Popular first names in England and Wales

I missed a September press release on popularity of first names in England and Wales in 2008. There's nothing more recent, so better late than never.

Jack remained the most popular boy’s name in England and Wales during 2008 in the Office for National Statistics rankings. Olivia rose two places to become the number one girl’s name.

The full top 10 boys’ names for 2008, in order of popularity, were Jack, Oliver, Thomas, Harry, Joshua, Alfie, Charlie, Daniel, James and William.

The top 10 girls’ names, in order of popularity, were Olivia, Ruby, Emily, Grace, Jessica, Chloe, Sophie, Lily, Amelia and Evie.

Interestingly all the girls names end in a vowel, or y, compared to only 3 of the ten boys names.

There were 708,711 live births in England and Wales during 2008, with 26,815 different boys' names and 34,043 different girls' names registered.