Corryvreckan, Awesome and Bowie among Scots baby names

More parents than ever before are choosing unique or unusual names for their children in Scotland.

A growing number of Scots are calling their son George after the Royal baby, new figures show.

A total of 127 babies were named after the patron saint of England - and William and Kate’s little boy - last year. It was the 53rd most popular boy’s name - a rise from 77th place in 2014.

His sister’s name was the 21st most popular girls’name last year - with 209 babies named Charlotte, a drop of one place on the previous year.

Overall, Jack was the most popular boys name for the eighth consecutive year and Emily topped the girls’ list for 2015 - the second year in a row.

Figures released by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) showed Sophie, the most popular for nine years previously, remains in second position ahead of Olivia, while Oliver climbed above James and Lewis to become second most popular among boys.

As always there were some names taken from the world of celebrity. The Beckham’s children’s names all appeared in the list with 128 girls named Harper, seven boys Cruz and six called Romeo and Brooklyn was chosen for three others.

Music legends were also honoured with one boy called Bowie, another Cobain and another one named Cash. Two boys were also named Hendrix.

The name Arya, one of the main characters in fantasy drama series Game of Thrones, was given to 46 girls in Scotland last year as it rose 39 places to 95th spot in 2015.

Names from the popular ITV drama Downton Abbey also appeared with 35 girls named Cora, 40 called Violet and 24 given the first name Edith.

There were hundreds of unique names on the list including Awesome, Breeze, Corryvreckan, Erla, Diamond, Calypso and Highlande.

The figures show babies’ forenames have become a lot more diverse since the early 1970s.

In total there were 3359 different boy’s names used last year, compared with just 1167 in 1974; and 4474 girl’s names in 2015 compared with 1,970 four decades ago.

David, which was the most popular name from 1974 to 1992 is now in 41st place. And Ryan, which was top in 1994-1998 has dropped to 33rd.

Trends have also changed for girls. Laura was the most popular girls’ name in 1979 and for the next ten years but it did not even appear in last year’s top 100.

Smith is the most common surname in the Birth, Marriage and Death registers for 2015, followed by Brown and Wilson.

A full list of all 2015 Scottish baby names can be found at National Records Scotland.