It takes a little longer for the U.K. to release their baby name stats, but we finally have a look at what was hot in 2013 across the pond. And to no one’s surprise, George made a huge surge forward, thanks to a certain young fellow born there last year. (It’s now officially top 10.)
In fact, it looks like interest in royal names surged at the same time—Victoria and Albert, which were both circulated as possibilities for the royal baby, also saw gains this year. But topping the British charts for girls was Amelia for the third year running, and Oliver regained the top spot, pushing Harry down to #3 for boys.
While the U.S. and U.K. charts definitely have some crossover—Olivia, Emily, Ava, Isabella, Jacob, and William are all top 10 in both countries—there are some unique ideas that could be worth emulating.
1. The nickname name. We definitely prefer formality in our names here in the U.S., but the U.K. favors just going with the nickname as the name—especially if you can make it end with that “e” sound. That’s how names like Charlie, 
Alfie, Sophie and Evie hit the top 20. Elsie is the biggest climber in the UK top 100 for girls, and Teddy for boys. Other hot “e” names in the U.K. included Archie, Rosie, Frankie and Gracie.
2. The undiscovered name. The U.K.’s top 10 includes names that don’t rank anywhere near that in the U.S. Consider Oscar, which jumped 10 places into the #7 spot in the U.K., but is on a bit of a decline and at number 178 in the U.S. On the girls’ side, Poppy hit the top 10 this year after climbing 6 spots, and it isn’t even in the top 1000 in the U.S. Other names to consider that are far lower in popularity here: Arthur, Hugo and Felix for boys, Florence, Zara and Eleanor for girls.
3. The stodgy name. While we have a tendency to be creative in spelling or in making up a new name (hello, Jaden and Nevaeh), the U.K. loves to recycle names—and there are definitely some old-school names in their top 100 that you haven’t seen much of here in the U.S. On the boys’ side, there’s the already mentioned Albert, plus Harvey, Stanley and Frederick; for girls, you’ll find Tilly, Martha, Harriet, and Beatrice.
You can view the whole U.K. top 100 baby names here, and tell us what your favorites are.
If you’re still looking for the perfect baby name, email me at lamilbrand@gmail.com, and your dilemma could be featured here or in our sister publication, American Baby. (Or check out our Baby Name Finder to do your own searching!) And don’t forget to like In Name Only on Facebook to keep up with the very latest in baby names!
Image: British baby by MartiniDry/Shutterstock.com