According to Uruguay’s Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil (DNIS), the most popular baby names in the country in 2020 were Emma and Juan. (Though, if the two renderings of Maria — accented “María” and unaccented “Maria” — were combined, Maria would easily be the #1 girl name.)
Here are Uruguay’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2020:
Girl Names
- Emma, 682 baby girls
- María, 564
- Julieta, 495
- Martina, 477
- Isabella, 400
- Catalina, 383
- Maria, 378
- Sofía, 372
- Emilia, 368
- Delfina, 320
- Olivia, 310
- Zoe, 249
- Emily, 236 (tie)
- Paulina, 236 (tie)
- Renata, 233
- Francesca, 227
- Clara, 220
- Ana, 208
- Mía, 203
- Valentina, 199
- Maite, 194 (3-way tie)
- Josefina, 194 (3-way tie)
- Juana, 194 (3-way tie)
- Agustina, 192
- Alfonsina, 186
- Bianca, 170
- Mia, 161
- Camila, 149
- Victoria, 148
- Oriana, 142
- Milagros, 137
- Alma, 131 (tie)
- Pilar, 131 (tie)
- Julia, 127
- Faustina, 111
- Maia, 106
- Lara, 105
- Sofia, 103
- Guillermina, 102
- Ámbar, 100
- Lucía, 98
- Federica, 96
- Luciana, 94 (tie)
- Sara, 94 (tie)
- Luana, 90
- Aitana, 86 (tie)
- Bruna, 86 (tie)
- Florencia, 85
- Joaquina, 83
- Jazmín, 79
Boy Names
- Juan, 861 baby boys
- Mateo, 611
- Felipe, 460
- Lorenzo, 408
- Thiago, 354
- Santino, 347
- Lucas, 334
- Dante, 330
- Lautaro, 327
- Benjamín, 315
- Bautista, 312 (tie)
- Santiago, 312 (tie)
- Joaquín, 259
- Francisco, 235
- Luis, 222 (tie)
- Bruno, 222 (tie)
- Carlos, 220
- Facundo, 215
- Emiliano, 211
- Valentino, 209
- Tomás, 192
- Luciano, 188
- Bastian, 186
- Enzo, 184
- Dylan, 182
- Agustín, 180
- Nahitan, 175
- Jorge, 172
- Valentín, 167
- Liam, 164
- José, 160
- Renzo, 159
- Franco, 155 (tie)
- Manuel, 155 (tie)
- Benicio, 154
- Ian, 152
- Ignacio, 150
- Diego, 143
- Pedro, 140
- Vicente, 129 (3-way tie)
- Camilo, 129 (3-way tie)
- Guillermo, 129 (3-way tie)
- Noah, 128
- Ciro, 127
- Salvador, 126
- Alfonso, 125
- Ramiro, 124
- Daniel, 120
- Máximo, 117
- Faustino, 115
I’ve never looked at rankings for Uruguay before, so I don’t have past rankings to compare these to. But here are some of the names from lower down on the list (which, like a couple of other sets of rankings† we’ve seen lately, wasn’t two gender-specific lists but a single list that combined both genders).
- 83 babies were named Celeste, which is the nickname (El Celeste, “the sky-blue”) of Uruguay’s national soccer team.
- This one reminds me of the usage of Azzurra in Italy!
- 11 were named Edinson, which is the first name of Uruguayan soccer player Edinson Cavani.
- 8 were named Nairobi, which is a female character from the popular Spanish-language TV series La casa de papel (English title: Money Heist).
- 2 were named Tabaré, which was the first name of Uruguayan president Tabaré Vázquez (who both left office and passed away in 2020).
Finally, here’s a selection Uruguay’s single-use baby names of 2020:
Atahualpa, Brislady, Crisbely, Duckenson, Elubina, Fritznel, Garibaldi, Hartmut, Izpabelli, Juanfer, Khantuta, Leovisnel, Missber, Norquides, Olgalisy, Pierangely, Quinto, Roismerl, Szabolcs, Tonatiuh, Tonantzín, Urumana, Viorky, Wanderson, Xilianny, Yusnavi, Zolanch
Some possible explanations/associations:
- Atahualpa – the last emperor of the Inca
- Garibaldi – 19th-century Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi
- Pierangely – Italian actress Pier Angeli
- Tonatiuh – Nahua (Aztec) sun deity
- Tonantzín – Nahuatl honorific title meaning “our mother”
Sources: Diógenes, Luc, Coromoto: mirá los nombres más raros y más populares de Uruguay en 2020, Los nombres más raros y más populares de Uruguay en el 2020
†New Brunswick‘s 2021 rankings, Manitoba‘s 2020 rankings.