, Sadie, Remi, Maeve and Delilah.
Boys’ names that have debuted in more recent years include Arthur, Ari, Ezra, River, Theo, Billy, and Luka.
In 2022, the most popular name for girls is Isla and for boys, Oliver; it’s the first time since 2015 that Australia has a new top baby girl name.
Isla was given to 1,539 Australian baby girls in 2021 and de-throned Charlotte from her long-standing number one baby girl name title.
Since Generation Alpha began being born, Isla has seen a surge in popularity from 34th position in 2010 to 4th in 2020 and now ranks as the most popular name for baby girls born in 2021.
Charlotte was followed by Olivia and Amelia. While the top 10 girls’ names have remained mostly unchanged, it was Chloe who moved out of the top 10 now placing 12th to be eclipsed by Ella coming in at number 10.
Baby names of 2022 – the trends to watch
NICKNAMES AS FIRST NAMES
In recent years we have noticed a trend of Australian parents opting for shorter names as first names. For example, Jack (3rd) outranks Jackson (59th) (a 17 point rank decline since last year), Leo (6th) outranks Leonardo (93rd) (a 13 point rank decline in comparison to last year), Archie (13th) outranks Archer (28th) and Eli (52nd) outranks Elias (99th). Even for girls’, currently Ella (10th) outranks Isabella (15th) and Isabelle (40th).
PLACE AND COLOUR NAMES
When it comes to baby girl names, parents are also drawing inspiration from colours. Among the baby names inspired by colour are Ruby (21st), Hazel (24th), Violet (28th), Scarlett (30th), Olive (64th), Jasmine (78th) and Rose (81st).
New parents today are also drawing on places for inspiration for their children’s names. Names like Charlotte (2nd), Sienna (23rd), Georgia (32nd), Florence (33rd), Sofia (39th), Savannah (68th), Eden (77th), Indiana (93rd) for girls and Hudson (12th), Jordan (53rd), Austin (55th), Logan (56th) and Jackson (59th) for boys.
ONE NAME, WORDED MANY WAYS
In recent years, the creativity has spanned through the emergence of similar names which are worded different ways. This is seen in Zoe (18th) and Zoey (100th), Sophia (20th) and Sofia (39th) and Amelia (4th) and Emilia (54th), highlighting that girls’ names vary creatively.
Popular pop culture names in the list include the girl’s name Maeve featured in the Netflix hit show Sex Education (pictured)
In more recent years, some of the newer ‘Generation Alpha’ girls’ names that have made a debut also include Mila, Sadie, Remi, Maeve and Delilah
Oliver has held first place for nine years since overtaking Jack in 2013.
Henry gained popularity and placed 4th while Theodore made an entrance for the first time placing at number eight.
According to McCrindle, although there has been consistency in the most popular baby names over the last decade, ‘parents today are less likely to name their child one of the top names as they select from a greater range of names’.
‘While parents are drawing on more original and traditional names for boys, there is greater variety in the names parents are choosing for their daughters,’ they added.
‘The top boys’ name Oliver has 32 per cent more occurrences (2,263) than the top girls’ name, Isla (1,539). Additionally, 15 boys’ names have over 1,000 occurrences, compared to just ten girls’ names.’
Other trends noted include botanic names like Willow, Lily and Ivy, colours, like Ruby, Hazel and Jasmine, and places like Hudson, Jordan, Georgia and Austin.
Atmosphere-inspired names is also an emerging trend, with names like Luna, Stella and Aurora all making the top 100 for girls.
In contrast, no top 100 boys’ names have botanic or colour influences.
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