Popular baby names in Jamaica, 2017

Jamaica

According to preliminary data from the Registrar General’s Department of Jamaica, the most popular baby names in the country in 2017 were Amelia and Jayden.

Here are the island’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2017:

Girl Names
1. Amelia, 207 baby girls
2. Arianna, 181
3. Ariana, 95
4. Kaira
5. Gabrielle
6. Gabriella
7. Brianna
8. Mia
9. Adrianna
10. Savannah

Boy Names
1. Jayden, 230 baby boys
2. Aiden, 188
3. Joshua, 162
4. Daniel
5. Nathaniel
6. Nathan
7. Malachi
8. Liam
9. Kyle
10. Jordan

Arianna has been the top girl name since 2013, and Jayden has been the top boy name since 2010 (including 2011).

And here’s an interesting fact: “The name Neymar appeared as the sixth most popular name in the World Cup year of 2014, but failed to make the top 10 the following year.”

(Incidentally, the baby name Jamaica saw peak usage in the U.S. in the late ’70s and early ’80s.)

Source: What are Jamaican parents naming their babies?

Image by Caspar Rae from Unsplash

4 thoughts on “Popular baby names in Jamaica, 2017

  1. Any explanation of why Arianna/Ariana and Jayden are so consistently popular?

    I find it interesting that unlike most of the top ten lists of girls names, the Jamaica list for girls is not dominated by names starting with vowels, the only ‘starting-vowel’ that appears is ‘A’ and there are no names ending in a “ee” sound. Compared to other populations Jamaican parents are very different in their naming choices, but among themselves their choices are quite consistent.

  2. I wish I knew more about Jamaica-specific name trends. Alas, I do not.

    That’s a great observation about how fewer top girl names in Jamaica start with vowels. In contrast, seven of the (current) top ten girl names in the US start with vowels.

    I should also mention that these rankings (and all Jamaican rankings so far) could be a bit skewed owing to the fact that hundreds of Jamaican babies still go unregistered every year. (Source: RGD urges parents to register children)

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