Vintage year for Chardonnay and Romeo

IT IS official - Kylie and Robbie are on their way out.

But fans of pop pin-ups Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams need not worry, for it's their names that are going out of fashion, not their music.

The names Kylie and Robbie have decreased in popularity with parents naming their new babies since 2001, according to a list of last year's most popular names compiled by the Office of National Statistics .

But that's not to say the cult of celebrity is dead in Britain. For replacing Kylie and Robbie are names like Chardonnay and Shakira for girls and Romeo and Brooklyn for boys. Chardonnay is a sexy character in the ITV1 drama Footballers' Wives, and Colombian diva Shakira is a rising star in the pop world. Brooklyn and Romeo are, of course, the sons of stars David and Victoria Beckham, whose own names have a mixed showing in the list. David appears at number 48, but there is no sign of Victoria.

However, other traditional names are still popular, with Thomas, James and William all in the top 10 for boys, and Emily, Charlotte and Hannah in the girls' top 10. The top names, Jack and Chloe, have remained the same. Jack has been the most popular boys' name for the past eight years, while Chloe has been at the top of the list for the last six. In Wales only, Joshua replaced Jack at the top of the list.

It is the same story in Bolton, with the majority of parents choosing traditional names for their new borns.

A snapshot of the names of new babies whose photographs appeared in the Bolton Evening News on Saturdays over the past six months show that Joshua is the favourite for boys, with five mums and dads choosing it for their off-spring.

The favourite girls name was Megan, with four parents opting for it.

Other favourites were Jack, Samuel, Callum, Chloe, Courtney and Jessica. The more exotic ones were Kai, Millicent and Reece-Lee.

The general rule seems to be that there is no general rule for names - anything goes.

Irene Duncan, editor-in-chief of I'm Pregnant magazine, says names come and go into fashion like anything else, depending on various things including stars that are in the headlines at the time a baby is born.

She says: "I think people are affected by what's going on in the media when they choose names for their babies.

"There are names that are used because of strong family traditions, but often they are the middle names.

"If you look back in the media over the years you will see that names that keep popping up are also popular names for babies.

"It seems that nothing is taboo."

Duncan says some parents give little thought to the possibility that their child could be ridiculed at school if they have a particularly unusual name which may have been that of a famous person when they were born.

And she says some parents also forget to consider their child's initials, with potentially embarrassing consequences.

"People often go for the names of pop and soap stars, but there will always be a place for traditional names," she says.

"They come in and out of fashion. For example, in 60 years there will be a lot of old and grey Kylies.

"It's great fun naming a child, but people can be very cruel."

Famous names crop up throughout the list, with William at number seven and Harry at 11. Less traditional but well-known for different reasons are top 50 names like Bethany, the name of a toddler in Coronation Street, and Phoebe, a character in the TV comedy Friends.

The second most popular names on the list are Joshua and Emily and that, says the deputy editor of Prima Baby magazine Sue Cocker, is because traditional names are making more of a comeback.

"I think traditional names are coming back more and more," she says. "Celebrity names go out of fashion, and although they are still cropping up I don't think it's quite as much, although I'm sure there will be a rash of Romeos this year.

"It might be good fun to call your child a name that is trendy at the time, but it's safer, and nicer for them, to give them a traditional name which is timeless."

Names in the list which may prove to be one-hit wonders are those such as Ashanti and Aaliyan, which come from the pop world.