NOAH remains a popular first name for Clacks boys to defy a Scottish trend, according to statistics released by the National Records of Scotland.

While Luca has turned out to be Scotland's top name for baby boys in 2023 to beat the previous year's most popular name Noah, there were only three newborn Lucas in the Wee County in the same time period.

Noah remains popular in Clacks with five boys being given the name, sharing the top spot with Archie and Harris.

For Wee County baby girls, Ellie and Lily share the top spot with five each while Ava, Freya, Harper, Maisie and Olivia were nearly just as popular.

Across the country for girls, Isla returned to the top spot for the first time since 2020, overtaking Olivia, the most popular name in recent years.

As mirrored in Clacks, Freya is still very popular for a girl's name and sits third in Scotland.

The statistics were released on Thursday, March 28.

Phillipa Haxton, NRS statistician, said: “National Records of Scotland is pleased to welcome all of Scotland’s bundles of joy in 2023.

“There are more names in use today than there were in previous generations.

“The number of different names for boys reached a new all-time high in 2023, as did the number of unique names given to only one child in the year.

“The same pattern was observed for girls’ names and the variety of names given to girls is still greater than for boys.”

Some of the names rising in popularity are associated with movies.

Luca is now Scotland’s top name for baby boys, rising from 43rd in the charts before the release of the 2021 Pixar movie of the same name.

Meanwhile, the names of actors in the summer blockbuster movies Oppenheimer and Barbie further increased in popularity, with Cillian up 24 to 99th in the list and Margot up 57 places to 106th.

New entrants in the top 100 names include Oakley, which rose 64 places to 87th and Mabel, which leapt 102 places to joint 93rd.