Israel recently released three lists of popular baby names.
According to the Central Bureau for Statistics, the country’s top names last year were:
- Noam and Noa for Jewish babies,
- Mohammad and Maryam for Muslim babies, and
- George and Maria for Christian babies.
Here are more of the most popular baby names of 2012 within each religious group:
Jewish
| Girl Names (Jewish) | Boy Names (Jewish) |
| 1. Noa 2. Shira 3. Tamar 4. Talia 5. Maya 6. Yael 7. Sarah 8. Adele/Edel 9. Ayala 10. Michal | 1. Noam 2. Uri/Ori 3. Itai 4. Yosef 5. David 6. Yehonatan 7. Daniel 8. Ariel 9. Moshe 10. Eitan |
The Jewish names above were listed in my source article, but the Muslim and Christian names below (beyond the #1 names) I had to translate from Hebrew using various online tools/dictionaries, so they might not be perfect.
Muslim
| Girl Names (Muslim) | Boy Names (Muslim) |
| 1. Maryam 2. Linn 3. Rahaf 4. Lian 5. Rimas 6. Hala 7. Nur 8. Bisan 9. Malek 10. Aya | 1. Mohammad 2. Ahmed 3. Mahmad 4. Yosef 5. Adam 6. Abd 7. Omar 8. Ali 9. Mahmoud 10. Amir |
Christian
| Girl Names (Christian) | Boy Names (Christian) |
| 1. Maria 2. Celine 3. Aline 4. Maya 5. Nur 6. Lian 7. Miriam 8. Natalie 9. Tala 10. Miral | 1. George 2. Elias 3. Majd 4. Daniel 5. Joseph 6. Hana 7. Julian 8. Charbel 9. Jude 10. Emir |
A few years ago, a group of Israeli rabbis released a list of names they thought should be off-limits to Jewish children. Ariel, the 8th most popular name for Jewish baby boys last year, was on their forbidden name list. :)
Sources: Noa, Noam top baby names for 2012, Central Bureau of Statistics
Image: Adapted from Flag of Israel (public domain)
