Baby Name: Gael

The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico welcomes roughly 19,000 babies per year.

Last year, the most popular baby names in Puerto Rico were Valentina and Thiago.

Here are Puerto Rico’s top 50 girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2023:

Girl names

1. Valentina, 177 baby girls
2. Aurora, 113 (tie)
3. Emma, 113 (tie)
4. Victoria, 100
5. Catalina, 94 (tie)
6. Luna, 94 (tie)
7. Amaia, 89 (tie)
8. Gianna, 89 (tie)
9. Isabella, 88
10. Alaia, 82
11. Mia, 80
12. Mikaela, 78
13. Ainara, 75 (tie)
14. Amira, 75 (tie)
15. Milena, 70
16. Amalia, 68
17. Amanda, 66
18. Antonella, 65
19. Camila, 62
20. Amelia, 61
21. Elena, 57 (tie)
22. Leah, 57 (tie)
23. Paula, 56
24. Sofia, 54
25. Kamila, 50
26. Gia, 47
27. Stella, 42
28. Mila, 41
29. Ainhoa, 40
30. Sophia, 39
31. Adara, 38
32. Lia, 36
33. Alana, 35
34. Amirah, 32 (4-way tie)
35. Nahia, 32 (4-way tie)
36. Nahiara, 32 (4-way tie)
37. Valeria, 32 (4-way tie)
38. Andrea, 31
39. Paulette, 30
40. Alanna, 29 (tie)
41. Brianna, 29 (tie)
42. Adhara, 28 (4-way tie)
43. Amahia, 28 (4-way tie)
44. Ana, 28 (4-way tie)
45. Gabriela, 28 (4-way tie)
46. Paulina, 27
47. Amaya, 25 (4-way tie)
48. Arlet, 25 (4-way tie)
49. Katalina, 25 (4-way tie)
50. Mariana, 25 (4-way tie)

Boy names

1. Thiago, 290 baby boys
2. Liam, 264
3. Noah, 201
4. Mateo, 156
5. Sebastian, 146
6. Lucas, 140
7. Dylan, 119
8. Ian, 115
9. Matias, 94
10. Adrian, 89 (tie)
11. Elian, 89 (tie)
12. Jayden, 84
13. Mauro, 79
14. Angel, 77
15. Milan, 76
16. Ethan, 74
17. Nicolas, 70
18. Jacob, 67
19. Fabian, 66
20. Diego, 65
21. Elias, 63
22. Gael, 59
23. Aaron, 56
24. Isaac, 51
25. Eithan, 50 (tie)
26. Eliam, 50 (tie)
27. Gian, 49
28. Enzo, 48
29. Evan, 45 (tie)
30. Luis, 45 (tie)
31. Isaias, 44 (tie)
32. Matteo, 44 (tie)
33. Daniel, 42
34. Julian, 40
35. Caleb, 37
36. Eiden, 36 (3-way tie)
37. Gabriel, 36 (3-way tie)
38. Matthew, 36 (3-way tie)
39. Carlos, 34 (tie)
40. Santiago, 34 (tie)
41. Aiden, 33 (3-way tie)
42. Damian, 33 (3-way tie)
43. Dario, 33 (3-way tie)
44. Alejandro, 32 (tie)
45. Amir, 32 (tie)
46. Alan, 30
47. Alvaro, 29 (3-way tie)
48. Keyden, 29 (3-way tie)
49. Ryan, 29 (3-way tie)
50. Iker, 28 (3-way tie)
51. Jose, 28 (3-way tie)
52. Zaid, 28 (3-way tie)

Eiden on the boys’ list caught my attention, as Eiden was also mentioned in the SSA’s news release this year. It’s on the rise both in the U.S. and in Puerto Rico right now.

The person who wrote the news release theorized that the rise of Eiden was being fueled by Wisconsin-based influencer Wyatt Eiden. But the name’s increasing popularity in Puerto Rico — plus the fact that 40% of Eiden’s U.S. usage occurred in four states with large Spanish-speaking populations (TX, CA, NY, and FL) — makes me think the name is being used primarily among U.S.-based Latin Americans (who are probably not watching Wyatt Eiden’s English-language interview/trivia videos on TikTok).

(And now I’m thinking of a recent comment by alex, who noticed that “names that have seen some use in Caribbean Latin America for 20+ years” are starting to pop up in the U.S. data, and wondered if Venezuelan immigration might have something to do with it…)

In 2022, the top names in Puerto Rico were Valentina and Liam.

Finally, what were the most popular baby names in all the other U.S. territories (American Samoa, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands) combined last year? Olivia and Elijah.

Sources: Popular Names by Territory – SSA, State and Territorial Data – National Center for Health Statistics – CDC

Image: Adapted from Flag of Puerto Rico (public domain)