In 2022, Australia — which boasts a large number of endemic animals (e.g., koala, kangaroo, wallaby, wombat, dingo) — welcomed 300,684 human babies: 146,403 girls and 154,281 boys.
What were the most popular names among Australia’s newborns last year?
Well…we don’t know for sure. Because Australia doesn’t release baby name rankings that cover the entire country.
So let’s take a look at eight sets of regional Australian rankings — representing Australia’s six states and two most populous territories — and make a guess about the country’s top names overall.
Here are the rankings, ordered by total number of births per region (highest to lowest):
New South Wales
Last year, New South Wales welcomed 95,758 (31.8%) of Australia’s babies. Here are NSW’s top baby names of 2022:
| Girl names, NSW | Boy names, NSW |
| 1. Charlotte, 430 2. Amelia, 425 3. Isla, 403 4. Olivia, 401 5. Mia, 363 6. Ava, 343 7. Ella, 331 8. Matilda, 318 9. Sienna, 293 10. Willow, 288 | 1. Noah, 630 2. Oliver, 628 3. Leo, 447 4. William, 427 5. Theodore, 404 6. Jack, 381 7. Luca, 367 (tie) 8. Henry, 367 (tie) 9. Thomas, 348 10. Charlie, 334 |
Victoria
Last year, Victoria welcomed 76,187 (25.3%) of Australia’s babies. Here are Victoria’s top baby names of 2022:
| Girl names, Victoria | Boy names, Victoria |
| 1. Charlotte, 367 2. Amelia, 356 3. Isla, 345 (tie) 4. Mia, 345 (tie) 5. Olivia, 326 6. Matilda, 296 7. Ava, 293 8. Ella, 283 (tie) 9. Grace, 283 (tie) 10. Hazel, 266 | 1. Oliver, 593 2. Noah, 503 3. Jack, 416 4. Leo, 408 5. Henry, 354 6. Charlie, 344 7. William, 328 8. Theodore, 326 9. Thomas, 282 10. Hudson, 274 |
Queensland
Last year, Queensland welcomed 62,313 (20.7%) of Australia’s babies. Here are Queensland’s top baby names of 2022:
| Girl names, Queensland | Boy names, Queensland |
| 1. Amelia, 321 2. Charlotte, 308 3. Isla, 296 4. Olivia, 285 5. Ava, 250 6. Mia, 245 7. Willow, 233 8. Matilda, 232 9. Lily, 228 10. Ella, 216 | 1. Oliver, 539 2. Noah, 393 3. William, 359 4. Hudson, 357 5. Henry, 341 6. Theodore, 340 7. Leo, 332 8. Charlie, 276 9. Jack, 267 10. Luca, 257 |
Western Australia
Last year, Western Australia welcomed 31,474 (10.5%) of Australia’s babies. Here are WA’s top baby names of 2022:
| Girl names, Western Aus. | Boy names, Western Aus. |
| 1. Isla, 162 2. Amelia, 150 (tie) 3. Olivia, 150 (tie) 4. Charlotte, 126 5. Mia, 122 6. Lily, 116 (tie) 7. Grace, 116 (tie) 8. Harper, 113 (tie) 9. Ava, 113 (tie) 10. Willow, 105 | 1. Oliver, 260 2. Noah, 178 3. Leo, 171 4. Charlie, 151 5. Jack, 140 6. Hudson, 136 (tie) 7. Thomas, 136 (tie) 8. Theodore, 132 9. Henry, 131 10. Levi/James/Luca, 124 each (3-way tie) |
South Australia
Last year, South Australia welcomed 19,502 (6.5%) of Australia’s babies. Here are SA’s top baby names of 2022:
| Girl names, South Aus. | Boy names, South Aus. |
| 1. Isla, 111 2. Charlotte, 110 3. Amelia, 89 4. Willow, 84 5. Grace, 82 6. Olivia, 81 7. Lily, 75 8. Ella/Harper/Matilda/Mia, 72 each (4-way tie) | 1. Oliver, 181 2. Noah, 142 3. Henry, 121 4. Leo, 108 5. Archie, 107 6. William, 93 7. Hudson, 90 8. Luca, 87 9. Charlie, 83 (tie) 10. Thomas, 83 (tie) |
Australian Capital Territory
Last year, the ACT (Canberra) welcomed 6,375 (2.1%) of Australia’s babies. Here are the ACT’s top baby names of 2022:
| Girl names, ACT | Boy names, ACT |
| 1. Charlotte 2. Isla 3. Evelyn 4. Amelia 5. Zoe 6. Ella (tie) 7. Hazel (tie) 8. Ava/Freya/Grace/Olivia (4-way tie) | 1. Oliver 2. Henry 3. William 4. Leo 5. Theodore 6. Noah 7. Arthur 8. George (tie) 9. Thomas (tie) 10. Elijah/Levi/Lucas (3-way tie) |
Tasmania
Last year, Tasmania welcomed 5,498 (1.8%) of Australia’s babies. Here are Tasmania’s top baby names of 2022:
| Girl names, Tasmania | Boy names, Tasmania |
| 1. Grace 2. Willow 3. Charlotte 4. Mia 5. Matilda 6. Hazel 7. Elsie 8. Harper 9. Isla 10. Daisy | 1. Oliver 2. Henry 3. George 4. Hudson 5. Archie 6. Noah 7. Theodore 8. Charlie 9. Leo 10. Jack |
Northern Territory
Last year, Northern Territory welcomed 3,577 (1.2%) of Australia’s babies. Here are NT’s top baby names of 2022:
| Girl names, NT | Boy names, NT |
| 1. Charlotte, 18 2. Matilda, 16 3. Ava, 14 4. Amelia, 13 (3-way tie) 5. Ella, 13 (3-way tie) 6. Isla, 13 (3-way tie) 7. Harper, 12 (tie) 8. Isabella, 12 (tie) 9. Grace, 9 10. Frankie/Ruby/Sadie/Willow, 8 each (4-way tie) | 1. Noah, 16 (tie) 2. William, 16 (tie) 3. Levi, 14 4. Michael, 12 (tie) 5. Xavier, 12 (tie) 6. Hudson, 11 (3-way tie) 7. Jack, 11 (3-way tie) 8. James, 11 (3-way tie) 9. Archer/Harry/Lucas, 10 each (3-way tie) |
Australia overall
Finally, using the data above, let’s make a guess about Australia’s top baby names overall. Here’s what I came up with:
| Australia’s top girl names (possibly) | Australia’s top boy names (possibly) |
| 1. Charlotte 2. Amelia 3. Isla 4. Olivia 5. Mia | 1. Oliver 2. Noah 3. Leo 4. Henry 5. William |
What are your thoughts on these? Would you have ranked them differently?
(My guesses regarding Australia’s top names of 2021 had Isla and Oliver in the top spots.)
Sources:
- NSW: Popular Baby Names | NSW Government
- Victoria: Popular Baby Names in Victoria – Victoria State Government
- Queensland: Top 100 Baby Names | Queensland Government
- WA: Popular Baby Names – Government of Western Australia
- SA: Popular Baby Names – Government of South Australia
- ACT (press release): ACT’s most popular baby names for 2022
- Tasmania: Top Baby Names – Tasmanian Government
- NT: Popular Baby Names | Northern Territory Government
- Births, Australia, 2022 | Australia Bureau of Statistics
Image: Adapted from Flag of Australia (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Australia location map by NordNordWest under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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