Most popular boy and girl names in New Zealand since records began, revealed

February 15, 2019
Adorable baby laughs while her mom plays with her. She is looking over her mother's shoulder. She is showing an cute toothless grin.

If your name is Mary or John, you're definitely not alone - in fact you're one in tens of thousands of New Zealanders given the same name.

The two names topped a list of most popular names in New Zealand since birth records began in the 1840s.

Since 1848, more than 54,000 babies have been registered with the first name Mary, and more than 108,000 have been called John.

Margaret, Elizabeth, William and James also made the all-time favourites list.

Births, Deaths and Marriages registrar-general Jeff Montgomery said looking at birth registration records gave good insight into naming trends over the years.

"Earlier this year it was announced on SmartStart that Charlotte, Isla, Emily and Ava were among Kiwis’ most loved girls’ names in 2018. But none of these names also appear in the top ten most popular from all records," he said. 

However, Charlotte and Emily did rank quite high overall. Charlotte was number one on the list last year and ranked 31 overall, and Emily came in as eighth most popular last year and was 17th on the list overall.

Different to the girls names which fluctuated, records showed Kiwis’ most preferred boys names had remained largely unchanged.

William was seventh most popular last year and is ranked second overall. James also made the 2018 top ten and is considered third most popular overall. Almost 80,000 babies have been named William and almost 70,000 have been named James since 1848.

More modern names like Mason, Noah and Oliver, placed at numbers 172, 151 and 90 respectively in the all-time lists. The names were all in the top ten Kiwi favourites last year.

Every birth in New Zealand must be registered by law.

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