Popular baby names in Argentina, 2020 & 2021

Flag of Argentina
Flag of Argentina

According to data from Argentina’s Registro Nacional de las Personas (RENAPER), the most popular baby names in the country in both 2020 and 2021 were Emma and Mateo.

First, here are Argentina’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2020:

Girl Names, 2020

  1. Emma, 7,966 baby girls
  2. Olivia, 5,409
  3. Martina, 5,236
  4. Isabella, 5,214
  5. Alma, 4,620
  6. Catalina, 4,099
  7. Mia, 4,084
  8. Ambar, 3,730
  9. Victoria, 3,722
  10. Delfina, 3,574

Boy Names, 2020

  1. Mateo, 7,750 baby boys
  2. Bautista, 5,237
  3. Juan, 5,125
  4. Felipe, 4,785
  5. Bruno, 4,440
  6. Noah, 4,428
  7. Benicio, 4,225
  8. Thiago, 3,772
  9. Ciro, 3,663
  10. Liam, 3,516

And, second, here are Argentina’s provisional 2021 rankings (which cover the year up to November 16):

Girl Names, 2021 (provisional)

  1. Emma, 5,201 baby girls
  2. Olivia, 3,958
  3. Alma, 3,579
  4. Martina, 3,475
  5. Isabella, 3,447
  6. Catalina, 3,025
  7. Mia, 2,651
  8. Roma, 2,389
  9. Sofía, 2,317
  10. Emilia, 2,316

Boy Names, 2021 (provisional)

  1. Mateo, 5,166 baby boys
  2. Bautista, 3,783
  3. Felipe, 3,673
  4. Noah, 3,563
  5. Juan, 3,381
  6. Liam, 3,114
  7. Benicio, 2,952
  8. Bruno, 2,821
  9. Thiago, 2,611
  10. Lorenzo, 2,256

My source article noted that the 2020 boys’ rankings included the names of all three of Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi’s sons: Thiago, Mateo, and Ciro.

It also noted that the girl name Roma was rarely used in the country until actress Dalma Maradona — daughter of Argentine soccer player Diego Maradona — welcomed her own daughter, Roma, in March of 2019. The next year, the name jumped to 15th place on the girls’ list. The year after that, it entered the top 10.

Finally, the name Lautaro — the Hispanicized version of Leftraru that we saw in the rankings for next-door neighbor Chile last week — ranked within Argentina’s top 20 in both 2020 and 2021. The name’s trendiness in Argentina right now probably has less to do with the original Lautaro (a 16th-century Mapuche warrior from Chile) and more to do with Argentine soccer player Lautaro Martínez.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Argentina (public domain)

Where did the baby name Mannix come from in 1967?

The character Joe Mannix from the TV series "Mannix" (1967-1975)
Joe Mannix from “Mannix”

The main character of the memorably violent TV series Mannix was Los Angeles private investigator Joseph “Joe” Mannix (played by Mike Connors). The show premiered in 1967 and, the same year, the baby name Mannix debuted in the U.S. baby name data:

  • 1969: 9 baby boys named Mannix
  • 1968: 13 baby boys named Mannix
  • 1967: 7 baby boys named Mannix [debut]
  • 1966: unlisted
  • 1965: unlisted

The name remained in the data while the show was on the air, but disappeared after the series was canceled in 1975.

It didn’t stay away long, though. In fact, it’s been a regular in the data since actress Angelina Jolie made the like-sounding name Maddox trendy.

So what does Mannix mean? It’s an Anglicized Irish surname meaning “descendant of Manachán” — Manachán being a personal named derived from the Gaelic word manach, meaning “monk.”

Do you like the name Mannix? Do you like it more or less than Maddox?

P.S. Mike Connors’ legal name was Krekor Ohanian. (He was of Armenian descent.) His agent, Henry Willson — famous for re-naming actors like Tab Hunter and Rock Hudson — gave him the stage name “Touch Connors” at the start of his career. (“Touch” was a nickname he’d acquired on the basketball court.) Connors disliked the name, but it wasn’t until later in his career that he was permitted to change “Touch” to “Mike.”

Sources:

  • Mannix – Wikipedia
  • Hanks, Patrick. (Ed.) Dictionary of American Family Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
  • SSA

Image: Screenshot of Mannix

[Latest update: Oct. 2025]

Baby born on D-Day, named Deeday

D-Day

A baby boy born in England on June 6, 1944, was named Deeday Rodney White — primarily because his father, Bert, kept hearing the term “D-Day” on the radio:

All his father reported hearing on the wireless the morning he was born was about the D-Day landings.

“He said to me all he could hear was ‘D-Day, D-Day, D-Day being drummed into my head’.”

Mr. White said initially the registrar refused to accept the name, saying the operation was top secret.

His father returned the next day with a copy of the Daily Mirror reporting the news of the D-Day landings on the French coast.

The name doesn’t have a hyphen on his birth certificate, but Mr. White prefers to write it “Dee-Day.”

And, even though he “hated” the name as a child, he became proud of it as an adult — so much so that he passed it down to his own son.

(Other D-Day babies include Dee Day, Invasia, and D-Day.)

Source: “D-Day: The baby named after the Normandy landings.” BBC News 5 Jun. 2019.

Where did the baby name Bocephus come from in 1986?

Hank Williams, Jr., presenting "Bocephus" on a chalkboard in the "My Name is Bocephus" music video (1987).
From the “My Name is Bocephus” music video

The unusual name Bocephus first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1986:

  • 1988: unlisted
  • 1987: unlisted
  • 1986: 7 baby boys named Bocephus [debut]
  • 1985: unlisted
  • 1984: unlisted

Where did it come from?

The 1986 song “My Name Is Bocephus” (pronounced boh-SEE-fuss) by Hank Williams, Jr.

Billboard described the song as “Muddy Waters-style blues” in its review of Hank’s album Montana Cafe, which reached #1 on the Top Country Albums chart in September. The song was also released as the B-side to the single “Mind Your Own Business,” which hit #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart later the same year.

“My Name Is Bocephus” apparently became popular enough on its own, though, to warrant the making of a music video. That video, which came out in early 1987, ended up winning the CMA’s Music Video of the Year award.

So…why would a guy named Hank write a song declaring that his name is “Bocephus”?

Because Bocephus was his childhood nickname. And a rather public one at that.

Hank, Jr., was born Randall Hank Williams in 1949 to country music legend Hiram “Hank” Williams and his first wife Audrey. Hank, Sr., nicknamed his son Bocephus after Grand Ole Opry comedian Rod Brasfield’s ventriloquist dummy.

Hank, Sr., died on the first day of 1953, when his son was three-and-a-half. During the short time they had together, though, he would end his radio performances with a message to his son — something like “Don’t worry, Bocephus, I’m coming home.” In this Feb. 1951 “Mother’s Best” radio show, for instance, you can hear Hank say “Bocephus, see you directly son” at 27:09.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Bocephus?

Sources:

P.S. Hank, Sr.’s second wife was Billie Jean Horton.