Why fashionable baby names are impossible to avoid

The latest official lists of the 100 most popular boys and girls’ names in England and Wales confirm the dominance of the Old Testament as well as the Edwardian ascendancy in the hearts of our nation’s newest parents. With the Calebs, Jacobs, Noahs, Samuels, Alfies and Freddies, the names given to boys in 2015 read like a rustic mash-up of Moby Dick and The Importance of Being Earnest.

I have no objection to the Old Testament, nor late Victorian or Edwardian names  – indeed to borrow the Telegraph’s gag, it’s super to see Doris getting her day again – but I do wonder why people choose names that so frequently lead the most popular lists.

How much – and no offence intended – do you have to like the name Oliver to impose it upon your newborn when a moment’s online searching will show you that it’s been the most popular name for a boy for about the last decade? Indeed, Oliver has topped the Office for National Statistics list five times since 2009 and held a top three slot every year since 2007.