Most common baby names for boys and girls in Sheffield revealed to be Amelia and Muhammad

A total of 41 new born boys were given the name Muhammad in the Steel City in 2021, according to figures. The next most popular were George, Noah and Oliver.

The data also showed the most popular name for girls was Amelia, with 30 babies sharing it in a 12 month period. The second most popular was Isla, followed by Willow and Ivy.

Data from the Office of National Statistics also show Myles and Sara are some of the most uncommon baby names in the country, both ranking in 100th place.

Meanwhile, Noah was the overall most popular boys’ name nationally, replacing Oliver from the year before. Olivia remains the top name for girls for the sixth year in a row.

Otis and Maeve are slowly becoming more popular - Otis has moved up 112 positions since 2017, and Maeve has moved up a staggering 483 positions, perhaps due to the Netflix series Sex Education.

And George, the Prince and Princess of Wales’ son, was the most popular Royal baby boy name in 2021.

SJ Strum, from Baby Name Envy, explained why the top spot names such as Olivia, Noah, Oliver and Amelia are going to continue to be popular: “In baby naming, names with the ‘O factor’ - meaning a strong ‘O’ sound - are always in style, due to the etymology of words. ‘O’ is the most distinct vowel in the English language so it uniquely balances with any surname. Most surnames begin with a consonant, meaning vowels are popular for our forenames. Only 1.5 per cent of UK surnames begin with ‘O’ and three per cent begin with ‘A’ so they flow.

“A strong ‘O’ also inspires confidence while remaining soft and approachable, which is why we see it used in many top companies from Google, Yahoo, and Amazon.

“Names ending in the open “AH” sound are all over the charts as again they lead more phonetically into strong surnames, but it also adds a syllable which we find adorable when choosing names.”