Last year, the European country of Switzerland welcomed 78,256 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Emma and Noah.
Here are Switzerland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2024:
Girl names
- Emma, 377 baby girls
- Mia, 367
- Sofia, 321
- Emilia, 271
- Lina, 255
- Elena, 253
- Mila, 252
- Olivia, 245
- Nora, 241
- Lia, 223
- Luna, 207
- Lea, 203
- Elina, 199
- Alina, 197
- Malea, 194
- Amelia, 189
- Nina, 186
- Sophia, 185
- Anna, 183
- Aurora, 181
- Chiara, 179 (tie)
- Leonie, 179 (tie)
- Ella, 178
- Yara, 170
- Lena, 167
- Lara, 165
- Eva, 162
- Alice, 160
- Giulia, 155
- Laura, 149
- Luana, 147
- Valentina, 146
- Maria, 144
- Elin, 142
- Julia, 141
- Malia, 137
- Alea, 136
- Juna, 135
- Aria, 133
- Ava, 132
- Livia, 130
- Dua, 129 (tie)
- Inaya, 129 (tie)
- Sara, 127
- Ayla, 119 (tie)
- Liana, 119 (tie)
- Alma, 118 (tie)
- Emily, 118 (tie)
- Sophie, 117 (tie)
- Victoria, 117 (tie)
Boy names
- Noah, 511 baby boys
- Liam, 395
- Matteo, 326
- Gabriel, 285
- Luca, 280
- Leo, 243
- Louis, 239
- Elio, 237
- Leon, 234
- Leano, 233
- Elias, 227
- Levi, 208
- Lio, 194
- Aaron, 191 (tie)
- Elia, 191 (tie)
- Theo, 187
- Leonardo, 185 (tie)
- Luan, 185 (tie)
- Nino, 181
- Noé, 180
- Malik, 176
- Enea, 174
- David, 168
- Livio, 167 (tie)
- Nico, 167 (tie)
- Finn, 163
- Samuel, 162
- Mateo, 161
- Adam, 158
- Lian, 157
- Arthur, 155
- Leandro, 147 (tie)
- Mattia, 147 (tie)
- Emilio, 145 (tie)
- Nael, 145 (tie)
- Mael, 144
- Henry, 142
- Emil, 141 (tie)
- Julian, 141 (tie)
- Diego, 140
- Kian, 139
- Ben, 137
- Laurin, 136
- Oliver, 132
- Levin, 129
- Lino, 128
- Dario, 124
- Robin, 120
- Jonas, 113 (tie)
- Nathan, 113 (tie)
Two of the fastest-rising names were Liora (for girls) and Clément (for boys).
Switzerland, which is home to over 9 million people, has four national languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Here are the top names among the speakers of each of these languages:
| Girl names | Boy names | |
| German speakers (62.3% of the population) | 1. Mia, 275 2. Emilia, 241 3. Emma, 234 | 1. Noah, 365 2. Liam, 257 3. Matteo, 252 |
| French speakers (22.8% of pop.) | 1. Emma, 124 2. Olivia, 103 3. Eva, 80 | 1. Gabriel, 130 2. Noah, 129 3. Liam, 117 |
| Italian speakers (8.0% of pop.) | 1. Aurora, 27 2. Sofia, 22 3. Ginevra, 21 | 1. Leonardo, 31 2. Enea, 26 (tie) 3. Tommaso, 26 (tie) |
| Romansh speakers (0.5% of pop.) | 1. Alina, 4 | 1. David, 3 (tie) 2. Gino, 3 (tie) |
And here’s a selection of the uncommon names that were given to just two babies each in Switzerland in 2024:
| Rare girl names | Rare boy names |
| Audélia, Berina, Cassia, Dasel, Etna, Fadrina, Galina, Hasti, Ioli, Joaquina, Kokob, Liridona, Maurane, Nilde, Ona, Pelda, Ruena, Sira, Thémis, Verica, Waimea, Xara, Yangtso, Zeena | Atari, Boaz, Célien, Deran, Enoa, Fanuel, Gaspar, Harald, Icaro, Jonte, Keylam, Lisi, Mayeul, Niculin, Onno, Pepe, Rodion, Shukri, Tsering, Urs, Vidar, Wilhelm, Yafiet, Zana |
Possible explanations/associations for several of the above:
- Etna is the name of Europe’s most active volcano, Mount Etna, which is located on the island of Sicily.
- Fadrina is the feminine form of Fadri, a Romansh name related to Frederick.
- Liridona is based on the Albanian word liri, meaning “freedom, liberty.”
- Niculin is a Romansh name related to Nicholas.
- Waimea is a Hawaiian place-name meaning “reddish water.” (I remember seeing a single baby named Waimea in the 2021 Sonoma rankings, but I didn’t expect to find two babies named Waimea in Switzerland!)
Other Romansh names I noticed in the rankings were the girl name Bigna (given to 12 babies) and the boy names Corsin (10) and Curdin (5).
Finally, here are Switzerland’s 2023 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
Sources: First names of newborns – Federal Statistical Office, Births and deaths – Federal Statistical Office, Languages of Switzerland – Wikipedia, Behind the Name, Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian Language Dictionaries
Image: Adapted from Flag of Switzerland (public domain)
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