Baby names: Here's what Falkirk area parents have chosen for their little ones born in 2023

Across Scotland Luca is the most popular name for a boy and Isla for a girl.

But parents in Falkirk had different ideas with Luca consigned to 40th spot after only being picked by four parents.

Instead the most popular boy’s name locally in 2023 was Harris with 14 youngsters given this, ensuring it moved up from second spot the previous year, according to new figures published by the National Records of Scotland.

It was closely followed by Brodie, James, Lucas and Rory – each chosen by 13 sets of parents, then Harry and Jack in sixth spot, followed by Archie, Noah, Finn and Lewis.

Parents of girls tended to follow the national trends with Isla being the favourite name both in Falkirk and Scotland – 15 little ones received this one locally.

This was followed by Freya, Olivia and Sophie in second spot, then Ella, Grace, Ellie, Emily, Millie, Amelia and Charlotte

Across Scotland Luca climbed four places to the top spot, while last year’s most popular name, Noah, is pushed into second place, while Leo remains third.

And the popularity of Luca is down to the release of a Disney Pixar film of that name in 2021, the NRS said.

Jack dropped out of the top three names for boys for the first time since 1996, falling to fourth place.

Isla returns to the top slot for the first time since 2020, overtaking Olivia, the most popular name for girls in recent years. Freya is still the third most popular girls’ name.

NRS Statistician Phillipa Haxton 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 girls’ names, and the variety of names given to girls is still greater than for boys.”

Some of the more unusual names chosen included Banksy, Daemon and Jihad, while among the 2983 unique names given to girls were Alloy, Costly, Pasty, Wynter-J, La and Na.