Oliver and Amelia were the most popular names given to babies born in England and Wales for the second year running in 2014.

For the fourth year running Amelia was the most common name given to girls whilst Oliver topped the boys list in 2013.

Lily replaced Mia in the top 10 girls' names, climbing from 12th to ninth since last year, the Office for National Statistics said.

The figures, released by the ONS, show that in England, Amelia was the most popular name in eight of the nine regions, whereas Oliver topped the list in seven of the nine areas of the country.

In Wales, Amelia has been the most popular name since 2012 and Oliver replaced Jacob in 2013.

In the boys' list, Jackson, Joey and Ellis entered the top 100 but the biggest increase was Kian, which climbed 41 places to number 53 from last year.

New entrants in the girls' top 100 included Robyn, Nancy and Lottie and David Beckham's choice of name for his daughter is still seeming to influence parents with Harper climbing 71 places since last year.

Pop-culture references also dominate decision making, with the names of Game Of Thrones characters continuing to be popular.

Some 53 parents chose 'Khaleesi' for their newly born daughters and 244 babies were named Arya as house Stark gained popularity. Brienne also joined the list with four girls being named after the character.

Founder of parenting site Channel Mum, Siobhan Freegard said the recent popularity of Victorian and Edwardian names is now stretching to the Middle Ages.

Ms Freegard said: "Out with the new, in with the old. While Victorian and Edwardian names have been popular for some time now, this year's list shows parents are now searching much further back in time, even to the Middle Ages. Meanwhile more modern names are tumbling down the chart.

She added: "New boy's entry Ellis is a Middle English version of Elijah, while Elijah itself has jumped 16 places in popularity to 53. Another new entry, Jackson, is a trendy name recently chosen by film director Spike Lee, but has its origins with 14th century Scots and English families meaning 'Son of Jack'.

"New top 100 girl's name Darcie was first used in the Middle Ages in France and, while the Beckhams have undoubtedly helped to popularise Harper, it's another Middle English name deriving from 'harp player'," said Ms Freegard.

Other pop culture references include Disney musical, Frozen which continues to to popularise Elsa - a traditional turn-of-the-century name - with 534 babies taking the name, meaning it just missed out on a place in the top 100.

Out of all the One Direction band members, Harry, with 5,379, and Louis (999) are the top choices for parents, while Niall lags way behind with just 155.

Top 20 boys' names 

1. Oliver 

2. Jack

3. Harry 

4. Jacob 

5. Charlie 

6. Thomas

7. George

8. Oscar

9. James 

10. William

11. Noah

12. Alfie 

13. Joshua 

14. Muhammad 

15. Henry 

16. Leo 

17. Archie

18. Ethan

19. Joseph

20. Freddie

Top 20 girls' names 

1. Amelia

2. Olivia 

3. Isla 

4. Emily

5. Poppy 

6. Ava

7. Isabella 

8. Jessica

9. Lily

10. Sophie 

11. Grace

12. Sophia 

13. Mia 

14. Evie 

15. Ruby

16. Ella

17. Scarlett

18. Isabelle 

19. Chloe 

20. Sienna 

Northwich Guardian:

  Oliver Cheshire and Amelia Lily                                                                         Photo: PA Wire