Trends and Insights - 2014 Victorian Top 100

Photo by Karen Wiltshire

The Australian state of Victoria has already released it's top 100 results for 2014!

Since it's the state I live in, I'm particularly interested in what is happening in Victoria. So I thought I'd share some of the insights I got from this years results.

For The Girls...

We're falling in love with vintage nicknames - Particularly if they're boyish! Charlie and Billie have returned to our top 100, while Frankie debuted at #95 and Sadie and Elsie also entered the top 100. Sadie is actually the hottest new entry and fastest rising girl name overall, entering at #64! Evie and Ellie also rose, while Millie held her ground.

We think "EL" is a hot sound - Elsie entered the top 100 at position #84, Ella, Ellie and Eloise are all on the rise and Eliza and Elizabeth are also still in the top 100. Other names featuring the "EL" sound that rose in 2014 were Evelyn, Isabel, Annabelle, Isabelle and Madeleine. Hazel and Penelope both entered the top 100. And Isabella, Stella and Bella can also be found in the top 100.

We prefer Sophie over Sophia. And Sofia. - In 2013 in Australia the combined spellings of Sophia and Sofia put the name at number 8, two places ahead of Sophie. She was also the winner in the U.S. But in 2014 in Victoria? Combining Sophia and Sofia would put her at #15, still 8 places behind our 7th favourite name, Sophie.

We made different pop culture choices - All the punters have been tipping Elsa to rise dramatically thanks to Frozen. But it seems our hearts are actually with her sister, Anna. Elsa is noticeably missing from our top 100, whereas Anna was one of our fastest rising names, up 23 places! We also shunned 'Game of Thrones' character Khaleesi/Daenerys but gave the nod to the actress who plays her, with Emilia entering the top 100 at #68.

But we agree with some predictions - Violet, Penelope, Hazel, Ariana and Piper are hot picks to rise in 2015, but we've gotten an early start on that! Violet is up 35 places and Piper 18. Penelope, Hazel and Ariana were all new entries.


For The Boys...

We're heavily debating nicknames vs full names - Over a quarter of the names in the top 100 are nicknames and their full names. In some cases the nickname is tops, in other cases it's the full name. So it seems there are some sounds that we simply love, in any of its' forms. The most popular options are highlighted below:

	Full Name	Position		Nickname	Position
	Alexander	11		Alex	83
	Archer	40		Archie	34
	Charles	92		Charlie	12
	Elijah	39		Eli	70
	Harrison	22		Harry	23
	Jackson	35		Jack	2
	Jaxon	42
	Jacob	25		Jake	55
	Lucas	7		Luke	63
	Maxwell	87		Max	17
	Nathaniel	97		Nate	53
	Nathan	64
	William	3		Liam	14
	Zachary	51		Zac	95
	Isaac	21

But overall, full names are winners - We seem to predominantly like a formal name on the birth certificate. For those names where only the full name or the nickname appears in our top 100, there are three times as many full names as nicknames. For example, we love Benjamin but not Ben, Samuel but not Sam, Nicholas but not Nick. Theodore and Anthony also entered the top 100 in 2014, with no Theo or Tony to be seen. Nicknames that buck the trend? That would be Leo, Toby and surprising new entry, Lenny.

We're pretty conservative when naming boys - We love the old fashioned staples, particularly if they can be found in the Bible or on a Royal family tree. This isn't anything particularly new, but shows few signs of changing. The next hot Biblical pick looks to be Caleb, which rose 20 places in 2014. The fastest rising Royal pick of 2014 was George - thanks to William and Kate's first born. Hot on his heels though is Edward, already placed ahead of George and also rising. If William and Kate's second child - due in April - happens to be a boy and they name him Edward, we could see Edward shoot into the top 10 very soon.

Kai bucks the norm - It seems that the winning formula for a boys name in Victoria is a two syllable name (71% of the top 100) with Biblical or Royal (preferably British) roots. So why is it that one-syllable Kai was super hot in 2014? Kai is a new entry to the top 100 and the fastest rising name for boys or girls in 2014, entering at position #61! We are admittedly a little behind the other states though as Kai has been a top 100 Australian name for the past couple of years already.


For Both...

It's Charlie all the way - Charlie is the only name that appears in both the girls top 100 (at position #91) and boys top 100 (rising 9 places to #12 in 2014). Longer version Charlotte is #2 for girls, while Charles is #92 for boys.


Want to check out the full lists for yourself? Check out Anna's post at Waltzing More Than Matilda.