Newborn babies were named Alloy, Banksy, Daemon and Jihad in a record year for unique names in Scotland.
National Records of Scotland (NRS) said there were a record 2,362 names given to only one boy and 2,983 to just one girl in 2023.
These included boys named Boy, Demigod and Howl and girls called Costly, La, Na, Pasty and Wynter-J.
At the other end of the popularity scale, Isla reclaimed the top spot for girls for the first time since 2020, with 274 newborns given the name, overtaking Olivia. Freya is still the third most common name, followed by Emily and Amelia.
Luca climbed four places to become the most popular baby boy’s name in Scotland for the first time, given to 344 boys. The Italian-origin name pushed Noah into second place.
Leo remains third, and Jack has dropped out of the top three for the first time since 1996. It is now in fourth place and Harris is fifth.
Phillipa Haxton, an NRS statistician, said: “There are more names in use today than there were in previous generations. The number of different names for boys reached a new all-time high in 2023, as did the number of unique names given to only one child in the year.
“The same pattern was observed for girl’s names, and the variety of names given to girls is still greater than for boys.”
The NRS suggested that the Pixar film Luca could be behind the name’s rise, as it was only the 43rd most popular boy’s name in Scotland before the film’s release in 2021.
This summer’s blockbuster films are also thought to be behind the rise in names such as Cillian, up 24 places to 99 after Cillian Murphy starred in Oppenheimer, and Margot, up 57 places to 106 after Margot Robbie’s lead role in the film Barbie.
New entrants in the top 100 names include Oakley, which rose 64 places to 87th in the boys’ list, and Mabel, which jumped 102 places to joint 93rd for girls.
