Last year, the European country of Belgium welcomed 110,400 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Olivia and Noah.
Here are Belgium’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:
Girl names
- Olivia, 587 baby girls
- Emma, 429
- Louise, 365
- Lina, 362 (tie)
- Sofia, 362 (tie)
- Alice, 356
- Eva, 352
- Anna, 351
- Mila, 331
- Juliette, 325
- Nora, 293
- Lucie, 275
- Ella, 273
- Mia, 271
- Elena, 266
- Inaya, 263
- Camille, 261
- Luna, 246
- Victoria, 244
- Alba, 242
- Jade, 240
- Julia, 234
- Lou, 227
- Giulia, 223
- Léa, 222
- Nina, 214
- Marie, 213
- Liv, 212
- Lily, 206
- Mona, 204 (tie)
- Noor, 204 (tie)
- Renée, 203
- Lena, 198
- Ellie, 186
- Billie, 185 (tie)
- Chloé, 185 (tie)
- Elise, 178
- Zoé, 170
- Alix, 167
- Livia, 163
- Amélie, 162
- Nour, 157
- Aya, 156
- Sara, 150
- Amira, 149 (tie)
- Rose, 149 (tie)
- Ambre, 148
- Jeanne, 147
- Clara, 144
- Manon, 142
Boy names
- Noah, 589 baby boys
- Arthur, 577
- Liam, 498
- Adam, 472
- Louis, 463
- Jules, 456
- Lucas, 394
- Gabriel, 378
- Victor, 336
- Matteo, 297
- Oscar, 286
- Leon, 275 (tie)
- Mohamed, 275 (tie)
- Léon, 244
- Finn, 241
- Lewis, 238
- Mathis, 236
- Luca, 232
- Raphaël, 223
- Hugo, 221
- Elias, 215
- Théo, 210
- Amir, 209
- Achille, 207
- Nathan, 206
- Rayan, 203
- Otis, 187
- Eden, 185
- Milo, 183
- Marcel, 182
- Maurice, 181
- Léo, 180 (tie)
- Yanis, 180 (tie)
- Isaac, 179
- David, 172
- Gaston, 171
- Basile, 170
- Lou, 163
- Charles, 162 (tie)
- Noé, 162 (tie)
- Maël, 161
- Naël, 160
- Ibrahim, 159
- Georges, 157
- Ayden, 155 (tie)
- Henri, 155 (tie)
- Aaron, 153 (3-way tie)
- Sacha, 153 (3-way tie)
- Vic, 153 (3-way tie)
- Emiel, 150
The six girl names that entered the girls’ top 100 last year were Florence, Millie, Estelle, Ayla, Aria, and Fatima.
The nine boy names that entered the boy’s top 100 last year were Andrea, Daniel, Eliott, Haroun, James, Julien, Mil, Thomas, and Warre.
The fastest-rising girl names were Eva (+70 baby girls) and Lou (+63), while the fastest-rising boy names were Ayden (+42 baby boys) and Matteo (+35).
The top baby names within each of Belgium’s three regions were…
| Girl names | Boy names | |
| Flanders (in the north) 57.6% of the population Language: Dutch | 1. Olivia, 346 2. Anna, 222 3. Mila, 219 4. Nora, 216 5. Ella, 207 | 1. Noah, 359 2. Arthur, 349 3. Liam, 282 4. Jules, 262 5. Leon, 257 |
| Wallonia (in the south) 31.8% of pop. Languages: French & German | 1. Eva, 201 2. Olivia, 191 3. Emma, 171 4. Alba, 166 5. Alice, 165 | 1. Gabriel, 240 2. Arthur, 195 3. Louis, 184 4. Jules, 177 5. Noah, 175 |
| Brussels (the capital region) 10.6% of pop. Languages: Dutch & French | 1. Sofia, 75 2. Nour, 60 3. Emma, 58 4. Olivia, 50 5. Lina, 49 | 1. Adam, 93 2. Mohamed, 87 3. Gabriel, 65 4. Yanis, 58 5. Noah, 55 |
And here’s a selection of names from the other end of the spectrum — the names that were given to just 5 babies each in Belgium last year:
| Rare girl names | Rare boy names |
| Asmae, Blanche, Carlota, Deborah, Elli, Frie, Gigi, Hilona, Isabeau, Jinan, Kimya, Lente, Marcelle, Nika, Ozanne, Puck, Renske, Sibylle, Trixie, Violet, Wissal, Yarah, Zélya | Adar, Brenn, Camiel, Dylano, Ézéchiel, Finley, Gerard, Haider, Illan, Jelle, Kas, Largo, Merijn, Naé, Ole, Pharell, Rakan, Soann, Tijn, Virgil, Wasim, Yvar, Zacharie |
In Dutch, the word lente refers to the season of spring.
I didn’t post about Belgium’s top baby names of 2022, but here are Belgium’s 2021 rankings.
Sources: First names for boys and girls – STATBEL, 4.5% decrease in births in 2023 compared to the average for 2019-2022 – Statbel, Demographics of Belgium – Wikipedia
Image: Adapted from Flag of Belgium (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Regions of Belgium by Ssolbergj under CC BY 3.0.
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