FOI reference: FOI-2025-3023
You asked
I would like to obtain the number of baby boys registered with the first name "Murdo" in England and Wales, for each year from 1996 to the most recent available year.
I understand that annual baby name statistics published by the ONS suppress counts below three for privacy reasons. However, I am requesting this data under FOI for research purposes and confirm that I am not requesting any personally identifiable information-only the aggregated counts per year, even if the value is 1 or 2.
If possible, I would appreciate the data in tabular form (e.g., CSV or Excel), showing:
- Year
- Count of male babies named "Murdo"
We said
Thank you for your request
In table six of the Baby names for boys in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics dataset, you can find all registered boys names with a count of more than 3. Data is available from 1996 to 2024.
We have not provided numbers of names with a count of 3 or less in total within England and Wales. These figures have been redacted in order to protect the confidentiality of individuals. This is consistent with the disclosure control methodology used for births. Section 39 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) renders it a criminal offence to disclose information held by the Statistics Board (ONS) for statistical purposes that would identify an individual or a body corporate. As we are prohibited by law from publishing statistics in which individuals can be identified, Section 44(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) applies.