In September 2018 the data unit produced three stories based on the latest statistics on names given to babies in 2017: Dan Wainwright reported on the new entries in the top 100, while Jennifer Meierhans and Rob England looked at names that had fallen out of favour. Results were based on names given from an analysis of 679,106 babies born in 2017 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
A third article, Baby names: Is Muhammad the most popular?, also by Jennifer Meierhans and Rob England was written 5 days later in response to comments by users of the BBC website, including "Which is the most gender balanced name?" and "When was Doris a popular girls' name?"
- ONS: Baby names for girls in England and Wales - XLS file (local copy): Girls names 2017
- ONS: Baby names for boys in England and Wales - XLS file (copy): Boys names 2017
- ONS: Top baby names by local authority, England and Wales, 2017 - XLS file (copy): Top baby names by local authority, England and Wales, 2017
Interactivity was added to the main piece thanks to further data work by Will Dahlgreen from the Visual Journalism team, design by Sandra Rodriguez Chillida and Prina Shah, and development by Chris Ashton, Evisa Terziu and Alexander Ivanov.
- Widget: How popular is your name? (Generates a line chart for that name's popularity)
- Widget: Select an area to see the most popular names in that area
- Multiple line chart: Most upward trending names since 2007
- Multiple line chart: Most downward trending names since 2007
For Baby names: Why are Leigh and Tracey unpopular?:
- Widget: How popular is your name? (Generates a line chart for that name's popularity)
- Nick Stripe, the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
- Sarah-Jane Ljungstrom, Channelmum.com
For Baby names: Why are Leigh and Tracey unpopular?:
- Leigh Samuels, 36, from Wolverhampton
- Lindsey Willars, 43, from Leicester
- Tracey Overs, 51, from Kiddington in Oxfordshire
- Clive Tricker, 70, from Kesgrave in Suffolk
- Graham Walker, 31, from Wimbledon
This is the third time that the data unit has reported on baby names. Previous stories include:
- Amelia and Muhammad are the most popular baby names in the West Midlands
- Baby names: Olivia top as William makes way for Muhammad
You can find all stories about names in this account under the tag 'names'