Miley's miles more popular than last year

Published on Tuesday 22 December 2009 21:57

SHE'S an idol to tweenies far and wide, her image adorning bedroom walls across the world.

&#149 Miley Cyrus could be influencing parents as her Christian name has jumped 190 places to 95th in the popularity list

But its seems that Miley Cyrus – aka singer Hannah Montana – is also influencing Scottish parents to name their children after her.

Yesterday, Miley was revealed as the biggest climber in the table of the most popular names for babies born in Scotland in 2009.

Miley jumped a huge 190 places in the chart since last year, becoming the joint 95th most popular girl's name in the country, after 50 children were given the name.

But Miley isn't the only celebrity with pull when it comes to baby names. Other popular names for girls included Amy at ninth place, up four on 2008, perhaps reflecting the enduring star quality of pop star Amy Winehouse.

Another singer, Lily Allen, could explain a rise of seven places to 16th in the chart for her name.

There may also be celebrity influence in the choice of boys' names. Logan – the alter ego of feral X-Men hero Wolverine – rises three places to fifth. Ten years ago it was the 82nd most popular name in Scotland for boys.

Lucas, which did not register in the top 100 ten years ago, is now the 16th most popular boys' name in Scotland, rising 19 places, perhaps due to the character Lucas North, played by Richard Armitage in BBC drama Spooks.

Psychologist Dr Cynthia McVey, of Glasgow Caledonian University, said the tradition of using Christian names from saints, or naming a child after family members, was declining.

"If you like a particular brand of music and there's a singer singing that music, firstly the name becomes familiar to you and you might hear it and it gives you a good feeling," she said.

"The other thing is that you like and admire the person who produces the music and you call your child after that person."

Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust, added: "If you look at names over the years they do change with the fashion. Quite often names from films will have caused a name to go up in popularity.

"Parents often say they are influenced in the naming of a child if they know somebody with a name who they didn't like, so it works the other way as well."

Despite the apparent increase in popularity of celebrity names, yesterday's data from the Register General for Scotland showed that old favourites prevail. Jack remains the most popular boys name, the same as last year, with Lewis again in second place.

The biggest-climbing name for boys was Owen, up 26 places to 32 in the chart. For the fifth year in a row, Sophie was the most popular girls' name.

Ten years ago, Chloe was the most popular girl's name in Scotland, but it has fallen to sixth place. In 1999, Rebecca was second, but has fallen to 33rd – dropping 14 places in the past year alone.

About 27,800 boys' names and 26,600 girls' names were registered in 2009.

The more unusual included Ebenezer, Peace, Thor, Wisdom, Wonderful and Paradyse.

Ten parents appeared to have drawn inspiration from the meerkat in TV insurance adverts by calling their sons Aleksander.

Duncan Macniven, Registrar General for Scotland, said: "As always, the list of favourite baby names is very interesting."

SCOTLAND'S TOP 30 NAMES 2008-9

Boys

1 JACK 645

2 LEWIS 606

3 JAMES 438

4 LIAM 415

5 LOGAN 413

6 DANIEL 410

7 AARON 376

8 RYAN 355

9 CAMERON 352

10 CALLUM 338

11 ALEXANDER 321

12 FINLAY 320

13 JAMIE 315

14 AIDEN 310

15 DYLAN 298

16 LUCAS 296

17> KYLE 289

17> MATTHEW 289

19 ADAM 274

20 NATHAN 268

21 THOMAS 266

22> CHARLIE 245

22> ETHAN 245

24 OLIVER 233

25 MAX 223

26 CONNOR 220

27 JOSHUA 218

28 JAYDEN 216

29 BEN 215

30 HARRY 207

Girls

1 SOPHIE 678

2 OLIVIA 443

3 AVA 442

4 EMILY 426

5 LUCY 406

6 CHLOE 400

7 KATIE 360

8 EMMA 343

9 AMY 332

10 ERIN 329

11 ISLA 325

12 ELLIE 312

13 JESSICA 293

14 HANNAH 282

15 GRACE 262

16 LILY 261

17 EVA 251

18 BROOKE 242

19 LEAH 228

20 MIA 220

21 MILLIE 210

22 MEGAN 208

23 HOLLY 207

24 RUBY 196

25 FREYA 192

26 NIAMH 191

27 ANNA 190

28 CHARLOTTE 185

29 AIMEE 182

30 SARAH 174