Last year, the country of Switzerland welcomed 89,644 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Mia and Noah.
Here are Switzerland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:
Girl Names
- Mia, 467 baby girls
- Emma, 416
- Elena, 322
- Lina, 315
- Mila, 307
- Emilia, 303
- Sofia, 298
- Olivia, 279
- Nora, 270
- Alina, 260
- Anna, 259
- Lea, 256
- Lia, 255
- Lara, 251
- Lena, 243
- Julia, 241
- Ella, 240
- Elin, 238
- Laura, 233
- Malea, 231
- Nina, 225
- Leonie, 220
- Giulia, 213
- Sophia, 211
- Chiara, 208
- Alice, 203
- Elina, 197 (tie)
- Valentina, 197 (tie)
- Luna, 195
- Luana, 193
- Livia, 191
- Sara, 187 (tie)
- Sophie, 187 (tie)
- Yara, 176
- Eva, 174
- Emily, 171
- Aurora, 170
- Amelia, 167
- Ava, 160 (3-way tie)
- Juna, 160 (3-way tie)
- Zoé, 160 (3-way tie)
- Elisa, 155
- Alea, 147
- Melina, 146 (tie)
- Victoria, 146 (tie)
- Jana, 144
- Hana, 141
- Maria, 140
- Mara, 137
- Charlotte, 136
Boy Names
- Noah, 559 baby boys
- Liam, 391
- Matteo, 385
- Luca, 368
- Gabriel, 327
- Leon, 315
- Elias, 303
- Louis, 272
- Lio, 270
- Nino, 258
- Leo, 256
- Leonardo, 248
- Samuel, 243
- Leano, 229
- Ben, 227
- David, 226
- Julian, 218
- Diego, 206
- Aaron, 204 (tie)
- Elia, 204 (tie)
- Lian, 201
- Levi, 199
- Finn, 197
- Nico, 192
- Robin, 185
- Elio, 183 (tie)
- Mateo, 183 (tie)
- Malik, 179
- Levin, 178
- Arthur, 177
- Tim, 176
- Luan, 175
- Alessio, 170 (tie)
- Jonas, 170 (tie)
- Nael, 169
- Adam, 168
- Lenny, 162
- Dario, 159
- Benjamin, 157 (tie)
- Milo, 157 (tie)
- Laurin, 156
- Leandro, 154
- Emil, 153
- Lucas, 152
- Noé, 148
- Luis, 147
- Alexander, 146
- Mattia, 144 (tie)
- Nathan, 144 (tie)
- Gian, 143 (tie)
- Jan, 143 (tie)
Home to more than 8.5 million people, Switzerland has four national languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Here are the top baby names among the speakers of each of these languages:
Girl Names | Boy Names | |
German speakers (62.3% of the population) | 1. Mia, 343 2. Emilia, 277 3. Emma, 272 4. Lina, 261 5. Elena, 256 | 1. Noah, 385 2. Matteo, 293 3. Luca, 288 4. Leon, 287 5. Lio, 266 |
French speakers (22.8% of pop.) | 1. Emma, 125 2. Alice, 108 3. Olivia, 104 4. Mia, 95 5. Eva, 93 | 1. Gabriel, 165 2. Noah, 149 3. Liam, 139 4. Arthur, 116 5. Lucas, 98 |
Italian speakers (8.0% of pop.) | 1. Sofia, 30 2. Mia, 26 3. Noemi, 24 4. Alice, 23 5. Aurora, 22 | 1. Leonardo, 44 2. Alessandro, 30 3. Liam, 24 4. Noah, 23 5. Tommaso, 20 |
Romansh speakers (0.5% of pop.) | 1. Luana/Mia/Nora, 3 (tie) 2. Andrina/Anuk/Bigna/Melody/Valentina, 2 (tie) | 1. Luca/Lucas/Manuel/Nico, 3 (tie) 2. Andrin/Elio/Fabio/Flurin/Jon/Leon/Noah/Valerio, 2 (tie) |
And here’s a selection of names from the other end of the spectrum — names that were given to just 2 babies each in Switzerland in 2021:
Rare Girl Names | Rare Boy Names |
Annigna, Bignia, Cinzia, Dragana, Eirini, Flutra, Gresa, Hermine, Ishana, Jonida, Kari, Lamia, Milijana, Nangsel, Orela, Philia, Rialda, Sidona, Tylia, Umay, Vilja, Yua, Zaylee | Atréju, Boiken, Cuno, Dorijan, Elvedin, Floki, Gionatan, Hristijan, Iori, Jasha, Klodian, Lendrit, Maurizio, Namkha, Orik, Pieter, Roland, Senna, Toivo, Urs, Viliam, Ylano, Zejn |
Finally, here’s a link to Switzerland’s 2020 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
Sources: Prénoms des nouveau-nés – Office fédéral de la statistique, Languages of Switzerland – Wikipedia
Image: Adapted from Flag of Switzerland (public domain)
It seems like Switzerland really loves girl names that end in A. Only seven names on this list have a different ending and it took until #18 to reach the first one: Elin, followed by Leonie, Alice, Sophie, Emily, Zoé, Charlotte.
In contrast, 26 of the top 50 names for girls in the U.S. (2020) end with something other than A or AH (Hannah and Leah).
Is this due to greater racial/ethnic/religious diversity in the U.S. than in Switzerland, population differences, a general or cultural preference for traditional names vs. adopting newer naming trends? I have no idea, but I found the difference interesting.
That’s a great observation.
I wonder if the relative wealth of the citizens of Switzerland plays any part. Maybe it’s correlated to more conservative tastes, or to starting families later (older parents tend to be less adventurous with baby names).