Is your name falling out of fashion? These baby names are at risk of extinction

Virgin Radio

15 Jul 2021, 13:51

Baby names seem to go through phases of popularity, don’t they? Maybe, for instance, the Three Lions' excellent performance in Euro 2020 will lead to an influx of babies being named after England players in a few months time. Equally though, names can drop out of fashion pretty quickly, but is yours one of the unlucky ones that is in danger of disappearing?

Helpfully, name analysts at Flowercard have used data from the Office for National Statistics database to find the “most endangered” names in the UK and the results are in.

According to Birmingham Live, Mitchell, Kieran and Ross are the boys’ names which have declined the most in popularity recently. 

For girls, Kirsty, Jordan and Shauna are apparently far less popular than they once were. Apparently, 525 baby girls were named Kirsty in the year 2000, whereas only four were in 2019, representing a drop of over 99 percent!

Have a look at the lists to see if your name is in them:

The Top 10 Endangered Girls Names 1. Kirsty 2. Jordan 3. Shauna 4. Shannon 5. Courtney 6. Lauren 7. Gemma 8. Jodie 9. Jade 10. Natasha

The Top 10 Endangered Boys Names 1. Mitchell 2. Kieran 3. Ross 4. Brandon 5. Craig 6. Ben 7. Jordan 8. Callum 9. Kyle 10. Scott

Last year, the Office for National Statistics looked at the data from 2019 to find which names were growing in popularity. A spokesperson said, “Oliver and Olivia continued their reign as the top boys’ and girls’ names in 2019, but analysis shows choices in baby names can differ depending on the mother’s age.

“We found younger mothers opted for more modern girls’ names like Harper, which has seen a rise since the Beckhams named their daughter so in 2011, and shortened boys’ names like Freddie.

"In contrast, older mothers chose more traditional names such as Jack and Charlotte.

"Popular culture continues to influence the baby names landscape. Following Dua Lipa’s first UK number one single in 2017, the number of girls named Dua has doubled from 63 to 126 in 2019."