The girls' number one that is not Olivia

Olivia is the most popular girls' name in England and Wales. In 2025 it went to 2,386 girls. That is the official list, and the official list counts spellings.

Sophia was 13th, with 1,547 girls. Sofia was 17th, with 1,490. They are the same name said the same way, and together they are 3,037. Add the five smaller spellings in the file, Sofiya, Sofija, Sofiyah, Sofiia and Soffia, and it is 3,108. One girl in every 81 born in England and Wales last year was given a name that is said Sophia. One in 106 was given Olivia.

We found that last week and it raised a question. If Sophia is really number one, what else is out of place? So we did the same sum for every girls' name near the top of the list, in both countries, and re-ranked them by sound. Olivia is not second either.

How we counted

A spelling counts when it is the same name said the same way, and only the letters differ. Lilly is Lily. Freyja is Freya. Izabella is Isabella. Every spelling we added is listed under the tables, with its count, so you can check the working.

Where two spellings are said differently we kept them apart, even when they look close. Amalia is not Amelia. Ayra is not Aria, though Arya is. Lila is said both ways, so it is left out of Lyla. Hyphenated names like Ivy-Rose are their own names and are never added to anything. Where it was a judgement call we left the spelling out. We would rather undercount than guess.

England and Wales, by sound

Sophia first, Lily second, Olivia third. Lily on its own is 2,249 and second on the official list too, but more than a fifth of the girls who are called Lily are written Lilly, Lillie or Lili, and with them it is 2,914. Olivia has one spelling. The only other way it is written in the whole file is Olivija, four girls. It is number one because nobody respells it.

Here is the top 20, counted by sound. The shaded rows are names that are not in the official top 20.

Spellings counted: Sophia: Sophia 1,547, Sofia 1,490, Sofiya 22, Sofija 20, Sofiyah 12, Sofiia 9, Soffia 8. Lily: Lily 2,249, Lilly 382, Lillie 205, Lili 72, Lilli 6. Amelia: Amelia 2,153, Amilia 10, Ameliah 5, Amelya 5, Ameila 3. Isla: Isla 1,959, Islay 6, Islah 4. Freya: Freya 1,802, Freyja 111, Freja 38. Poppy: Poppy 1,789, Poppie 34, Poppi 4, Popi 3. Isabella: Isabella 1,690, Izabella 41, Isabela 27, Izabela 26, Isobella 17, Issabella 7. Elsie: Elsie 1,700, Elsi 34, Ellsie 5, Elsey 4. Ivy: Ivy 1,698, Ivie 23. Mia: Mia 1,372, Mya 203, Myah 43, Miya 31, Miah 25, Miyah 17, Miia 4, Myia 3. Aria: Aria 1,132, Arya 264, Ariya 124, Ariyah 94, Ariah 50, Aaria 14, Arria 4, Aryiah 4, Aryah 3, Aryia 3. Ava: Ava 1,611, Ayva 33, Avah 20, Aiva 8, Ayvah 6, Aeva 4. Evelyn: Evelyn 1,560, Evelin 27, Evelynn 26, Evalyn 19, Evelynne 4, Evlyn 4. Sienna: Sienna 1,530, Siena 61, Cienna 21, Sianna 16, Cianna 7. Mila: Mila 1,014, Myla 490, Mylah 86, Milah 15. Mabel: Mabel 1,527, Mable 16, Maebel 13, Maybel 6. Maya: Maya 1,259, Maia 255, Maiya 25, Mayah 11, Maaya 3, Mayya 3. Phoebe: Phoebe 1,542, Phoebie 5. Olivia and Florence have one spelling each.

Four names drop out and four come in. Sofia is folded into Sophia. Daisy, Matilda and Willow, 18th, 19th and 20th on the official list, are pushed to 21st, 22nd and 23rd. In their place come Mia, 21st on paper and 12th by sound, Aria, 34th and 13th, Mila, 40th and 17th, and Maya, 28th and 19th.

All four are split by a y. Mya takes 203 girls from Mia. Arya, Ariya and Ariyah take 482 from Aria. Myla and Mylah take 576 from Mila, which is why Mila is 40th on the official list and 17th here: the main spelling has only 63% of its own name. Maia takes 255 from Maya. Britain is not respelling Olivia or Florence. It is respelling the short names that end in a vowel, and it is doing it with a y.

