You asked
I would like some data about boys and girls names by region and by year.
For this I would like to know the total number of registered births by year for the last 80 years, broken down into given name, sex, and by region and if available any cultural data such that I might be able to factor in any cultural bias.
We said
Thank you for your recent query regarding baby names data.
Information on baby names can be obtained from the customer services team of the Vital Statistics Outputs Branch. Special extracts and tabulations of baby names data for England and Wales are available to order (subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate).
Such enquiries should be made to:
Vital Statistics Outputs Branch
Office for National Statistics
Segensworth Road
Titchfield
Fareham
Hampshire
PO15 5RR
Tel: +44 (0)1329 444 110
E-mail: vsob@ons.gov.uk
As this information is already available to you via this route we consider that s.21(1) applies to this request and the information does not have to be supplied under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act. s.21(1) is an absolute exemption and no consideration of the public interest test needs to be applied.