The unexpected baby names you should avoid in 2025 – so is your favourite on the list?
The most popular baby names of 2025 have been revealed, but such lists have sparked debate over whether new parents should use them as a naming guide.
Are potential names like Lily and Leo at the top of your future baby list? If you’re hoping for your child to have an ‘original’ name, you may want to rethink these.
Welcoming a baby means parents face the lifelong responsibility of choosing a name.
Ideally this name will be a unique identifier for the child in question. However, this may not be the case if you choose a name that was very popular for babies at the time…
New research into modern parenting practice Peanut The most popular names for British babies in 2025 have been revealed.
Among the men’s top five names were Theo, Leo, Freddie, Noah and Luca.
The top five for baby girls started with Lily, followed by Poppy, Amelia, Isla and Freya.
The top 10 baby boy names of 2025 included Arthur, Oliver, George, Archie and Oscar.
New research by modern parenting app Peanut has revealed the most popular names for babies in the UK in 2025. While the most popular male names were Theo, Leo and Freddie, Lily, Poppy and Amelia were the most preferred female names (Image: stock image)
For the baby girls, the names listed from 6 to 10 were Ruby, Ivy, Elsie, Olivia and finally Matilda.
Some parents may enjoy seeing their baby’s name top the list of popular names.
But the flip side of choosing a trendy name is that your child will be more likely to share it with several of their peers.
Eventually, this may lead to them needing to be identified with a nickname, such as the initial of their last name, or a personal identifier, such as a physical feature, to distinguish them from other children with the same name.
A. Reddit thread discussed popular baby name lists and whether prospective parents should use them as a guide when choosing names, or should they view them as a list of names to be avoided to minimize the chances of their child having the same name as others.
Some of the most vocal reactions came from people who have experienced firsthand the pitfalls of dealing with a wildly popular baby name.
One woman admitted: ‘I grew up with a very common name for the year I was born… I absolutely hated it! Kids started calling me by my very masculine last name. ‘I don’t want my child to have the same experience.’
A similar complaint was: ‘I have the top five names of the ’80s and there’s always at least one other person with my name. My last job had three people. Growing up, I was always “Initials of Your Name and Surname”. ‘I gave my daughter a name that wasn’t in the top 200.’
A Reddit thread discussed popular baby name lists and whether prospective parents should use them as a guide when choosing a name, or view them as a list of names to avoid to minimize the chance of having the same name as others (Image: stock image)
Another person replied: ‘I’m in the top three names for my gender the year I was born.’ ‘In third grade, there were only four of us in my class. ‘When I was in high school, most of us used our last names because it was easier.’
Others, given a popular name, said the issues remain problematic beyond the school years.
“Five of the seven women on my team at work have the same name, including me,” said one female worker. ‘We are constantly confused, receiving calls and emails about projects others are working on.’
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Some people who were given a popular name added that it also had its positive aspects.
“As someone who has a pretty popular name and is always in the top 100, I’d like to add that having a really popular and easy name isn’t that bad,” the woman said. ‘I never need to spell out my name, I can be quite anonymous and not very easy to find online.’
‘Sometimes it’s fun to have someone else with the same name as you!’ another agreed.
A lady called Jessica added: ‘I meet other women with my name all the time. My joke is “there’s always another Jessica” and it’s true. I still love my name.’
People who were given a popular baby name since the year they were born discussed the pros and cons of having the same name as their peers (Image: stock image)
But others too Reddit topic She insisted — including the person who started the debate — that you shouldn’t worry too much about lists of popular baby names and just pick the one you want.
‘Call your children whatever names you want and don’t worry about it. I gave my daughter a name [most popular of the year] The person who started the Reddit post wrote:
Another mother complained that she “avoided the top five names” for her daughter, even though she had a deep personal connection with her. He said that they still haven’t met anyone with that name and that he regrets not choosing this name.
Another person wrote: “I honestly think people are too obsessed with their child not having the same name as someone else in their class.”
But one person has suggested a clever strategy that uses annual lists of popular baby names to your advantage.
‘We named our child between #100 and #200. We thought that the name should be known, written correctly and pronounced correctly. Everybody was familiar with it, but copies were unlikely to exist.’
