Baby Name: Leonardo

According to Uruguay’s Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil (DNIC), the most popular baby names in the country in 2020 were technically Emma and Juan.

But if accented “María” and unaccented “Maria” had been counted together, María would have easily taken the #1 spot.

Uruguay’s baby name rankings consist of girl and boy names mixed together on a single list. The data mostly represents first-name usage, but does include some second-name usage as well. (This is because the rankings are created from Uruguayan identity card data, and Uruguayans are permitted to add up to two given names to their ID cards.)

That said, here are Uruguay’s top 100+ baby names of 2020:

1. Juan, 861 babies
2. Emma, 682
3. Mateo, 611
4. María, 564
5. Julieta, 495
6. Martina, 477
7. Felipe, 460
8. Lorenzo, 408
9. Isabella, 400
10. Catalina, 383
11. Maria, 378
12. Sofía, 372
13. Emilia, 358
14. Thiago, 354
15. Santino, 347
16. Lucas, 334
17. Dante, 330
18. Lautaro, 327
19. Delfina, 320
20. Benjamín, 315
21. Bautista, 312 (tie)
22. Santiago, 312 (tie)
23. Olivia, 310
24. Joaquín, 259
25. Zoe, 249
26. Emily, 236 (tie)
27. Paulina, 236 (tie)
28. Francisco, 235
29. Renata, 233
30. Francesca, 227
31. Bruno, 222 (tie)
32. Luis, 222 (tie)
33. Carlos, 220 (tie)
34. Clara, 220 (tie)
35. Facundo, 215
36. Emiliano, 211
37. Valentino, 209
38. Ana, 208
39. Mía, 203
40. Valentina, 199
41. Josefina, 194 (3-way tie)
42. Juana, 194 (3-way tie)
43. Maite, 194 (3-way tie)
44. Agustina, 192 (tie)
45. Tomás, 192 (tie)
46. Luciano, 188
47. Alfonsina, 186 (tie)
48. Bastian, 186 (tie)
49. Enzo, 184
50. Dylan, 182
51. Agustín, 180
52. Nahitan, 175
53. Jorge, 172
54. Bianca, 170
55. Valentín, 167
56. Liam, 164
57. Mia, 161
58. José, 160
59. Renzo, 159
60. Franco, 155 (tie)
61. Manuel, 155 (tie)
62. Benicio, 154
63. Ian, 152
64. Ignacio, 150
65. Camila, 149
66. Victoria, 148
67. Diego, 143
68. Oriana, 142
69. Pedro, 140
70. Milagros, 137
71. Alma, 131 (tie)
72. Pilar, 131 (tie)
73. Camilo, 129 (3-way tie)
74. Guillermo, 129 (3-way tie)
75. Vicente, 129 (3-way tie)
76. Noah, 128
77. Ciro, 127 (tie)
78. Julia, 127 (tie)
79. Salvador, 126
80. Alfonso, 125
81. Ramiro, 124
82. Daniel, 120
83. Máximo, 117
84. Faustino, 115
85. Jose, 114
86. Samuel, 113
87. Faustina, 111
88. Alejandro, 110
89. Federico, 109
90. Genaro, 107
91. Maia, 106 (tie)
92. Pablo, 106 (tie)
93. Lara, 105
94. Sofia, 103
95. Guillermina, 102
96. Ámbar, 100
97. Eduardo, 99
98. Lucía, 98
99. Federica, 96 (tie)
100. Tadeo, 96 (tie)
101. Theo (95)
102. Luciana, 94 (tie)
103. Sara, 94 (tie)
104. Tiziano, 92
105. Alexander, 91 (tie)
106. Rafael, 91 (tie)
107. Julián, 90 (3-way tie)
108. Luana, 90 (3-way tie)
109. Nicolás, 90 (3-way tie)
110. Benjamin, 88
111. Aitana, 86 (3-way tie)
112. Bruna, 86 (3-way tie)
113. Leonardo, 86 (3-way tie)
114. Florencia, 85
115. Rodrigo, 84
116. David, 83 (4-way tie)
117. Gael, 83 (4-way tie)
118. Joaquina, 83 (4-way tie)
119. Matías, 83 (4-way tie)
120. Miguel, 80
121. Gabriel, 79 (tie)
122. Jazmín, 79 (tie)
123. Alex, 78 (tie)
124. Axel, 78 (tie)

(I went down far enough to ensure that at least fifty girl names were included…and then a little farther, because that 2-way tie between the 4-letter anagram names Alex and Axel is kind of adorable. :)

I’ve never looked at rankings for Uruguay before, so I don’t have past rankings to compare these to. But here are a few of the names from lower down on the list:

• 35 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).
  • The name comes from Uruguayan literature: The main character of the epic poem Tabaré (1888) by Juan Zorrilla de San Martín is an indigenous Charrúa man named Tabaré.

Finally, because Uruguay releases all of its baby name data, we can check out the unique names at the other end of the spectrum as well. 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.” El Observador 5 Jan. 2021.
• “Los nombres más raros y más populares de Uruguay en el 2020.” Totoaqui.uy 5 Jan. 2021.
• Caredio, V. and T. Urwicz. “¿Cuáles fueron los nombres más populares de bebés en 2021?” El País 13 Jan. 2022.

Image: Adapted from Flag of Uruguay (public domain)

[Latest update: Jul. 2023]