Top baby names are Harry and Amelia – but Olivia is Yorkshire’s favourite

HARRY and Olivia were the most popular baby names for parents in Yorkshire and the Humber in 2011, new statistics show.

A total of 723 mums in the region called their baby boys Harry last year, followed by 701 who chose Jack and 669 who picked Oliver – the most popular name in England and Wales in 2010.

Also featured in the top 10 list of boys’ names from 2011 are Alfie, Charlie, Jacob, Mohammed, Thomas, Muhammad and Riley.

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Across the country, Harry became the most popular boys’ names in England and Wales, leapfrogging Oliver and Jack to the top spot for the first time.

Amelia was the number one name for baby girls, pushing popular choices Olivia and Lily into second and third place.

Yorkshire is one of just two regions to retain Olivia as the top choice for baby girls, with 519 parents choosing the name.

The figures, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday, show that Amelia and Lily were the region’s second and third favourite names, with 509 and 461 instances respectively.

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Also featured in Yorkshire’s top 10 are Ruby, Evie, Emily, Ava, Sophie, Grace and Jessica.

In the boys’ top 100, new entries included Tommy (65), Blake (79), Frankie (84), Elijah (91) and Jackson (99), replacing Aidan, Bradley, Sam, Brandon and Kieran.

For the girls there were six new entries – Bella (69), Willow (75), Elsie (87), Kayla (98), Francesca (99) and Lydia (100), knocking Maisy, Tilly, Aimee, Libby, Alexandra and Laila out of the top 100.

Netmums founder Siobhan Freegard said: “From Prince Harry to Harry Potter and Harry Styles, every mum has a favourite Harry.

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“The name has become classless and suggests cheeky fun, so it’s perfectly suited to baby boys.

“Amelia, and Amelie which rose to number 54, are pretty, feminine names which have been climbing in popularity for some time.

“While Amelie was first popularised ten years ago by the French film of the same name.

X Factor star Amelia Lily helped make the English version more widely known.

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“Both are lovely choices and it’s interesting to see them overtake some of the more unusual celebrity-driven monikers.

“It seems mums are turning away from the unusual and back to the more traditional names, but with a twist.”