Karen, Gail and Cliff among baby names at risk of dying out

• The baby names in danger of becoming extinct have been revealed, with Karen, Cliff, Donald and Nigel all on the endangered list

• Parenting site BabyCentre has compiled a list of the names that received zero registrations by parents last year

• The findings can be used to offer some insight into which monikers have fallen out of favour with parents-to-be in stark contrast the the names topping the most popular list

• Read on to see which are the least popular 30 boys and girls names

If you’re about to welcome a mini human into the world, you might want to consider one of these 30 baby names.

That’s because monikers, which were once common on pre-school registers, including Karen, Gail, Cliff and Nigel, have fallen out of favour with parents in 2022, so much so that they are now at risk of becoming endangered.

According to parenting site BabyCentre mums and dads are side-stepping once-popular baby names made in favour of some more out-there monikers inspired by celebrities.

That means that names that were previously considered on-trend haven’t been registered on the site’s database at all this year, leaving many teetering on the edge of extinction and standing in stark contrast to 2022 girls’ and boys’ chart toppers Sophia, Lily and Olivia and Muhammad, Noah and Theo.

Names in danger of extinction include girls’ names with a 70s and 80s American vibe - there were no baby girls named Farrah, Stacey, Kelly, Barbie or even Britney this year, despite singer Ms Spears’ ongoing popularity.

"Baby boomer" names like Sheila, Deirdre and Shirley also fell from grace.

Watch: Unusual celebrity baby names you'll want to steal

In a similar picture for boys, Cliff, Nigel and Harold weren’t registered at all this year, but there was also a decline in old-fashioned gentlemen names including Wallace, Quinton and Giles.

Despite plunging down the list in recent years there are a couple of names that are just about clinging onto survival, with solo registrations.

Once popular for baby girls born in the 1960s but now a meme byword for complaining women, Karen dwindled from four registrations last year to just one this year.

Read more: Unusual methods parents are using to choose baby names

For boys, Donald is seeing a similar fate, with just one baby given the moniker this year compared to six in 2021.

“After becoming the name of a million memes it looks like Karen is only just hanging on," says Sarah Redshaw, managing editor for BabyCentre UK.

"We could very well see it drop off completely next year. And it’s no surprise that Donald is meeting the same kind of fate after the last US president’s controversial time in office.”

Turns out parents-to-be are still cancelling Piers, however, possibly due to controversial TV host Piers Morgan walking off the Good Morning Britain set over a row about Meghan and Harry.

There were zero registrations for the name again this year.

For those wanting to save the naming legacy of Nigel, Cliff et all, all hope is not lost. Dwayne is an example of a name which saw a nil count in 2021, but got four new registrations this year.

Same goes for Maude, which was given to a singular baby in 2022, having not been used once the year before.

Earlier this year, the most popular names of 2022 so far were released and while the UK’s fave choices remain relatively predictable, with many traditional monikers dominating the top spots, the baby name choices offered further insight to the names falling out of favour with soon-to-be parents.

Read more: Banned baby names from around the world, from Lucifer to Nutella

Turns out there were no winners in the baby naming game thanks to the big celebrity defamation cases that dominated headlines this year.

While we were glued to the Wagatha Christie and the Amber Heard vs Johnny Depp court appearances, the drama, unsurprisingly, seemed to put off parents-to-be.

After years of enjoying a top 100 spot, Amber spectacularly dropped out. And, despite a number of registrations last year for Johnny, a total of zero parents so far this year chose the name for their baby.

Wayne, Coleen and Rebekah also all had zero entries so far this year while registrations dropped for alternative spelling Rebecca and the name of her husband Jamie.

Endangered girls’ names

• Barbie

• Britney

• Carrie

• Deirdre

• Farrah

• Gail

• Gayatri

• Katrina

• Kelly

• Lindsey

• Shania

• Sheila

• Shirley

• Stacey

• Tegan

Read more: The Netflix inspired baby names that could soon be on the rise

Endangered boys’ names

• Baxter

• Bill

• Brent

• Clement

• Cliff

• Giles

• Harold

• Kamran

• Maximillian

• Nigel

• Quinton

• Rashid

• Rhett

• Saul

• Wallace