Muhammad tops first names for fifth consecutive year in UK

Muhammad held on for another year, becoming the most popular baby name for 2021.

Muhammad’s name “retained the crown for the fifth consecutive year” according to UK BabyCenter data released on Wednesday.

In second and third place were Noah and Oliver respectively, also retaining their positions from last year.

Nine new names made the Top 100 Boys list this year, including Omar at number 79 and Abdul at 90.

For the baby girl category, Olivia reclaimed the top spot after falling back to second place last year, now replacing last year’s winner, Sophia.

Fatima and Nur both climbed 20 places on the Top 100 Girls list.

Meanwhile, 11 new girl names have been picked, including Lara at number 94 and Mirha at 98.

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Pandemic, gender neutrality and the media

Parents chose names that symbolized new starts and travel for 2021, a year marked by Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions, explains BabyCentre article author Sophie Bell.

Names that meant “new,” such as Nova for girls and Neo for boys, were popular choices outside of the Top 100 lists.

Hungry for travel, parents were more likely this year to choose city names for their babies such as Rio, Jordan, Cairo, India, Florence, Orlando and Jericho.

Even names inspired by flights such as Skye and Jett have taken off.

This year’s baby name changes also reflected a greater shift towards gender neutrality with an increase in unisex names.

For example, Willow and Blake have gained popularity for both boys and girls.

Entertainment and media have also played an important role with the influence of new Netflix, Disney + and Marvel productions reflected in the names.

“Loki doubled the number of entries outside of the top 100 as Loki TV series character Sylvie climbed the girls rankings,” Bell writes.

“Parents may have even been inspired by Squid Game, which overtook Bridgerton as Netflix’s biggest series launch, after Abdul made it to the top 100 at number 90,” she added. .

Source: TRT World