OLIVER and Olivia have emerged as the most popular names given to newborns in 2016.

The figures for England and Wales were published by the Office for National Statistics today, with Amelia knocked off the top spot for girls' names for the first time since 2011, dropping to second most popular.

In February Oxfordshire County Council revealed the top ten most popular baby names in the county for 2016, with Jack and Lily topping the list. 

The ONS report shows that across England and Wales, those names came fourth and seventh respectively.

Oliver boasts the title of most popular boys' name for the fourth year in a row.

ONS statistician Nick Stripe said: "With [more than] 696,000 babies born in England and Wales in 2016, and nearly 64,000 different names chosen for them, it's interesting how relatively stable the top 10 names have been over recent years.

"It is as you move down the rankings that you begin to notice social and cultural changes being reflected in name choices.

"Harper was the girls’ name in the top 100 in 2016 with the biggest rise in popularity over the previous 10 years, whilst for boys it was Jaxon.”

Five per cent of boys and seven per cent of girls were given a unique name in 2016, only occurring once, and 20 babies were registered without a name. 

There were six new entries into the top 100 most popular boys’ names: Albie, Arlo, Ezra, Finn, Jasper and Jesse.

These replaced Callum, Connor, Jamie, Kian, Seth and Sonny. 

There were four new entries in the top 100 most popular girls’ names: Felicity, Iris, Luna and Lydia.

These replaced Bethany, Hollie, Katie and Lacey.

See ONS for the full report.