Classic names that dominated playgrounds for decades are now teetering on the edge of disappearance, according to fresh UK data.
Giles sits in second place after plummeting 93 percent from its 1997 peak. Karen ranks third despite suffering the steepest collapse of all, down 95 percent from its heyday. The name Jazmin follows with just five registrations last year, while Welsh name Aled takes fifth place and Akshay ranks sixth following an 88 percent drop from its own peak.
Barry and Carwyn occupy seventh and eighth positions respectively. Karis ranks ninth with seven babies named in 2024, and Lyndon rounds out the top 10 with eight registrations.
The study also flags several once-dominant boys’ names that have fallen hard from favor, including Derek, Craig, Tyrone, Gareth and Steven.
James Russell-Watson, Head of Marketing at Nuby, tied the shifts to shifting parental priorities. “From our research we can see parents today are looking for baby names that feel modern and timeless, and that names that may remind people of older generations are being chosen less and less,” he said.
He added that cultural forces keep reshaping the landscape. “Popularity of these names is forever changing, and can be influenced hugely by pop culture moments and popular TV shows.”
The Nuby analysis arrives as naming patterns increasingly split between revival-seeking parents mining vintage lists and others chasing the next distinctive choice. While some classics have held top-100 status for two decades or longer, the research suggests a widening gap between enduring favorites and those sliding toward obsolescence.
The 2024 registration numbers reveal how thin the thread has become for several names. Sheldon’s three-boy count and Jazmin’s five-girl total represent fractions of their former usage, while Karen’s collapse from widespread popularity to endangered status stands out as the most dramatic individual plunge.
Welsh names on the list, Aled and Carwyn, point to regional favorites losing ground even within their traditional territories. The appearance of Akshay, a name with South Asian origins, among the fastest-declining choices shows the trend crosses ethnic and cultural boundaries.
Researchers have tracked similar patterns across Western countries for years, with names tied to specific generations often fading as those cohorts age out of childbearing years. The Nuby study’s 25-year window captures this generational turnover in granular detail.
The contrast between disappearing names and enduring ones has sharpened as social media and entertainment accelerate trend cycles. Parents now face pressure to choose names that photograph well, travel easily, and won’t saddle children with outdated associations.
Whether any of these endangered names will stage comebacks remains uncertain, though naming historians note that revival patterns can be unpredictable. What registers as fusty to one generation sometimes reads as charmingly retro to the next.
The Nuby team plans to update its extinction watch as fresh ONS data becomes available through 2025.