Royal family’s strong influence on popular baby names in Australia
AUSTRALIAN parents are turning to tradition, royalty and celebrities for baby name inspiration, with names like Charlotte, Olivia, William, Oliver topping the list.
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HEAD to any playground in Australia and it won’t be long before you hear the name Charlotte or Oliver called out. The two names were the most popular chosen by parents of newborns in 2017, according to the new report Baby Names Australia 2018.
And the strong, traditional monikers are typical of an Australian trend of parents choosing names for their babies that will stand the test of time.
The top 10 most popular boys and girls names are almost exclusively those that would have been around 100 years ago. Choices such as Charlotte, Olivia, Grace and Amelia were the most popular for baby girls last year; while Oliver, William, Jack and Henry rated well for little boys.
By comparison, the most popular baby names in the US last year featured the more modern monikers of Jackson, Aiden, Caden, Grayson and Logan for the boys; and Riley, Aria, Mia and Zoe for the girls.
Kimberley Linco, a social researcher at McCrindle who produced the report, says this trend follows a phenomenon known as the Hundred-Year Return with names that were popular a century ago becoming mainstream once again.
“There is a definite trend of parents looking long term for their baby name choices,” Linco tells BW Magazine.
“Some of the more quirky names can be found but they will be further down the top 100 list. The top ends of both lists are filled with names that were popular in our grandparents’ era, as well as Biblical names and those favoured by the royals.
“In this year’s report we even saw Arthur come back into the top 100 for the first time in the modern era. It came in at 83 last year, which is a very solid introduction considering most new entries hover around the 90s to start with.”
Linco says the biggest influence to the names we choose for our babies are Royal families and celebrities.
William is the second most popular name for boys and Charlotte the top name for girls. She adds Charlotte became the number one girl’s name in 2015, the year William and Kate gave the name to their daughter.
“Especially in NSW, Charlotte and Olivia were fighting for the top spot, but as soon as Princess Charlotte was born we saw her name maintain the top spot and it has stayed there ever since,” she says.
“William has spent the past five years in the top 10 and Henry debuted in the top 10 last year, following a period of the popular prince being in the spotlight. And the name George has been steadily climbing the ranks since William and Kate’s first born was given the name, going from 71 the year before he was born in 2012 to 35 last year.”
And while we may puzzle at some names celebrities give their children (actor Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter Apple) there is a strong correlation between celebrity baby names and their popularity in the community.
It’s difficult to say if the birth of daughter Luna to singer John Legend and model Chrissy Teigen in 2016 influenced parents to also choose the name, but it debuted at number 83 last year.
When the Beckhams chose Harper for the name of their daughter in 2011, it started a steady climb up the top 100, entering the top 10 last year. Pink’s daughter Willow may be behind the growing popularity of the name, now at number 20.
And we can only assume Kourtney Kardashian’s choice to name her son Mason in 2009 led to its steady climb into the top 10.
“It’s not like people love a celebrity so much they name their children after their children, but hearing the name a celebrity has chosen puts it out there and people hear it and like it,” Linco says. “A more unusual name like Apple is never going to end up in the top 100 regardless of how popular her parents are, but a name like Willow will spark people’s imagination.”
A trend that has been growing for a few years is the use of botanical names for little girls. Ivy, Lily and Willow are all in the top 20 girls names, with Violet, Poppy, Jasmine, Rose, Daisy and Olive also featuring in the top 100.
The report revealed the newest additions to the list for boys were Arthur, Bodhi, Jude, Asher and Leon, while for girls, popular new names include Freya, Luna, Harlow, Elena and Millie. It also revealed some long-cherished names were farewelled from the list. From the boys list we lost Nathan, Christian, John and Marcus; while the girls list lost Paige, Alyssa, Hayley, Molly, Eve and Sadie.
And while the list is heavy with traditional names, Linco says a few that dominated in past decades are also on their way out.
The biggest drop from the girls list was Jessica, which spent an unprecedented 16 years as Australia’s most popular girls name in the 1980s and 1990s.
“By the mid 1990s, about one in every 30 girls born in Australia was named Jessica,” the report revealed. Last year Jessica was barely holding on, coming in at number 99.
And while David dominated in the 1960s, Michael in the 1970s and Christopher in the 1980s, it was Joshua that led the pack as the most popular boys name for a decade from the mid-1990s, deposed by Jack in 2004. In last year’s list Joshua managed to hold on at number 32. “We can only assume, but I think what happened with Jessica is that so many girls were given that name in the 1980s and 1990s, and those women are now becoming mothers and don’t want to pass on the name that was so popular when they were growing up,” Linco says.
Mum Kate Harrison went with a top 10 name for her son, Jack, but a family connection sold her on it.
“We discovered both our grandparents had a brother called Jack, one of which served in WWII and lost his life,” she says.
“We felt when he was born, he looked like a ‘Jack’ and didn’t actually realise it was becoming a popular name.”
Her friend Katie Ellis bucked the trend, opting for an unusual name for her little girl, Ocean, chosen for their affinity with their beachside lifestyle.