THE south-west has bucked national trends when it comes to the most popular baby names of 2014.
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Harry and Sophie featured most prominently in The Standard’s birth notices from last year.
Across Australia, Oliver was the most popular baby name for boys, and Ava the top name for girls, according to babycenter.com.au
Eight south-west babies were named Harry and six girls were called Sophie.
Oliver ranked third in the south-west, while only one baby was named Ava.
While Harry was the top pick, other names starting with H were popular. Hugo, Hudson, Harrison, Harvey, Harley and Henry all featured in the birth notices.
Names beginning with L were popular with girls — such as Lilly, Layla, Lucy, Lillian, Lyla and Lexi.
Alexis was the second favourite girls’ name and Jack was runner-up in the boys.
Matilda, the top girls’ name in the south-west in 2013, was used only once this year and William, the top boys’ name from the previous year, dropped back to second place. Some other noteworthy names from 2014 included Fox, Xander and Tilba for boys and Michaleen and Budi for girls.
Jordan Leo Willie was the first baby born in 2015 at Warrnambool Base Hospital, to parents Jason and Elise.
Mr Willie said the couple came up with the name after Google-searching baby names.
“Elise really liked Leo and I really liked Jordan, so we combined them,” he said.
Jordan is a brother for Isaac, 5, and arrived at 6.30pm on January 1, weighing 2.94-kilograms (six-pounds, eight-ounces).
In 2014, 249 babies were announced in the birth notices, with 139 boys and 110 girls.