Jack's the lad in the North West.

Jack remains the most popular name for boys in the North West despite a national swing to Oliver.

The report released by the National Office of Statistics shows that those in this region do not go with the grain, as Oliver is crowned most popular name in England.

Almost 27,000 different boys names were registered in 2009, among the national top five is Oliver, Jack, Harry, Alfie and Joshua.

The girls saw less of a regional variation, with Olivia and Ruby dominating new names as they were both non-movers from the previous year.

There were 706,248 live births in England and Wales in 2009, with 34,100 different girls' names registered

An ONS spokesman said changes in the top 100 since 1999 showed there had been a resurgence in names which "were perhaps once associated with people of the inter-war generation or earlier".

The ONS highlighted Evie which has risen 157 places to number 10 since 1999, Ruby (up 91 to number two) and Lily (up 45 to eight), and boys' names such as Alfie (up 60 to four) and Charlie (up 25 to seven).

The biggest mover in the top 100 was Lucas for the boys, who jumped 19 places to number 17.

BY CHRIS SEVERS