Freya and Noah the most popular baby names in Scotland

Freya has replaced Olivia as the most chosen name for baby girls in Scotland, according to new data from National Records of Scotland.

A total of 268 babies were given the name in 2025, giving it top position in the national ranking for the first time after three years in the top three.

Noah remains number one for boys for the second time after five years in the top three.

While there was a wider variety of names given to girls born in Scotland last year, the number of unique names - those not given to any other babies - has continued to increase.

However, those names have not been released under a recent policy of only including names that are shared by three or more babies.

A total of 318 baby boys were named Noah in the past year, ranking it top in seven council areas and most popular overall.

Muhammad dropped from second place to fourth, with 291 boys given the name in 2025.

For girls, the biggest climbers within the top 100, were Lilly and Matilda, both up 55 places to 83rd and 93rd respectively. Darcy moved up by 52 places to 100th and Margot up by 45 to 79th.

The new data showed names beginning with the letter A were the most popular for both boys and girls, with 14.0% of girls and 11.7% of boys born in 2025 being given first names starting with the first letter in the alphabet.

The letter A has been the most popular initial for girls' names since 2004, and for boys since 2017.

Names ending in -ie have become more popular for both girls and boys in the past half century.

In 2025, 13.4% of baby girls and 8.0% of baby boys had names ending in -ie, compared to 4.5% of girls and 0.5% of boys born in 1974.

Having taken a dip since being the most popular name in 2024, Luca - popularised by the Disney Pixar film of that name in 2021- rose by four places to second place for baby boys.

NRS statistician Anouska Pandya said it was "always exciting" to see a name reach the number one spot for the first time.

"Freya has taken a long time to reach the top," she said. "The name ranked 578th in the 1970s and rose in popularity each decade until arriving at number one in 2025."

NRS said the data does not provide evidence for why particular names rise or fall in popularity but sometimes changes coincide with their use in popular culture.

Freya is one spelling for the name of a goddess in Norse mythology.

It is also the name of an actress in TV show The Witcher and a character in The Originals, but parents sometimes just like the sound of the name.

Although the numbers are small, names of characters from the Bridgerton books and TV series - Daphne, Eloise and Penelope - are all gaining popularity.

The name Aurora has been climbing alongside increased visibility of the aurora borealis or Northern Lights.

Dazzling displays in 2024 and 2025 have occurred alongside record numbers of parents embracing the name for their babies, with 74 and 89 girls being called Aurora each year respectively.

Statistics for 2025 are based on the birth registrations of 21,974 girls and 23,082 boys.

There were 4,603 different first names given to girls and 3,957 different first names given to boys.

Freya was the name of 1.2% of baby girls in the past year, but 14.0% had a unique name that no other baby girl was given that year.

The share of babies being given the most popular name has generally decreased over time - in 1983 the most popular name Laura was given to 3.9% of Scottish baby girls.

More than 11% of boys did not share their name with another baby boy born last year, the new highest ever percentage.

Both Shetland Islands and Orkney Islands had no names given that were given to three or more baby boys.