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Names reminiscent of a bygone era including Ruby, Millie and Grace, have made a comeback as favourite choices for modern-day parents in the UK.
The names, inspired by famous turn-of-the-century silver screen namesakes including Grace Kelly, Gracie Fields and Ella Fitzgerald, as well as the suffragette Millicent Fawcett,
are firmly back in vogue, according to an annual survey on boys and girls names by the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
Ruby, another name dating back to more than half a century ago, was the biggest riser among girls names, shooting up the ONS list to 12th place, compared to its 45th position a year ago.
Olivia, meanwhile, which only entered the top five last year, knocked Jessica off the number one spot.
Floral names featured prominently this year, with Daisy, Poppy, Lily and Jasmine appearing among the top 50.
There was more consistency among the most popular boy's names in England and Wales, with Jack claiming the top position as the nation's favourite name for the 12th consecutive year.
Traditional choices Joshua, Thomas, James and Daniel led the list for boys, which was based on the registrations of 380,000 babies born in Britain this year.
A spokeswoman from the ONS said the list revealed a marked return to "old fashioned, girlie names" as well as more unusual choices such Erin, Keira, Madison, and Scarlett.
But this could be put down to the celebrity cachet that many of these more untraditional names carry, with the raised international profiles of actresses such as Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley and model Erin O'Connor.
The boy's name growing fastest in popularity was found to be Preston, with suggestions that the choice could have been inspired by the singer of The Ordinary Boys who shot to fame by appearing on Big Brother.
It was the 304th favourite boy's name after being placed at 1,650th last year.
There were three new entries in the girls' top 50 - Imogen, up 17 places to number 48, Sophia, up 13 to number 49, and Anna, which dropped out last year, but climbed back two places to number 50.
New boys names to emerge in the top 50 included Muhammad which climbed 12 places to number 44, while Mohammed rose one place to number 22, Noah climbed up five to number 46, Oscar, Lucas rose ten placed to number 48 and Rhys was also up ten to number 49.
Elive, at number 21, also gained popularity for girls as well as Freya, at number 23, and Poppy, at number 30.
In Wales, Megan remained the top girls' name while Dylan, Rhys, Ffion, Seren and Cerys were all in the top ten.
In Scotland, meanwhile, Jack and Sophie were the top names for new babies.
Jack returned to dominated the list after replacing Lewis, last year's number one name, while Sophie retained its top spot for a second year in the girl's list.
The General Register Office for Scotland revealed that parents were not only choosing a diverse variety of names but also deciding to spell them differently, with combinations of Callum/Calum and Aimee/Amy.
In Northern Ireland, Katie topped the list for girls names with Jack again coming in first place.
- INDEPENDENT
