Australian parents are looking to the British royal family when it comes to naming their new baby, while in the US, the popularity of the name Melania has soared.
Data released by the New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages on Thursday revealed the top 100 most popular names chosen by parents around the state.
Almost 500 baby girls were named Charlotte in 2017, bumping Olivia, which was the most common pick in 2016, into second place.
Princess Charlotte of Cambridge is the second child and only daughter of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, born in May 2015.
For the fourth year in a row, Oliver was the number one choice for boys, followed by William, Noah and Jack.
The top 20 most popular names for 2017 in NSW. Source: NSW BDM
The royal fever appears to be catching nationwide; Charlotte, William, Henry, George and other royal monikers made the lists of the most popular baby names in other Australian states, which published their data earlier in the year.
Prince George of Cambridge, the third in the line to the throne, was born in 2013, while the royal couple had a third child, , last month.
Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte. Source: AAP
Louis was ranked 59th in the recent NSW data, but BDM registrar Amanda Ianna anticipated that is likely to change very soon.
“There definitely seems to be a royal flavour in the air, which means Louis is likely to leap up in the rankings in 2018,” she said.
The question of what’s in a name has been answered by researchers over the years – studies indicate many parents are concerned about what the impact of their chosen name might be on their child, and a recent UK poll of 1,000 parents found 1 in 5 parents experienced name regret.
Melania is the fifth fasting growing name in the US. Source: AFP
Meanwhile in the US, American parents are increasingly looking to the Trumps for inspiration, with the name Melania doubling in popularity in just one year, according to data released earlier in the week.
2017 marked the first time Melania was in the top 1000 baby names. Source: US Social Security Administration
According to new figures from the US Social Security Administration, in 2017 almost 300 baby girls were named Melania, putting the name in the top 1,000 most popular for the first time, and making it the fifth fastest growing name in terms of popularity of last year.
Liam and Emma took out the top spots in the US.
The name Donald remained unchanged in terms of popularity.
