Newly released Office for National Statistics data, drawn from 2025 birth registrations in England and Wales, shows that five babies were named Banksy last year, apparently after the elusive street artist. The detail illustrates a wider point about how public figures and cultural moments shape parents' choices, with the artist's fame — driven partly by the enduring mystery over his true identity — now filtering through to the baby-name charts.

The name Banksy ranks 3,864 on the ONS list and was first recorded in 2021, when three boys were given it. Elsewhere in the data, Jude has climbed from outside the top 50 a decade ago to 14th, a rise linked to England footballer Jude Bellingham and tipped to continue after the 2026 World Cup, while Luca has entered the ten most popular boys' names for the first time alongside Oliver and Arthur. Muhammad remains the most popular boys' name, up 4 per cent on the previous year. The article notes that parents seeking accuracy might have chosen Robin, after Robin Gunningham, named by The Mail on Sunday in 2008 as the man thought to be behind Banksy.