Last year, the European country of Austria welcomed 77,605 babies — 37,596 girls and 40,009 boys.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Emilia and Paul.
Here are Austria’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:
Girl names
- Emilia, 638 baby girls
- Marie, 554
- Emma, 517
- Anna, 514
- Mia, 509
- Sophia, 471
- Valentina, 446
- Lena, 434
- Lea, 427
- Laura, 420
- Johanna, 413
- Lina, 412
- Leonie, 387
- Sophie, 381
- Hannah, 363
- Luisa, 362
- Ella, 345
- Olivia, 334
- Lara, 332
- Elena, 318
- Nora, 312
- Magdalena, 273
- Amelie, 268
- Mila, 264
- Antonia, 262
- Helena, 260
- Hanna, 252
- Lia, 240
- Valerie, 236
- Isabella, 223
- Katharina, 215 (tie)
- Sarah, 215 (tie)
- Sara, 209
- Klara, 207
- Theresa, 199
- Ida, 195 (tie)
- Miriam, 195 (tie)
- Elisa, 193
- Rosa, 191 (tie)
- Sofia, 191 (tie)
- Julia, 190
- Alina, 186
- Elina, 182
- Marlene, 181 (tie)
- Paula, 181 (tie)
- Paulina, 180
- Livia, 179
- Emily, 176
- Clara, 173
- Rosalie, 162
Boy names
- Paul, 687 baby boys
- Jakob, 660
- Elias, 625
- Maximilian, 620
- Felix, 596
- Noah, 577
- Leon, 572
- David, 535
- Tobias, 528
- Jonas, 520
- Leo, 506
- Lukas, 484
- Moritz, 447
- Matteo, 411
- Alexander, 406
- Theo, 397
- Anton, 389
- Fabian, 385
- Liam, 374
- Julian, 369
- Simon, 363
- Emil, 350
- Valentin, 337
- Luca, 320
- Florian, 315
- Matthias, 313
- Samuel, 308
- Johannes, 283
- Gabriel, 279 (tie)
- Raphael, 279 (tie)
- Lorenz, 272 (tie)
- Luis, 272 (tie)
- Theodor, 263
- Benjamin, 251
- Sebastian, 222
- Oskar, 216
- Niklas, 215
- Levi, 213
- Finn, 209
- Emilio, 207 (tie)
- Jonathan, 207 (tie)
- Adam, 206 (tie)
- Michael, 206 (tie)
- Ben, 201
- Oliver, 200
- Fabio, 193
- Mateo, 191
- Konstantin, 189 (tie)
- Max, 189 (tie)
- Luka, 183
In the boys’ top 100 were Ferdinand (60th), Erik (75th), Clemens (84th), and Muhammed (95th).
In the girls’ top 100 were Aurelia (61st), Frida (78th), Mathea (83rd), and Lotta (92nd).
Lower down in the rankings I spotted…
- Girl names:
- Finja (53 babies)
- Dunja (22) – means “quince” in several South Slavic languages
- Florentine (10)
- Pelin (8) – means “wormwood” in Turkish
- Neele (6)
- Hannelore (4)
- Philia (3)
- Boy names:
- Fridolin (184 babies)
- Nepomuk (6) – refers to St. John of Nepomuk
- Amadeus (4)
- Thorin (4)
- Atdhe (3) – means “fatherland” in Albanian
- Pirmin (3) – refers to St. Pirmin
- Toprak (2) – means “earth, soil,” “land,” or “country” in Turkish
Thousands of other names were given to a single baby each in Austria last year. Here’s a selection of the names that were bestowed just once:
| Unique girl names | Unique boy names |
| Aristhea, Berivan, Cleophea, Diola, Elfriede, Fancy, Filianore, Galia, Helly, Irmlind, Julita, Katalia, Lysithea, Mitravinda, Nihira, Orbita, Priska, Qunut, Rudolfina, Silke, Thabea, Uresa, Valina, Weiyu, Xena, Ylenia, Zilli | Anadin, Bendix, Crown, Dastan, Elino, Frowin, Guntram, Hannan, Itgelt, Jaryl, Kordian, Lambert, Medardus, Metatron, Nainoa, Oswald, Pim, Qibin, Reinhold, Siegfried, Torger, Uriel, Volodymyr, Willibald, Xichen, Yuzuru, Zinar |
Some possible influences/associations for a few of the above:
- Filianore is a character in the video game Dark Souls III (2016) — specifically, in the downloadable content pack Dark Souls III: The Ringed City (2017).
- St. Frowin of Engelberg was a 12th-century Swiss German abbot.
- Itgelt is likely based on the Mongolian word itgel, meaning “faith, belief.”
- Kordian is the main character of the Polish drama Kordian (1834) by Juliusz Slowacki.
- Lysithea refers to several figures in Greek mythology, as well as to a character in the video game Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019).
- Metatron is an archangel mentioned in Jewish folklore.
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the president of Ukraine.
- St. Willibald was an 8th-century Englishman who became a bishop in Bavaria.
Finally, here’s a link to Austria’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
Sources: First names of newborns – Statistics Austria (in German), Atlas der Vornamen – Statistics Austria, Demographic characteristics of newborns – Statistics Austria, Behind the Name, Wiktionary
Image: Adapted from Flag of Austria (public domain)
