Abu

maleStatistical record

What official birth registration shows about Abu: which national registrars published it, in which years, and how its recorded position changed.

No researched meaning, origin or pronunciation yet — what that means.

Abu: Recorded every year since 1996, it reached #417 in 2002, and it stood at #651 in 2024.

1registrar recorded it
29times a registrar ranked it
29years from first to last
#417highest recorded position
8groupings it qualifies for

England and Wales · Boys

Falling

among boys in England and Wales · 1996–2024

View as table

England and Wales · Boys rank by year
Year	Rank
1996	#605
1997	#513
1998	#502
1999	#477
2000	#468
2001	#473
2002	#417
2003	#445
2004	#599
2005	#565
2006	#582
2007	#711
2008	#668
2009	#596
2010	#811
2011	#743
2012	#754
2013	#751
2014	#534
2015	#903
2016	#818
2017	#730
2018	#897
2019	#825
2020	#651
2021	#771
2022	#799
2023	#738
2024	#651

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

FallingEngland and Wales · Boys

Recorded in official data among boys in England and Wales in every year from 1996 to 2024.

Official data for England and Wales, 1996–2024 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1996
First recorded at #605 among boys in England and Wales in 1996 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
England and Wales · Boys
Highest recorded1996–2024
Highest recorded position: #417 among boys in England and Wales, in 2002 (recorded 1996–2024).
England and Wales · Boys
Most recent2024
Most recently recorded at #651 among boys in England and Wales, in 2024.
England and Wales · Boys

Abu by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Abu in England and Wales · Boys, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1990s	145	4 of 10	36
2000s	472	10 of 10	47
2010s	423	10 of 10	42
2020sbusiest	238	5 of 10	48

Across England and Wales · Boys, the 2020s were its busiest decade — the 5 years of it this list covers, averaging 48 births a year.

Its sharpest single-year move came between 2014 and 2015, when recorded births fell by 37, from 70 to 33.

See the names England and Waleshas recorded the most births with →

Abu appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

Popularity data

Recorded in official data for England and Wales from 1996 to 2024. Highest recorded position: #417 in England and Wales in 2002.

Abu's recorded popularity observations by year, region and administrative category, including rank, registered births, source confidence and when each region's data was last reviewed.
Year	Region	Category	Rank	Births registered	Confidence	Status
2024	England and Wales	male	#651	57	High	Verified
2023	England and Wales	male	#738	45	High	Verified
2022	England and Wales	male	#799	40	High	Verified
2021	England and Wales	male	#771	43	High	Verified
2020	England and Wales	male	#651	53	High	Verified
2019	England and Wales	male	#825	37	High	Verified
2018	England and Wales	male	#897	33	High	Verified
2017	England and Wales	male	#730	47	High	Verified
2016	England and Wales	male	#818	39	High	Verified
2015	England and Wales	male	#903	33	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	male	#534	70	High	Verified
2013	England and Wales	male	#751	43	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	male	#754	43	High	Verified
2011	England and Wales	male	#743	42	High	Verified
2010	England and Wales	male	#811	36	High	Verified
2009	England and Wales	male	#596	54	High	Verified
2008	England and Wales	male	#668	45	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	male	#711	39	High	Verified
2006	England and Wales	male	#582	50	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	male	#565	47	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	male	#599	40	High	Verified
2003	England and Wales	male	#445	56	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	male	#417	54	High	Verified
2001	England and Wales	male	#473	44	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	male	#468	43	High	Verified
1999	England and Wales	male	#477	43	High	Verified
1998	England and Wales	male	#502	39	High	Verified
1997	England and Wales	male	#513	36	High	Verified
1996	England and Wales	male	#605	27	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics

See methodology and data sources for how popularity data is collected and what "confidence" means.

What the record shows

Recorded by 1 registrar between 1996 and 2024, ranked in 29 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #417, first reached in 2002.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 70 births, registered in England and Wales in 2014.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

4decades with a ranked yearRecorded in 4 decades →
29 yearslongest unbroken run of ranked years20 to 29 unbroken years →
1unbroken stretch — never absent from the recordUnbroken since it first appeared →
#651position in 2024, its most recent recorded year
70births registered in its largest year, 201450 to 99 births →

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Abrar · #1235, 29y
Abrish · #898, 11y
Abu-Bakr · #1050, 29y
Abubacarr · #3040, 13y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 1 registrar, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Taran · #417, 29y
Umair · #417, 29y
Kasim · #416, 29y
Lillia · #419, 25y

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 1990 and 1999.

Micaela · #417, 30y
Taran · #417, 29y
Umair · #417, 29y
Annie-Rose · #418, 24y

Abu was ranked #417 in England and Wales · Boys in 2002. These are the names immediately either side of it on that published list — a fact about the registrar's own output, not a similarity judgement.

Abu and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Abu without appearing here.

Abu moved ahead of

Wayne Compare
In 2010 they stood at #811 and #678 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2011 that had become #743 and #1303.
Phillip Compare
In 2018 they stood at #897 and #835 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2019 that had become #825 and #1253.
Garry Compare
In 1996 they stood at #605 and #573 in England and Wales · Boys; by 1997 that had become #513 and #914.
Jakob Compare
In 2022 they stood at #799 and #746 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2023 that had become #738 and #1139.

Moved ahead of Abu

Lachlan Compare
In 2014 they stood at #534 and #558 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2015 that had become #903 and #363.
Cillian Compare
In 2014 they stood at #534 and #550 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2015 that had become #903 and #404.
Rian Compare
In 2014 they stood at #534 and #574 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2015 that had become #903 and #557.
Oisin Compare
In 2020 they stood at #651 and #766 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2021 that had become #771 and #433.

Moved the same way as Abu

Kelly Compare
Between 1997 and 2023 in England and Wales · Boys, Abu went from #513 to #738 and Kelly from #1454 to #3523.
Ole Compare
Between 1998 and 2022 in England and Wales · Boys, Abu went from #502 to #799 and Ole from #2901 to #4789.
Espen Compare
Between 2002 and 2024 in England and Wales · Boys, Abu went from #417 to #651 and Espen from #3225 to #5119.
Kim Compare
Between 1996 and 2015 in England and Wales · Boys, Abu went from #605 to #903 and Kim from #1168 to #4747.

What's not yet available

Meaning
Origin
Pronunciation
Nicknames and spelling variants

Absence from this list does not mean the name isn't genuinely meaningful or widely used — only that Namewise hasn't sourced and reviewed that content yet. Absence from a specific year or geography above does not prove zero use there either; official statistics only publish names above a minimum threshold.

Recorded in official data for England and Wales from 1996 to 2024. Highest recorded position: #417 in England and Wales in 2002. Source data last verified 2026-07-21.

Abu

Abu at a glance

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Abu by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Abu appears in

Popularity data

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Abu

Abu and the names beside it

Abu moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Abu

Moved the same way as Abu

Abu at a glance

Abu by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Abu appears in

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Abu

Abu and the names beside it

Abu moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Abu

Moved the same way as Abu