In 2023, the country of Australia welcomed 286,998 babies: 139,576 girls and 147,422 boys.
What were the most popular names among Australia’s newborns that year?
We don’t know for sure, because Australia doesn’t release baby name rankings that cover the entire country. But we can 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
In 2023, New South Wales welcomed 90,000 (31.4%) of Australia’s babies.
| Top girl names (NSW, 2023) | Top boy names (NSW, 2023) |
| 1. Isla, 403 2. Amelia, 399 3. Olivia, 381 4. Mia, 347 5. Charlotte, 338 6. Ava, 284 7. Lily, 279 8. Evelyn, 267 (tie) 9. Sophia, 267 (tie) 10. Matilda, 261 | 1. Oliver, 555 2. Noah, 537 3. Leo, 409 4. Henry, 404 5. Theodore, 400 6. Luca, 398 7. Hudson, 385 8. William, 371 9. Lucas, 322 10. Charlie, 308 |
Victoria
In 2023, Victoria welcomed 72,906 (25.4%) of Australia’s babies.
| Top girl names (Victoria, 2023) | Top boy names (Victoria, 2023) |
| 1. Amelia, 333 2. Charlotte, 319 3. Olivia, 306 4. Mia, 289 5. Isla, 280 6. Hazel, 266 7. Matilda, 256 8. Ava, 254 (tie) 9. Grace, 254 (tie) 10. Ella, 234 | 1. Oliver, 514 2. Noah, 461 3. Henry, 374 4. Leo, 357 5. Charlie, 337 6. Luca, 302 7. Jack, 295 8. Archie, 285 9. Hudson, 273 10. Thomas, 270 |
Queensland
In 2023, Queensland welcomed 58,549 (20.4%) of Australia’s babies.
| Top girl names (Queensland, 2023) | Top boy names (Queensland, 2023) |
| 1. Isla, 285 2. Charlotte, 279 3. Amelia, 271 4. Harper, 235 5. Olivia, 232 6. Matilda, 207 7. Ivy, 205 8. Mia, 203 9. Willow, 199 10. Ava, 196 | 1. Oliver, 451 2. Noah, 385 3. Henry, 341 4. Theodore, 328 5. Hudson, 322 6. William, 269 7. Leo, 262 8. Luca, 259 9. Charlie, 246 10. Jack, 244 |
Western Australia
In 2023, Western Australia welcomed 32,027 (11.2%) of Australia’s babies.
| Top girl names (WA, 2023) | Top boy names (WA, 2023) |
| 1. Isla, 169 2. Olivia, 152 3. Mia, 145 4. Charlotte, 139 5. Amelia, 136 6. Lily, 127 7. Harper, 110 8. Ava, 105 (tie) 9. Matilda, 105 (tie) 10. Ella, 103 | 1. Oliver, 231 2. Noah, 210 3. Leo, 156 4. Henry, 143 5. Jack, 142 6. Theodore, 135 7. Hudson, 130 8. Levi, 124 9. William, 123 10. Luca/Thomas, 122 each (tie) |
South Australia
In 2023, South Australia welcomed 18,556 (6.5%) of Australia’s babies.
| Top girl names (SA, 2023) | Top boy names (SA, 2023) |
| 1. Isla, 112 2. Charlotte, 104 3. Olivia, 86 4. Ava, 77 5. Ivy, 73 6. Amelia, 67 (3-way tie) 7. Grace, 67 (3-way tie) 8. Hazel, 67 (3-way tie) 9. Harper, 64 (tie) 10. Mia, 64 (tie) | 1. Oliver, 155 2. Henry, 112 3. Leo, 109 4. Noah, 92 5. Theodore, 87 6. Luca, 85 7. Elijah, 84 8. Charlie, 81 9. William, 76 10. Archie/Jack, 73 each (tie) |
Australian Capital Territory
In 2023, the ACT (Canberra) welcomed 6,102 (2.1%) of Australia’s babies.
| Top girl names (ACT, 2023) | Top boy names (ACT, 2023) |
| 1. Amelia (tie) 2. Charlotte (tie) 3. Ava 4. Chloe 5. Evelyn 6. Eleanor (2-way tie) 7. Violet (2-way tie) 8. Isla (2-way tie) 9. Olivia (2-way tie) 10. Harper/Mia (tie) | 1. Henry 2. Oliver 3. Theodore (tie) 4. William (tie) 5. Alexander 6. Oscar 7. Jack (tie) 8. Noah (tie) 9. Thomas 10. Charlie/Hudson/Muhammad (3-way tie) |
Tasmania
In 2023, Tasmania welcomed 5,567 (1.9%) of Australia’s babies.
| Top girl names (Tasmania, 2023) | Top boy names (Tasmania, 2023) |
| 1. Hazel 2. Elsie 3. Charlotte 4. Willow 5. Ruby 6. Ivy 7. Daisy 8. Evelyn 9. Matilda 10. Evie | 1. Oliver 2. Charlie 3. Theodore 4. Noah 5. Arlo 6. Henry 7. Leo 8. Archie 9. George 10. Lucas |
Northern Territory
In 2023, Northern Territory welcomed 3,282 (1.1%) of Australia’s babies.
[Unfortunately, NT’s 2023 rankings haven’t been released yet. As soon as they are, though, I’ll add them to the post!]
Australia overall
Using the data above, let’s make a guess about Australia’s top baby names overall.
Here’s what I came up with:
| Possible top girl names (Australia, 2023) | Possible top boy names (Australia, 2023) |
| 1. Isla 2. Amelia 3. Charlotte 4. Olivia 5. Mia | 1. Oliver 2. Noah 3. Henry 4. Leo 5. Theodore |
What are your thoughts on these? (Which names would you have put at the top?)
P.S. I guessed that Charlotte and Oliver were the #1 names in the country in 2022…
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): Top baby names: Amelia, Charlotte and Henry come out on top
- Tasmania: Top Baby Names – Tasmanian Government
- NT: Popular Baby Names | Northern Territory Government
- Births, Australia, 2023 | 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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