The top 50 boys' names in England and Wales, 2025

These are the official Office for National Statistics figures released on 9 July 2026, covering births registered in England and Wales during 2025. The numbers are counts of registrations, not estimates.

As with the girls' list, this is England and Wales only. National Records of Scotland and NISRA publish Scotland's and Northern Ireland's rankings separately, and the answers differ: in the NRS figures for 2025, published on 26 May 2026, the most popular boys' name in Scotland was Noah, not Muhammad.

Rank	Name	Babies	Meaning and origin
1	Muhammad	5,957	Praiseworthy; Arabic
2	Noah	4,075	Rest, comfort; Hebrew
3	Leo	3,278	Lion; Latin
4	Luca	3,266	From Lucania; Italian form of Latin Lucas
5	Arthur	3,211	Disputed — possibly Celtic artos, "bear", or Roman Artorius
6	Oliver	3,154	Olive tree; possibly a Germanic name reshaped by Latin
7	George	3,082	Farmer, earth-worker; Greek geōrgos
8	Oscar	2,798	Disputed — Irish "deer friend", or Old Norse Ásgeirr
9	Theodore	2,638	Gift of God; Greek
10	Freddie	2,526	Peaceful ruler; diminutive of Frederick
11	Archie	2,465	Genuine and bold; diminutive of Archibald
12	Theo	2,398	Short form of Theodore
13	Henry	2,295	Home ruler; Germanic
14	Jude	2,153	Praised; Greek form of Judah
15	Arlo	2,083	Origin genuinely uncertain; often traced to Spenser's "Arlo Hill"
16	Alfie	1,955	Elf counsel; diminutive of Alfred
17	Rory	1,760	Red king; Gaelic Ruaidhrí
18	Finley	1,733	Fair-haired warrior; Scottish Gaelic Fionnlagh
19	Harry	1,718	Medieval English form of Henry
20	Mohammed	1,712	Praiseworthy; a separate spelling of Muhammad
21	Albie	1,702	Noble and bright; diminutive of Albert
22	Charlie	1,679	Free man; diminutive of Charles
23	Elijah	1,659	My God is Yahweh; Hebrew
24	Jack	1,595	Medieval English diminutive of John
25	William	1,456	Resolute protector; Germanic
26	Adam	1,431	Man, earth; Hebrew
27	Roman	1,420	A Roman; Latin
28	Louie	1,418	Famous warrior; a spelling of Louis
29	Reuben	1,412	Behold, a son; Hebrew
30	Rowan	1,398	Disputed — the tree, or Irish Ruadhán, "little red one"
31	Edward	1,385	Wealthy guardian; Old English
32	Lucas	1,381	From Lucania; Latin
33	Oakley	1,377	Oak clearing; Old English place name
34	Teddy	1,360	Diminutive of Theodore or Edward
35	Thomas	1,344	Twin; Aramaic
36	Isaac	1,331	He laughs; Hebrew
37	Reggie	1,312	Counsel power; diminutive of Reginald
38	Ezra	1,300	Help; Hebrew
39	Ronnie	1,281	Ruler's counsel; diminutive of Ronald
40	Alexander	1,271	Defender of people; Greek
41	Jacob	1,258	Supplanter, or "holder of the heel"; Hebrew
42	James	1,211	English form of Jacob
43	Hudson	1,204	Son of Hudde, a medieval form of Hugh; surname
44	Tommy	1,160	Diminutive of Thomas
45	Sonny	1,137	English, from the affectionate term of address
46	Hugo	1,094	Mind, spirit; Latinised form of Hugh
47	Sebastian	1,077	From Sebaste; Greek, ultimately "venerable"
48	Max	1,061	Greatest; short form of Maximilian
49	Louis	1,030	Famous warrior; Germanic via French
50	Harrison	1,007	Son of Harry; surname

What the 2025 data actually shows

Muhammad leads by a wide margin — and the spelling rule matters here more than anywhere

Muhammad was the most popular boys' name in England and Wales in 2025 with 5,957 registrations, its rank unchanged from 2024. That is 46 per cent more than second-placed Noah on 4,075 — a far bigger gap than anything at the top of the girls' chart.

It is also an underestimate of the sound. ONS ranks exact spellings, so Mohammed appears separately at 20th with 1,712 and Mohammad separately at 55th. Combined, the three spellings would be further ahead again. ONS has explained the reasoning directly: it does not add together names with similar spellings or shared derivation, because deciding which to merge would take the statistics into subjective territory. That is a defensible methodological choice, but it means the published table is a ranking of spellings rather than of names.

The risers

Reading the ONS change-in-rank column, Vinnie rose 33 places to 58th, the largest single-year climb inside the top 100. Ruben was up 26, Vincent 25, Myles 20, Yahya 12 and Rowan 11. Four names were new to the top 100 relative to 2024: Vincent, Carter, Stanley and Ruben.

The fallers

Jaxon dropped 22 places, the sharpest fall. Mason was down 14, Hunter 13, Bobby 12, and Jacob, Logan and Nathan 11 each. As on the girls' side, the names losing ground are largely the surname-style and invented-spelling names that peaked in the 2010s.

The decade tells a clearer story

Over ten years, ONS's change-since-2015 column shows Enzo up 228 places, Otis 188, Oakley 133, Hudson 132, Vinnie 129 and Myles 125. The direction of travel is towards short, vowel-heavy names and towards surnames used as first names.

Regional variation is substantial

Muhammad is the top name in four English regions — the North West, Yorkshire and The Humber, the West Midlands and London. But Noah tops the East Midlands and East of England, Arthur tops the South East and South West, and Luca tops the North East. In Wales the top name is Noah, and Muhammad ranks 34th; the Welsh name Osian sits 10th in Wales against 671st in England.

The one place there is no variation is by mother's age: Muhammad was the most popular boys' name in every age band ONS publishes.

How to use this list

Treat the top of this chart as a guide to what you will hear, not to what your son's classroom will look like. Even the leading name accounts for roughly two per cent of boys registered.

Pay attention to the diminutives. Freddie, Archie, Alfie, Albie, Charlie, Teddy, Reggie, Ronnie, Tommy and Louie all appear in this top 50 in their own right. That is a distinctly British and Australian pattern — American parents overwhelmingly register the formal name and use the short form informally. If you want the same sound with a formal option in reserve, the parent name is usually available and much less used.

Finally, note what ONS excludes: names given to two or fewer babies are suppressed for confidentiality, and registrations without a recorded name are left out entirely. The published table is complete at the top and necessarily incomplete at the bottom.

Most Popular Baby Boy Names in the UK (ONS 2025)