Most popular baby names inspired by pop culture from the Kardashians to the Royal Family

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! OK, Christmas might not be upon us just yet, but 2021’s most popular baby names are here, so there's that.

Plenty of new parents turned to pop culture for inspiration, with the likes of Disney films, the royals and even reality TV inspiring a surge in certain monikers. 

So sit back, grab some popcorn, and prepare for some big surprises - because you certainly won’t have seen some of these coming.

The Office For National Statistics (ONS) today (5 October) released its stats on baby name trends, reporting that ‘noteworthy names from across the cultural spectrum have surged up the charts of late’.

For example, the number of little boys registered with the name Luca jumped from 1,323 in 2020 to 1,807 in 2021, while 251 girls were called Raya in 2021, a significant increase from the 110 girls given the name in 2020.

Disney aficionados will have no doubt seen last year’s coming-of-age film Luca, and Raya and the Last Dragon was another of 2021’s best kids’ films.

Lilibet (the name of the Sussexes’ daughter and second child) was registered eight times in 2021, while in each of the previous seven years fewer than three girls had the name registered. 

It also looks like parents have taken inspo from the Kardashians, with the name Saint (which Kim Kardashian and Kanye West called their second born) having been registered 59 times by 2021, up from just five times before 2015, when Kim and Ye’s son was born. 

True, which is the name of Khloe Kardashian’s daughter, was also registered ten times in 2021, an increase from the three times the name was registered in 2018.

The ONS also shared 2021’s top ten baby names for girls and boys.

The post popular boys names went as follows:

Noah

Oliver

George

Arthur

Muhammad

Leo

Harry

Oscar

Archie

Henry

Meanwhile, 2021’s top ten most popular girls names in descending order were:

Olivia

Amelia

Isla

Ava

Ivy

Freya

Lily

Florence

Mia

Willow

People were quick to comment on the ONS’s new research on social media, with one person hilarious noting: “My son R2D2 will be very disappointed.”

Another person added: “No girls' names beginning with K in the top 100. Quite a change from the early 1970s!”

A third wrote: “A tough day for all the parents who thought calling their son, Noah, was an original idea…”