Most Popular Baby Girl Names in England and Wales 2025 (ONS) and Their Meanings

Olivia was once again the most popular name for baby girls born in England and Wales in 2025. But this year's real story is not the ranking itself, it is the gap between two numbers: only 137 babies separate Olivia from Lily in second place. In 2021 the gap between first and second was 485 babies.

Below you will find the top 30 girls' names from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) 2025 list with their meanings, origins, Arabic spellings and Abjad values. First we look at the shrinking lead at the top, then at how the ranks moved since 2024, and finally at the letters of the names themselves.

Same leader, shorter lead

Olivia is first in every year of the 2021–2025 data we hold. Yet the number of babies given the name fell every single year: from 3,649 to 2,386, a drop of 34.6%. Second place changed hands this year: Amelia, second since 2021, slipped to third and Lily took her place.

The detail that is easy to miss: in the top five, Lily is the only name given to more babies than in 2024 (up 64 to 2,249). Over the same period 375 fewer babies were given the name Olivia. Lily was 7th in 2021 and has climbed at least one place every year since.

Olivia on the map: four regions out of ten

The ONS also publishes names for the nine English regions and for Wales. In 2024 Olivia was first in nine of these ten areas. In 2025 she leads in only four: the North East, the East Midlands, the South East and Wales. Elsewhere the top spot went to other names:

• London: Sofia (342 babies)
• North West and West Midlands: Lily
• Yorkshire and The Humber, East of England: Amelia
• South West: Florence (264 babies)

Wales's own top 10 has a striking entry too: Mali, which does not appear anywhere in the combined England and Wales top 100, is 4th in Wales with 104 babies.

The 30 most popular girls' names of 2025

The figures are births registered in England and Wales in 2025. The ONS counts each spelling separately, so Sophia and Sofia are two different rows, and the table keeps them that way.

From 2024 to 2025 at a glance

Risers

• Mabel: from 37th to 16th; babies 1,113 → 1,527 (up 414). The biggest jump in the top 30.
• Matilda: 31 → 19
• Evelyn: 20 → 12
• Arabella: 30 → 22

Fallers

• Maya: 15 → 28 (333 fewer babies)
• Mia: 14 → 21
• Sofia: 12 → 17
• Ivy: 5 → 9

In and out of the top 30

Mabel, Matilda and Hallie entered the top 30. Bonnie (16 → 48), Millie (27 → 36) and Evie (29 → 35) left the top 30. Bonnie's fall of 32 places is the steepest among the names that stayed in the top 100.

Names familiar to Turkish and Muslim readers

A little below the top 30 there are familiar names as well. Maryam (مريم, Abjad 290) is 52nd in 2025 with 825 babies; in 2021 she was 82nd. Maryam (Mary) is the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur'an. Ayla, which means "moonlight, halo" in Turkish, is 42nd with 980 babies. Fatima (فاطمة, 135) is 79th with 598 babies; it is the name of Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad.

A small coincidence: Ayla's Arabic spelling أيلا and Isla's آيلا differ only in the mark on the alif, and both have an Abjad value of 42.

An Abjad view: the letters of 30 names

Abjad works with Arabic letters. A name written in Latin letters has no single "true" value; first its established spelling in Arabic script is fixed, then the value is calculated from it (for example Olivia أوليفيا = 138). The values in the table come from these spellings, using the classical Abjad value of each letter.

• First letters of the top 10: eight names begin with a Fire letter, Lily (ل) with an Earth letter and Poppy (ب) with an Air letter; none begins with a Water letter. For six of the eight the reason is the same: names starting with a vowel are written with an alif (ا أ إ آ) in Arabic, and in the classical classification used on our site alif is a Fire letter (some authors order the elements differently). Florence and Freya begin with ف, which is also a Fire letter.
• Highest values: Margot 1647 and Grace 1270. Both contain غ (1000); Margot also has ت (400). Lowest: Poppy 20 and Daisy 31.
• Shared values: Elsie and Ivy 101, Willow and Maya 52. Sophia and Sofia are separate names for the ONS but are spelled the same in Arabic: صوفيا, 187.
• A familiar number: Amelia's value is 92, the same as Muhammad (محمد).

Change the spelling and the value changes: Grace written غريس is 1270, written جريس it is 273; Margot is 1647 as مارغوت and 250 as مارجو. That does not make one spelling "more auspicious". But it explains why our paid reports always start by fixing the exact spelling of the child's and the parents' names.

True or false?

"The No. 1 name is given to more babies every year." False. Olivia is first in all five years of our data, yet her count fell every year. Being first means being the most chosen name, not being chosen more each year.

"Sophia and Sofia are the same name, and the ranking counts them together." Partly. They share a root, but the ONS counts the two spellings separately. For Abjad there is no difference, because both are written صوفيا in Arabic.

"A name with a high Abjad value is stronger." The Abjad tradition has no such rule. Margot's 1647 comes mostly from a single letter, غ (1000). What the tradition looks at is not the size of the number but the picture the name's letters and elements form together with the mother's and father's names.

"A name that is popular abroad is also the best choice for Turkish families living there." Popularity is only one piece of data. For a family in England looking for a name that is easy to say in both languages, names like Ayla, Maya or Mia may look practical. Still, the decision is made by weighing meaning, spelling and fit with the family's names together. Maya and Mia, for instance, are 52 and 51, almost identical. Yet the same name can complete a missing element in one family and strengthen an already dominant one in another.

A final note

The list shows what families chose in 2025; it does not show what suits your family. The soundest approach is to check the meaning in the table, settle the spelling carefully, and weigh family fit together with the mother's and father's names.

This article is for information only. Abjad interpretations rest on tradition and make no definitive judgement or guarantee about any name.

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Baby names in England and Wales — used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The figures refer to births registered in England and Wales in the year concerned.