The names Craig, Kirsty and Lee could soon be extinct in the UK

Parents are now opting for ‘more distinctive’ names
Unsplash

Craig joins Gary on the fateful list of names that may soon be extinct, according to a 2018 report from the Office for National Statistics.

The team at The Guardian has analysed the ONS data and found there have been drastic changes in baby names between the years of 1996 and 2017 in England and Wales, with just 25 babies being called Craig in 2017 down from 705 in 1996 – a 96.5 per cent decrease.

Craig isn’t the only boys' name at risk. Jordan has seen a 95.7 per cent decrease (5,750 babies were called Jordan in 1996 compared to 248 in 2017) as well as Lee and Scott (1,053 to 51 and 1,632 to 79 respectively).

Macauley, Kieran, Ross, Ashley, Mitchell and Shane rounded off the 10 boys' names that have seen the most decline.

Just 11 baby girls were named Kirsty in 2017, a 99.1 per cent decrease from the 1,202 called Kirsty in 1996. Shannon also saw a dramatic decrease with just 41 girls given then moniker in 2017 compared to 4,649 in 1996.

Jodie, Gemma, Danielle, Lauren, Kayleigh, Jade, Rachael and Rhiannon also face extinction in England and Wales as all have seen a decrease of at least 96 per cent.

The reason for the decline of these names, as academics have noted, is parents are opting for ‘virtue in rarity’ – more unusual names with different spellings.

Further analysis, found that Jaxon is the fastest-rising boys' name - now as popular as Mark was in 1996. Aria is the fastest-rising girls' name, comparable to Hayley two decades ago and presumably thanks to the popularity of Maisie Williams' Game of Thrones character.

The report also notes that some of the fastest-growing names can be attributed to the UK's growing Muslim population, with Zayn and Musa becoming popular for boys and Imaan and Aasiyah rising in popularity for girls.

Olivia and Oliver still reign supreme as the most popular girls and boys names in the UK at present, with Amelia, Isla, Ava and Emily rounding off the top five girls names in the UK and Harry, George, Noah and Jack completing the top five boys names.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT