2026 Baby Boy Names in England and Wales: Trending Names and Their Meanings

Nobody can yet say which names were given to baby boys born in England and Wales in 2026, because that list does not exist. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes a year's baby names only after the births registered in that year have been compiled. So you will not find a 2026 ranking here. What you will find is the direction shown by five official lists, 2021 to 2025: which names climb a little higher every year, which ones have just come through the door of the top 100, and which have stayed at the top for five years.

There is also a detail for families looking for a name that works just as well in Turkish or Arabic as in English: prophets' names such as Musa, Yusuf, Ibrahim and Yahya now appear in the top 100. For every name we give its meaning, its Arabic spelling and its Abjad value.

How to read this selection

• Data: the ONS top 100 boys' names for 2021–2025. Counts are births registered in that year in England and Wales.
• Rank path: a sequence such as "28 → 12 → 7 → 7 → 4" shows the name's rank in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025; "—" means it was outside the top 100 that year.
• Three groups: names that have climbed clearly since 2021 or 2023; names that entered the top 100 after 2021; names that stayed in the top 10 in all five years.
• Spellings are counted separately: the ONS counts Muhammad, Mohammed and Mohammad, or Reuben and Ruben, as different names.

We do not forecast any 2026 rank or count. "A strong candidate for 2026" simply describes a name whose recent direction is upwards. Abjad values are calculated with the standard (kabir) system from the name's established Arabic spelling (e.g. Luca لوكا); a name written in Latin letters has no single value until its Arabic spelling is fixed.

The climbers: names that rose over five years

The star of the table is Luca. It was No. 28 in 2021 and No. 4 in 2025, inside the top five; over the same period the number of babies went from 1,807 to 3,266. Rowan and Oakley also climbed more than thirty places in five years. The fastest mover of the last two years is Myles: No. 99 in 2023, No. 67 in 2025, a jump of 32 places. In this table, Rory, Rowan, Oakley, Sonny and Yusuf each moved up in every one of the four years from 2022 to 2025; that is how Rory reached No. 17.

Not every rise is a straight line. Jude reached No. 11 in 2024, then slipped to No. 14 in 2025, with the count falling from 2,540 to 2,153. Oakley gained one place in 2025, yet its count went from 1,432 to 1,377. A rank also depends on what other names do, so when calling a name a "2026 candidate" it pays to look at rank and count together.

Through the door: new entries to the top 100 since 2021

The quickest name in this group is Vinnie: it entered the top 100 at No. 91 in 2024 and was No. 58 a year later. Musa shows a climb spread over three years, from No. 99 in 2022 to No. 64 in 2025. In 2025 Musa and Yusuf were given to exactly the same number of babies (798) and shared No. 64. Ibrahim and Elias have stayed in the list since 2022 and moved up; Yahya entered in 2024 and reached No. 81 in 2025.

Vincent and Ruben entered the top 100 in 2025, for the first time in our 2021–2025 data. Ruben sits exactly at No. 100, so its place is still fragile. The Reuben spelling of the same name is No. 29, and the ONS counts the two separately. A small Abjad surprise: in Arabic both are written روبن and carry the same value, 258.

Prophets' names: easy to say in two languages

Turkish and other Muslim families living in England often ask the same question: "Is there a name with a beautiful meaning that is easy to say both here and back home?" The prophets' names on the ONS list are natural answers. All of the following are names of prophets mentioned in the Qur'an (ranks and counts: ONS 2025):

• Adam: No. 26, 1,431 babies · آدم = 45
• Noah (Nuh): No. 2, 4,075 babies · modern Arabic spelling نواه = 62; the Qur'anic form نوح = 64
• Ibrahim: No. 70, 731 babies · إبراهيم = 259
• Musa and Yusuf: both No. 64, 798 babies · موسى = 116, يوسف = 156
• Yahya: No. 81, 625 babies · يحيى = 38 · according to the Qur'an, no one had been given this name before him (Maryam 19:7)
• Elijah and Elias (Ilyas): No. 23 and No. 69 (see below)

The name of the Prophet Muhammad belongs here too. Muhammad, Mohammed and Mohammad are counted separately, but in Arabic all three are written محمد and have the Abjad value 92. For information only: if the three spellings were combined, they would total 8,564 babies in 2025 (Muhammad 5,957, Mohammed 1,712, Mohammad 895). This is not an ONS ranking.

Elijah or Elias?

By origin they are the same name: both go back to Hebrew Eliyahu ("my God is Yahweh"), and Elias is the form that came through Greek. Its Qur'anic counterpart is Ilyas. In today's Arabic spellings Elijah is إليجاه = 50, while Elias is إلياس = 102, so Elias carries exactly the letters of the Qur'anic Ilyas. Noah is similar (62 versus Nuh 64); which value applies depends on the spelling the family adopts.

Steady leaders: in the top 10 for five years

The clearest story is Muhammad's: No. 5 in 2021, No. 1 since 2023, and the number of babies given the name rose by 2,235 in five years (3,722 → 5,957). Noah was No. 1 in 2021 and 2022 and then moved to second place; its count has fallen a little every year since 2022 and is 450 lower than in 2021. Oliver (2 → 6) and George (3 → 7) have been drifting down, while Leo rose from No. 6 to No. 3. Even inside the top 10, a quiet reshuffle is under way.

A regional detail: in 2025 Muhammad was No. 1 in four of England's 9 regions (North West, Yorkshire and The Humber, West Midlands, London). In Wales, Noah was No. 1 in every year from 2021 to 2025.

Abjad corner: true or false?

"An English name cannot be calculated in Abjad." False. Abjad works with Arabic letters, so a name can be calculated as soon as it is written in Arabic. Luca is written لوكا and comes to 57; Rory is written روري and comes to 416.

"Every name has exactly one Abjad value." False. The value depends on the chosen spelling. Vincent written فنسنت gives 640; with an extra ي (فينسنت) it gives 650. Elias is 102 as إلياس and 112 as إيلياس. That is why personal reports first fix the exact spelling of each name; no spelling is "luckier" than another.

"Names spelled differently always have different values." Not always. Muhammad, Mohammed and Mohammad are all 92; Reuben and Ruben are both 258. Different names can even meet at the same number: Leo (ليو) and Louie (لوي) are both 46.

"A name's value on its own is a complete analysis." Incomplete. In the Abjad tradition a name is read together with the family: the letter and element harmony with the mother's and father's names is examined, and the mother's name is part of the child's star reading (yildizname). How a name you like fits your family only becomes clear through that comparison.

Final word

For 2026 we have a direction rather than a list: Luca, Rory and Rowan are rising; Musa, Yahya and Ibrahim are consolidating their place in the top 100; Muhammad and Noah are at the top. If the name on your mind is in these tables, the next question is how its letters sit with your family.

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Baby names in England and Wales — used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts are births registered in the relevant year in England and Wales.

Note: Abjad values are a traditional calculation; they do not mean that a name determines destiny or guarantees any outcome. This article is for information only; the final choice of name rests with the family.