What’s in a name? Choosing a name is one of the most daunting tasks for a new parent. It is such a big responsibility. You need to consider a lot of things, origin, family obligations, sibling names and the suitability of a name for any future job prospects or aspirations your child may have – does the phrase ‘Prime Minister (insert your chosen name)’ or ‘CEO (insert your chosen name)’ sound respectable?
New data collected by McCrindle shows that Australia is bucking the trend when it comes to baby names choosing more traditional names over gender neutral or unisex names.
Top 10 Baby Names:
| RANK | BOYS | GIRLS |
| 1 | Oliver | Olivia |
| 2 | William | Charlotte |
| 3 | Jack | Mia |
| 4 | Noah | Ava |
| 5 | Jackson/Jaxon/Jaxson | Amelia |
| 6 | Thomas | Emily |
| 7 | Lucas | Sofia/Sophia |
| 8 | James | Sophie |
| 9 | Alex/Alexander | Chloe |
| 10 | Ethan | Ruby |
Oliver has kept the top spot from 2013 having overtaken Jack and William which were first in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Olivia has taken the top girl name spot from Charlotte which was the popular name 2011-2013. Interestingly, 9 out of the top 10 boy’s names and 10 out of the 10 top girl’s names held onto a top 10 ranking from 2013.
It is clear to see that Australia is influenced by the traditional over the trendy when it comes to naming a child. What was popular some 100 years ago seems to becoming back in popularity. Although, we are seeing an increase in creative spelling or pronunciation.
Softer-sounding girl’s names with firmer sounding boy’s names are popular in Australia. With many girl’s names ending in a vowel or ‘y’ and boy’s names ending in a consonant.
Interestingly, compared with the United States, only one name in the top one hundred appears on both boy and girls lists – Charlie. However as seen in Hollywood a number of parents are choosing to interchange traditionally boy and girl names for example; Ashton Kutcher/Mila Kunis last year named their daughter Wyatt and Blake Lively/Ryan Reynolds named their daughter James.
Parents are naturally influenced by the media and celebrity influence will always exist with names such as Penelope, Harper, Ariana, Liam, Harry and Louis making it in the top 100.
Place names are still an inspiration for Australians such as Bronte and Avalon as well as religious influences such as Noah and Thomas.
Like the United Kingdom, Australians are heavily influenced by the British royal family. Not only do the Royals capture the loyalty and affections of the Australian public, but they also influence our choice of baby names with 17 of the 21 current royal names residing in to top 100. In the year of the royal wedding of Price William to Princess Catherine, William rose to number 1.
Our advice, choose a name carefully. Think about possible nicknames your child may be called and whether you like these. Consider how the name sits with your surname. And most of all, have fun choosing – this is a special time indeed!