Primrose

femaleStatistical record

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

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

Primrose: Recorded every year since 1996, it reached #157 in 2020, and it stood at #179 in 2024.

4registrars recorded it
33times a registrar ranked it
29years from first to last
#157highest recorded position
11groupings it qualifies for

Region

Rising

among girls in England and Wales · 1996–2024

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
1996	#2350
1997	#1450
1998	#1823
1999	#2770
2000	#1831
2001	#1870
2002	#1928
2003	#1722
2004	#2530
2005	#3970
2006	#2320
2007	#1160
2008	#1584
2009	#1287
2010	#1180
2011	#1096
2012	#975
2013	#616
2014	#465
2015	#259
2016	#232
2017	#220
2018	#213
2019	#230
2020	#157
2021	#162
2022	#170
2023	#200
2024	#179

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

RisingEngland and Wales · Girls

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

In 2024: #179 among girls in England and Wales, #407 among girls in Northern Ireland, #638 among girls in Scotland.

Official data from 4 national registrars across 4 regions, 1996–2024 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1996
First recorded at #2350 among girls in England and Wales in 1996 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
England and Wales · Girls
Highest recorded1996–2024
Highest recorded position: #157 among girls in England and Wales, in 2020 (recorded 1996–2024).
England and Wales · Girls
Most recent2024
Most recently recorded at #179 among girls in England and Wales, in 2024.
England and Wales · Girls

Primrose appears in 2 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is England and Wales · Girls, which has ranked it in 29 years beginning in 1996, and has registered 2,967 births with the name.

Primrose across 2 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Primrose's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
England and Wales · Girls	#2350 (1996)	#157 (2020)	#179 (2024)	29 of 29	2,967 (1996–2024)	320 (2020)
Northern Ireland · Girls	#424 (2019)	#407 (2024)	#407 (2024)	2 of 6	6 (2019–2024)	3 (2019)

Primrose by decade in England and Wales · Girls

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 Primrose in England and Wales · Girls, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1990s	32	4 of 10	8
2000s	122	10 of 10	12
2010s	1,362	10 of 10	136
2020sbusiest	1,451	5 of 10	290

Across England and Wales · Girls, the 2020s were its busiest decade — the 5 years of it this list covers, averaging 290 births a year.

Its sharpest single-year move came between 2019 and 2020, when recorded births rose by 103, from 217 to 320.

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

Primrose appears in

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

Popularity data

Official popularity data is available for 4 regions, from 1996 to 2024. Highest recorded position: #157 in England and Wales in 2020.

Primrose'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	female	#179	272	High	Verified
2023	England and Wales	female	#200	247	High	Verified
2022	England and Wales	female	#170	297	High	Verified
2021	England and Wales	female	#162	315	High	Verified
2020	England and Wales	female	#157	320	High	Verified
2019	England and Wales	female	#230	217	High	Verified
2018	England and Wales	female	#213	239	High	Verified
2017	England and Wales	female	#220	237	High	Verified
2016	England and Wales	female	#232	223	High	Verified
2015	England and Wales	female	#259	192	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	female	#465	93	High	Verified
2013	England and Wales	female	#616	66	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	female	#975	37	High	Verified
2011	England and Wales	female	#1096	31	High	Verified
2010	England and Wales	female	#1180	27	High	Verified
2009	England and Wales	female	#1287	23	High	Verified
2008	England and Wales	female	#1584	17	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	female	#1160	24	High	Verified
2006	England and Wales	female	#2320	9	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	female	#3970	4	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	female	#2530	7	High	Verified
2003	England and Wales	female	#1722	11	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	female	#1928	9	High	Verified
2001	England and Wales	female	#1870	9	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	female	#1831	9	High	Verified
1999	England and Wales	female	#2770	5	High	Verified
1998	England and Wales	female	#1823	9	High	Verified
1997	England and Wales	female	#1450	12	High	Verified
1996	England and Wales	female	#2350	6	High	Verified
2024	Northern Ireland	female	#407	3	High	Verified
2019	Northern Ireland	female	#424	3	High	Verified
2022	Republic of Ireland	female	#905	3	High	Verified
2024	Scotland	female	#638	4	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics
Northern Ireland hub — collected by NISRA
Republic of Ireland hub — collected by CSO Ireland
Scotland hub — collected by National Records of Scotland

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

What the record shows

Recorded by 4 registrars between 1996 and 2024, ranked in 29 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #157, first reached in 2020.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 320 births, registered in England and Wales in 2020.

A second registrar first ranked it in 2019, and 28 years separate the first registrar to record it from the last.

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.

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.

Presley · #378, 27y
Preston · #149, 30y
Prince · #273, 29y
Princess · #238, 29y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 4 registrars, 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.

Polly · #156, 31y
Judah · #159, 29y
Meadow · #159, 28y
Scarlet · #155, 29y

Also first recorded in the 1990s

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

Liberty · #157, 29y
Maksymilian · #157, 26y
Hattie · #156, 29y
Polly · #156, 31y

Primrose was ranked #157 in England and Wales · Girls in 2020. 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.

Primrose 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 Primrose without appearing here.

Primrose moved ahead of

Vicki Compare
In 2011 they stood at #3970 and #3970 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2012 that had become #975 and #5876.
Karin Compare
In 2006 they stood at #3970 and #3382 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2007 that had become #1160 and #5201.
Ollie Compare
In 2005 they stood at #3970 and #3970 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2006 that had become #2320 and #5061.
Jeanette Compare
In 1996 they stood at #2350 and #1914 in England and Wales · Girls; by 1997 that had become #1450 and #3824.

Moved ahead of Primrose

Mila Compare
In 1998 they stood at #1823 and #2701 in England and Wales · Girls; by 1999 that had become #2770 and #2189.
Aria Compare
In 2007 they stood at #1160 and #1234 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2008 that had become #1584 and #1135.
Harper Compare
In 2007 they stood at #1160 and #1573 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2008 that had become #1584 and #1391.
Ada Compare
In 2002 they stood at #1928 and #2301 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2003 that had become #1722 and #1628.

Moved the opposite way to Primrose

Abigail Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Primrose went from #2350 to #179 while Abigail went from #21 to #154.
Aimee Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Primrose went from #2350 to #179 while Aimee went from #70 to #1603.
Aisling Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Primrose went from #2350 to #179 while Aisling went from #440 to #2000.
Alex Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Primrose went from #2350 to #179 while Alex went from #161 to #2253.

Moved the same way as Primrose

Ada Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Primrose went from #2350 to #179 and Ada from #2683 to #40.
Alma Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Primrose went from #2350 to #179 and Alma from #2096 to #234.
Alyssa Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Primrose went from #2350 to #179 and Alyssa from #783 to #285.
Amalie Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Primrose went from #2350 to #179 and Amalie from #2096 to #1128.

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.

Official popularity data is available for 4 regions, from 1996 to 2024. Highest recorded position: #157 in England and Wales in 2020. Source data last verified 2026-07-21.

Primrose

Primrose at a glance

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Primrose across 2 official records

Primrose by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Primrose 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 Primrose

Primrose and the names beside it

Primrose moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Primrose

Moved the opposite way to Primrose

Moved the same way as Primrose

Primrose at a glance

Primrose across 2 official records

Primrose by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Primrose 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 Primrose

Primrose and the names beside it

Primrose moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Primrose

Moved the opposite way to Primrose

Moved the same way as Primrose