Time to avoid Daniel and Isabella?

If you’re expecting a little Bundle of Joy in 2012, one of your most important jobs will be deciding on a name.  Perhaps there are certain names which run in your family; perhaps you want to name your baby after your favourite celebrity; perhaps there’s a name you’ve always thought sounds good.  Or perhaps you’re a nervous wreck of indecision: the name you choose will stay with your infant for life, so you have to get it right.

The experts tell us that you should try out names you are considering by putting them in the following three sentences:
Can NAME come out to play?
Have you done your homework, NAME?
I love you NAME.
This is supposed to check that the name sounds sensible for all stages of the child’s life. On the other hand, since celebrities started naming their children after household objects and colours, we have probably been more open minded.

The majority of the population, however, sticks with tried and tested favourites – which leads to teachers having to deal with clusters of children with the same name in class (“Will Daniel T sit down and Daniel W put his book away?”) and clusters of grown men and women with the same name in workplaces.  With the Office of National Statistics just having released a list of the 100 most popular baby names in England and Wales in 2011, perhaps we should avoid the most popular names at the top of the list and think about the names at the bottom of it.

Most popular names 

BOYS:

Top nine names in London      
1 Daniel 
2 Oliver 
3 Muhammad 
4 James 
5 Thomas 
6 Harry 
7 Joshua 
8 Mohammed 
9 Samuel                                                            

Top nine names in England
1 Harry
2 Oliver
3 Jack
4 Charlie
5 Alfie
6 Thomas
7 James
8 Jacob
9 Joshua

Names at the bottom of the top 100 list (England)
92 Frederick and Kyle (tied)
93 Reece
94 Caleb
95 Ashton
96 Ben
97 Evan
98 Kayden
99 John
100 Aidan

GIRLS:

Top nine names in London
1  Isabella 
2  Olivia   
3  Amelia   
4  Sophia   
5  Lily   
6  Emily   
7  Mia   
8  Sophie   
9  Jessica

Top nine names in England
1  Amelia
2  Olivia
3  Lily
4  Jessica
5  Emily
6  Sophie
7  Grace
8  Ruby
9  Ava

Names at the bottom of the top 100 list (England)
92  Zoe
93  Maria
94  Maryam
95  Aisha
96  Nicole
97  Francesca
98  Tia
99  Lydia
100  Kayla