The most popular baby names in the Netherlands were announced a few days ago.
According to the Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB), the top names in the Netherlands are Daan for boys and Emma for girls.
Here are the top 20 girl names and boy names of 2012:
| Baby Girl Names | Baby Boy Names |
|---|---|
| 1. Emma 2. Sophie 3. Julia 4. Anna 5. Lisa 6. Isa 7. Eva 8. Saar 9. Lotte 10. Tess 11. Lynn 12. Fleur 13. Sara 14. Lieke 15. Noa 16. Fenna 17. Sarah 18. Mila 19. Sanne 20. Roos | 1. Daan 2. Bram 3. Sem 4. Lucas 5. Milan 6. Levi 7. Luuk 8. Thijs 9. Jayden 10. Tim 11. Finn 12. Stijn 13. Thomas 14. Lars 15. Ruben 16. Jesse 17. Noah 18. Julian 19. Max 20. Liam |
Quite short overall, aren’t they?
Jayden, now 9th, was 7th in 2011. It was 5th in 2010.
Here are a few more facts about the top 20, shamelessly stolen from Maarten Van Der Meer of Vernoeming.nl:
- Big gainers are Bram (up from 16 to 2), Thijs (up from 14 to 8) and Anna (up from 10 to 4)
- Newbies for boys are Noah and Max, for girls are Fenna and Mila.
- Dropouts for boys are Sven and Mees, for girls are Maud and Jasmijn.
Sources: Daan en Emma zijn de populairste voornamen van 2012 – Bram, Thijs en Anna grootste stijgers, De populairste kindernamen van 2012 – SVB
Image: Adapted from Flag of the Netherlands (public domain)
American parents often choose a cute nickname and then look for a more formal name to go with it. The Dutch don’t bother and go straight for the nickname: Daan (Daniel), Bram (Abraham), Luuk (Lucas), Thijs (Matthijs), Stijn (Augustinus), Saar (Sara).
Nicknames used to be very widespread in the Netherlands. In fact, most people above 50 go by a name that doesn’t correspond to one of their official given names. Today’s parents consider this oldfashioned.
On this page you can compare the most common official given names from the 1947 census with the most common names used in everyday life from a 1961 poll. There is almost no overlap (although most nicknames are, of course, derived from the formal names).
http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/voornamen/populair.html
Very interesting! Thank you for the extra info, Maarten.