Top Australian Baby Names

The data was compiled from thousands of names supplied by BabyCenter Australia members who had a baby or were expecting a baby in 2011. 

20 most popular girls' names

1.Chloe

2.Sophie

3.Ruby

4.Charlotte

5.Olivia

6.Lily

7.Ava

8.Ella

9.Emily

10.Mia

11.Sienna

12.Amelia

13.Isabella

14.Lucy

15.Zoe

16.Grace

17.Isabelle

18.Maddison

19.Emma

20.Charlie (tied with Hannah)

20 most popular boys' names

1.Oliver

2.Noah

3.William

4.Lachlan

5.Ethan

6.Jack

7.Lucas

8.Charlie

9.Joshua

10.Thomas

11.Max

12.Riley

13.Jacob

14.Aiden

15.Liam

16.Jackson

17.Cooper

18.Alexander

19.Xavier

20.Benjamin

Trends for boys

The big surprise in the 2011 list of popular boys’ names is the decline of Jack, which has been on the top of the list for a long time. This year Jack has fallen to sixth place, though with very few new entrants to the list we can expect that Jack will be popular for years to come. 

Replacing Jack in the top position is Oliver, up from 3rd place last year and 7th position in 2010. 

Old Testament Biblical names are still rising in popularity across the top 20. Jacob is in 13th place after entering the top 20 in the 19th position last year. Noah is in second spot, after being in 4th place last year and 9th the year before. Joshua is still popular and up from 14th last year to 9th this year. 

Trends for girls

Trends are staying constant amongst the girls list with the top 10 looking pretty much the same as it has for the past few years, with some movement amongst the leaders. 

Chloe is in the top position with five different variations of spelling in use. Lily dropped from first place in the list in 2010 to sixth this year. 

As the Twilight phenomena has waned so has the popularity of the name Isabella. Isabella has dropped to 13th position from 7th in 2010 and 1st in 2009. But both Isabella, Isabelle and Ella are all still marking out their place in the top 20, so we can expect them to continue to be in the list for a while. 

Unisex Charlie still rising in popularity As predicted on BabyCenter last year, Charlie has become even more popular for both boys and girls. The name Charlie appears on both lists this year, at 8th position for boys and tied with Hannah for the 20th place on the girls list. There is no other name that appears in the Top 100 list for boys and girls. 

Charlotte also remains popular in the 4th position for girls and many girls with the name Charlotte will be called Charlie for short. Look out for more baby Charlies in pink and blue for the next few years. 

The royal wedding effect Many hearts, royalist and republican alike, were touched by the royal nuptials and it seems like Prince William made a big impact on parents. William is always a popular name on the boys list but this year it got an extra lift to 3rd place from 8th position last year. 

However, Princess Kate has not had the same effect on baby naming trends. Of course, we are all standing by to hear about the much-anticipated royal baby and wondering what name he or she will have. 

Who’s out and who’s in? The boys names that dropped out of the list this year are James, Samuel and Ryan. For girls the names dropping in popularity are Matilda and Georgia. 

New entrants to the boys’ list are Alexander, Xavier and Benjamin. The only new entrant to the girls’ list is Charlie. 

Looking for something unique?

Many parents want to avoid the most popular baby names list and are looking for something a little more individual. 

Some of the 'one off' baby boy names we saw hit the list this year included Fonzie, Voltaire, Matisse, Toohey, Spirit, Haze, Rome, Westin, Harlem, Brisbane, Rocky, Hawk, Audi, Hercules and Hendrix. 

The girls 'unique' names had a strong nature theme and included Rainbow, Storm, Star, Vanilla, Spring, Lake, Breeze, Clover, Rain and Oceana. 

Maybe parents were trying to choose a name to influence their baby’s temperament when they chose Zen, Halo, Sailor, Deep, Justice and Serenity. 

http://www.babycenter.com.au/a1050035/top-australian-baby-names-of-2011#ixzz2Hx0Pqih2

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