Personalised Christening Gifts

Lists of favourite baby names have been published for many years; then followed favourite names for pets; now it’s cars

Of course there was Herbie, the VW Beetle that featured in several films. Research has now revealed that many motorists have names for their cars, and the names at the top of the list are similar to the favorite baby names: most popular are Charlie, Ruby, Jack, Oloiver and, errr, Baldrick! OK, maybe there aren’t many babies called Baldrick!

Harry and Noah are also popular (babies again), but so are Snoop, Elektra, and Talulah.

Many motorists taking part in the survey were not embarrassed sufficiently to prevent them admitting to having conversations with their car – well, maybe not conversations, just one-sided monologues; unless you know different…?

The Office for National Statistics have announced the lists of the most popular baby names in 2010.

In England the most popular baby boy’s name was again Oliver; in fact the top 4 places were unchanged from last year: Oliver, Jack, Harry, and Alfie. Biggest movers included Jacob, up 6 places to 12; Noah up 14 to 18; Zachary up 15 to 51; Ollie up 55 to 64; and Jenson up 44 to 100.

Olivia retained top spot in the girl’s top 100 table ahead of Sophie and Emily. Biggest climbers were Maisie, up 20 at 14; Lacey up 30 at 38; Florence up 24 at 54; and Bella up 66 at 100.

In Wales Oliver was also the most popular boy’s name, moving up from 3rd last year. Jack, number 1 last year was 2nd and Ethan 3rd.Jacob moved up 10 places to 4th. Other big movers were Noah up 14 to 23; Finley up 13 to 26; Osian up 13 to 27; and Ollie up 54 to 36.

The most popular baby girl’s name in Wales was Ruby which climbed above last year’s number 1 Olivia. Lily, 3rd climbed 5 places, and Amelia 4th was up 8. Other climbers included Maisie up 22 at 11; Lacey up 22 at 23. Maisy, the alternate spelling climbed 65 to 70 in the table.

In Scotland there was little change. The top 4 boys’ names Jack, Lewis, James, and Logan wewre unchaged in 2010. The only big movers was Oliver up 16 to 8th place.

The most popular girl’s namke in Scotland was Sophie, no change from 2009. Olivia and Ava changed places with Olivia the new number 2. Biggest climbers were Isla up 6 to 5, and Lily up 7 to number 8.

In Northern Ireland Jack was the most popular boys’ name for the 8th year running. Daniel and James each moved up one place to second and third respectively. Conor and Harry moved into the top 10 at 9th and 10th respectively.

Sophie was the most popular girl’s name overtaking last year’s number one Katie which dropped to 2nd. Grace remained in third place, while Emily and Olivia were 4th and 5th.

You can see the full tables on our other website.

I was Christened Tony – not Anthony or Antony. My parents wanted to call me that and didn’t like the longer version. At the first church they went to in order to arrange the Christening the vicar refused to Christen me with that name, saying it was an abbreviation of Anthony. A second vicar at another church reluctantly agreed.

Today things are rather different! I wonder what the first vicar would have thought of names like Poppy Honey, Daisy Boo, Petal Blossom Rainbow, and Buddy Bear – the names given to the children of Jamie Oliver and Juliette Norton?!

Posh and Becks weren’t creating a fashion for weird baby names of course, most of the celebs are at it!

Geri Halliwell and Sacha Gervasi have named their daughter Bluebell Madonna. Geri says she chose Bluebell as she kept seeing bluebells when she was pregnant and her mother told her bluebells are getting rare, therefore they are a ‘precious flower’, just like her daughter. OK, that’s not a bad reason I suppose.

Jason Lee and Beth Riesgraf have come up with Pilot Inspektor! No prizes for guessing it is a boy, after all you have a 50-50 chance! Pilot from his favourite rock band lyrics: ‘He’s simple, he’s dumb’ he’s the Pilot’. Hmmm. No explanation why they misspelt ‘Inspector’.

David Beckham has revealed why he and Victoria named their new daughter Harper Seven: Harper is from Harper Lee, author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ which, apparently, is Victoria’s favourite book. Funny that, not long ago she said she had never read a book, prefering fashion magazines. Now isn’t Harper the name of a fashion magazine? Seven was the number on the back of David’s shirt of course, and the baby was born in July, the seventh month.

The New Zealand Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths have issued a list of baby names it refused to register last year. Among the list is Lucifer which was banned on religious grounds; as was ‘Messiah’. The latter seems a bit odd as lots of Spanish people name their sons Jesus.

Some of the real oddballs were ’89′, ‘*’ – presumably he or she would be known as ‘slash’!. The en there was . (yes, that’s a full stop!. And then there were single letters: ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘I’ and ‘T’. One couple wanted to call their son ‘Mr’.

Some names which were unacceptable were: Baron, Bishop, Duke, General, Judge, Justice, King, and Knight. Perhaps the most surprising was Nevaeh, although the Registrar later changed his mind and allowed the name. It is ‘heaven’ spelt backwards and was the 31st most popular girl’s name in the USa in 2007.

Jack still reigns supreme in Ireland. The name was again the most popular name for boys in 2010, with 914 babies being given the name, 102 more than second placed Sea. Kack has held top spot in the Irish republic since 2007.

Competition for gilrls’ names was much closed: Sophie was chosen by 599 parents and Emily by 598, one fewer!

Dogs and Cats used to have their own names like Fido, Tiddles, and Spot. These days our pets have become more like children than ever and the most popular names for dogs and cats mimic childrens’ names.

John Lewis Insurance carried out a survy of 36,000 pet owners and found the most popular name for both cats and dogs is Poppy.

The top 10 cats’ names are 1. Poppy; 2. Oscar, 3. Charlie, 4. Molly, 5. Daisy, 6. Millie, 7. Alfie, 8. Rosie, 9= Tigger, Bella, Max, and Monty.

Top 10 dog’s names are 1. Poppy, 2. Alfie, 3. Molly, 4. Charlie, 5. Max, 6= Bella, Ruby, 8. Millie, 9. Daisy, 10. Rosie.

Tigger is about the only name not commonly used for a child!