Changing Trends in Naming Babies

20 December 2006

For both boys and girls, the range of names used has been consistently widening over the last 100 years.  Parents are increasingly selecting names which are different.  The following table illustrates this trend. 

Top ten names, as a percentage of all names, selected years, Scotland 

Another aspect of the changing range of names is an increasing variation in spelling. The tables presented here count different spellings separately. If combined, Callum/Calum and Aimee/Amy would take over the top spots.