Jack and Mia beat Bekam and Bodelle in boring Australia

Jul 3, 2009, 6:36 GMT

   Sydney - Hands shoot up in Australian classrooms when you call out Jack, Josh, William and Lachlan - or Mia, Chloe, Isabella and Charlotte.

   These hardy annuals again took the top spots when a list of the 100 most popular baby names in 2008 was released Friday by social researcher Mark McCrindle.

   Jack, highest ranked for the seventh time in 9 years, also leads the international top 10 for English-speaking countries. Tops in the global pink classification is Emily.

   The conformism of Australians was evident in the girls division, with the 2008 pick almost identical to the international top 10.

   McCrindle said parents were 'showing their conservative side' by avoiding the gender-neutral and picking snappy names like Jack for baby boys and dreamy ones like Isabella for baby girls.

   Although parents told McCrindle they were overwhelmingly in favour of standard spellings, if all of them really could spell the labels they gave their offspring the ranking would be different.

   Caitlyn, Kaitlyn and Katelyn were just some of the tries at Caitlin that registry offices around the country were obliged to accept. There were 18 variations on Mikayla and 14 different stabs at Kaiden.

   The notables in this year's far-out section were Cameo, Kikiyah Lezley, Me-a and Al'Bert.