The gap at the top is widening. In 2024 Sophia and its spellings were 3,318 and Olivia was 2,761, a gap of 557. In 2025 the stack fell to 3,108 and Olivia fell to 2,386, a gap of 722. Both are going down, Olivia faster. And in 2024 Sofia was the bigger spelling, 1,626 to 1,610. This year Sophia leads. Which spelling is bigger changes from one year to the next, and the name is number one either way.

America, by sound

The most recent full American file we hold is 2017, every name given to five or more girls. The official number one that year was Emma, 19,738 girls. Sophia was fifth and Sofia 15th, and together with eight smaller spellings they were 23,082. One American girl in 74. Emma with its two respellings was 19,891, one in 86.

Spellings counted, the larger ones: Sophia: Sophia 14,831, Sofia 8,134 and eight spellings under 40. Riley: Riley 6,343, Rylee 2,847, Ryleigh 1,845, Rylie 875, Rhylee 108 and twelve smaller. Aria: Aria 7,132, Arya 2,156, Ariah 1,005, Ariyah 740, Ariya 456, Aryah 134 and eleven smaller. Zoey: Zoey 6,026, Zoe 5,129, Zoie 321 and ten smaller. Adalynn: Adalynn 2,651, Adalyn 2,194, Adelyn 1,511, Adelynn 1,063, Addilyn 821, Addilynn 415, Adilynn 266, Addalyn 241, Addelyn 208, Addalynn 196, Adilyn 139 and 23 smaller. Chloe: Chloe 6,912, Khloe 2,143 and fifteen smaller. Mia: Mia 13,437, Mya 1,728, Myah 364, Miah 342, Miya 258, Miyah 137 and four smaller. Isabella: Isabella 15,100, Izabella 1,220, Isabela 328 and six smaller. Madison: Madison 7,847, Maddison 875, Madisyn 508, Madyson 246 and nine smaller. Emily: Emily 9,746, Emely 743, Emilee 322, Emilie 248, Emmalee 227 and fifteen smaller. Evelyn: Evelyn 10,675, Evelynn 938, Evalyn 275, Evalynn 225, Evelin 100 and six smaller. Avery: Avery 8,186, Averie 784, Averi 354 and nine smaller. Ava: Ava 15,902, Avah 514, Ayva 226, Ayvah 141 and four smaller. The rest add fewer than 700 to their main spelling.

Same shape as Britain. Four out, four in. Sofia is folded into Sophia, and Ella, Scarlett and Victoria, 16th, 18th and 19th on the official list, drop to 23rd, 21st and 24th. In come Riley, Zoey, Chloe and Aria, and the American ones are bigger stories than the British ones.

Riley was 25th on paper. By sound it is eighth, above Evelyn and Amelia, because Rylee and Ryleigh are each big enough to be top-200 names on their own and Rylie is not far behind. Riley itself is only half of its own name. Zoey and Zoe are two spellings of nearly the same size, 6,026 and 5,129, and neither is in the official top 25. Put them together and the name is 12th.

Then there is Adalynn. On the official list its best spelling is 116th. It has 34 spellings in the file, and no single one of them is in the top 100. Add them up and it is 10,193 girls, the 16th most popular girls' name in America, one place behind Harper, and Adalynn itself is only 26% of that. It is the Kayden of girls' names: a name that a great many parents chose and none of them could agree how to write. If you have picked Adelyn because it is uncommon, it is not.

We kept Adeline and Adaline apart from that, because they end in line rather than lin. If you say them the same way, the combined name is 15,931 girls and seventh in the country, above Charlotte.

The two countries respell differently. In Britain's top 20 by sound, six names have a main spelling with less than 90% of the total. In America's it is eleven. The typical British name on the list keeps 95% of its babies under one spelling; the typical American name keeps 86%. American parents are nearly twice as likely to change the letters, and when they do it is not one alternative but a dozen.

What it means for you

The list you read is a list of spellings. Ours too, because that is what the records hold. If Olivia feels too popular, fewer girls answer to it than to Sophia and Sofia put together, in both countries. If you want a name nobody else has and you have found an unusual spelling of Riley, the classroom will not notice the spelling. And if you have picked Mila over Mia because Mia is everywhere, they are closer than they look: 1,698 to 1,605 once the y-spellings are in.

Olivia is number one on paper, and it is the honest number one for what the records count. It just is not the name most girls are called.