Choosing our children's name was a very difficult decision as I'm sure it is for most parents. Among the many things to consider are their initials, possible nicknames, is the chosen name appropriate for a newborn baby as well as an elderly person, after all, a name is with a person for life!

I was very interested to see that Olivia & Ruby were on the Victorian Births, Deaths & Marriages website's list of "most popular boys' and girls' names for 2010" - why? These were the two name we were deciding between during the last 20 weeks of my second pregnancy! When my daughter was born we went with something completely different. Of course I still absolutely love Ruby and Olivia, they are beautiful names and I know some beautiful people who go by them, it's not surprising they are among the most popular!  

According to the list Victorian parents still favour classic names. Births, Deaths and Marriages Registrar, Helen Trihas said the most popular girls' names this year were Ruby, Charlotte, Mia, Olivia and Chloe.

The top boys' names were Jack, William, Thomas, Oliver and Joshua. "There's a definite trend for old-fashioned names and in 2010 parents were re-embracing the favourites seen in recent years," Ms Trihas said. Jacob was the only new entrant to the 'top 20 most popular names list' this year.

Three boys' names that were popular in the past but fell outside the '2010 top 20' were Daniel, Ryan and Matthew.

For the past four years, the top 20 girls' names have remained favourites with no new entrants. "The most popular names for 2010 are an interesting mixed bag of the classics, reworked classics with imaginative spellings and adventurous names that stand out from the crowd," Ms Trihas said. The most popular child's name of the decade was Jack (7,085 boys since 2000), followed closely by Joshua (6,816). Olivia was the most popular girls' name of the decade (5,217).