In 2024, from January through September, the European country of Portugal welcomed approximately 62,000 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Maria and Francisco (for the sixth year in a row) according to provisional data released in early December, 2024, by the Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado (IRN).
Here are Portugal’s projected top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2024:
Girl names
- Maria, 4,295 baby girls
- Alice, 992
- Benedita, 973
- Matilde, 942
- Leonor, 913
- Carolina, 709
- Aurora, 697
- Camila, 598
- Margarida, 586
- Beatriz, 551
Boy names
- Francisco, 1,270 baby boys
- Lourenço, 1,040
- Vicente, 1,036 (tie)
- Tomás, 1,036 (tie)
- João, 1,027
- Duarte, 1,012
- Afonso, 978
- Gabriel, 851
- Miguel, 839
- Santiago, 782
The name that stood out to Filipa of the Portuguese baby name blog Nomes e mais Nomes was Aurora, “which entered the top 10 strongly, occupying 7th position, even surpassing Camila, which was the craze of recent years!” Here’s her actual sentence (apologies for my clunky translation):
Mas, este ano, o destaque tem de ir inteiramente para Aurora, que entrou em força no top 10, ocupando a 7.ª posição, chegando a ultrapassar Camila, que era a coqueluche dos últimos anos!
I didn’t post about Portugal’s top baby names of 2023, but here are Portugal’s 2022 rankings.
Sources:
- Camilo, Diogo. “Quais são os nomes de bebés mais escolhidos em 2024?” Rádio Renascença 3 Dec. 2024.
- “Maria e Francisco voltaram a ser ‘reis’ em 2024.” Público 5 Dec. 2024.
Image: Adapted from Flag of Portugal (public domain)
Wow, Maria is insurpassable. I guess it’s still a very Catholic country. I wonder if Francisco is so popular because of Pope Francis.
And now I know Duarte is Portuguese for Edward!
I wonder if many girls are given the first name Maria, but actually go by their middle name or use double-barreled (but non hyphenated) first and middle names on a regular basis? Maria Filipa could actually be called Filipa instead of Maria or she could be Maria Filipa — sort of like the families (often Catholic) where all the women are named Mary but have different middle names that they use as their “regular” name.
I was wondering the same thing, ab. It made me think of when I was in middle school, we played basketball against a Greek Orthodox school team, and I swear their roster consisted of 8 girls who had Maria as a first name and only 4 girls with other names. It was amazing. And sure enough, the coaches kept yelling “Maria,” so I am not sure how each Maria knew he meant this Maria instead of that Maria. I went to Catholic school for 13 years, but Mary was evidently very out-of-date by then (70s through 90s), because I think I only ever had one Mary in my class.