Popular baby names in New Zealand, 2014

Flag of New Zealand
Flag of New Zealand

According to data from New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs, the most popular baby names in New Zealand in 2014 were Charlotte and Oliver.

Here are New Zealand’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2014:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Charlotte, 255 baby girls
2. Olivia, 243
3. Isla, 226
4. Emily, 221
5. Sophie, 211
6. Amelia, 210
7. Ella, 206
8. Harper, 204
9. Sophia, 198
10. Ruby, 180
1. Oliver, 313 baby boys
2. Jack, 265
3. James, 255
4. Mason, 244
5. Liam, 241
6. William, 234
7. Noah, 231
8. Lucas, 228
9. Benjamin, 207
10. Jacob, 202

Harper and Sophia replaced Ava and Isabella in the girls’ top 10, and Benjamin and Jacob replaced Samuel and Thomas in the boys’ top 10.

The biggest movement within the top 10 is Ruby, which dropped from 3rd place all the way to 10th.

Several articles made note of the absence of Maori names on both top 100 lists:

About 20 percent of Maori women aged 15 and over had given birth to four or more children compared to only 12.2 percent of the European women, meaning there was even more reason for Maori names to be chosen.

But this was not the case.

Fifteen percent of the population (598,602) identified as Maori in the 2013 Census.

Maori names like Manaia and Anahera have appeared on the New Zealand girls’ top 100 in recent years, but neither made the list in 2014.

Finally, here are some older sets of baby name rankings from New Zealand: 2013 overall, 2013 Maori names, 2012 overall, 2012 Maori names, and 2010 overall.

Sources: Charlotte and Oliver top baby names for 2014, Most Popular Male and Female First Names, Parents overlook Maori names

Image: Adapted from Flag of New Zealand (public domain)

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