How popular is the baby name Luca in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Luca.

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Popularity of the baby name Luca


Posts that mention the name Luca

Popular baby names in Switzerland, 2012

Flag of Switzerland
Flag of Switzerland

Switzerland recently released not one but three lists of popular baby names.

Impressive.

According to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, the top baby names in Switzerland last year were:

  • Gabriel and Emma among the French-speakers,
  • Noah and Mia among the German-speakers, and
  • Gabriel and Sofia among the Italian-speakers.

Here are more of the most popular baby names of 2012 within each language group:

French

Top Girl NamesTop Boy Names
1. Emma (126 baby girls)
2. Léa (102)
3. Chloé (97)
4. Zoé (94)
5. Lara (89)
6. Eva (81)
7. Charlotte (75)
7. Clara (75)		1. Gabriel (129 baby boys)
2. Luca (113)
3. Thomas (113)
4. Noah (104)
5. Nathan (100)
6. Lucas (99)
7. Samuel (98)
8. Théo (94)

German

Top Girl NamesTop Boy Names
1. Mia (307 baby girls)
2. Alina (301)
3. Laura (269)
4. Julia (259)
5. Anna (258)
6. Emma (252)
7. Leonie (250)
8. Lena (248)		1. Noah (338 baby boys)
2. Luca (333)
3. David (283)
4. Leon (277)
5. Leandro (254)
6. Nico (252)
7. Levin (247)
8. Julian (231)

Italian

Top Girl NamesTop Boy Names
1. Sofia (34 baby girls)
2. Alice (32)
3. Emma (24)
4. Elisa (23)
4. Giulia (23)
4. Martina (23)
7. Giada (19)
7. Giorgia (19)		1. Gabriel (36 baby boys)
2. Alessandro (34)
3. Leonardo (32)
4. Matteo (31)
5. Nathan (30)
6. Samuele (25)
7. Elia (24)
8. Samuel (19)

I haven’t yet seen any 2012 data for the Romansh-speakers, but I hope to, so I’ll be on the lookout.

Here are Switzerland’s most popular baby names of 2007 if you’d like to compare.

Sources: Swiss Statistics – The most popular first names, Most popular baby names listed

Image: Adapted from Flag of Switzerland (public domain)

Popular baby names in Malta, 2009

Flag of Malta
Flag of Malta

The last time I wrote about popular baby names in Malta was two years ago. It’s time for an update!

A total of 4,143 babies were born in Malta in 2009. (In 2006, the number was 3,885.) These were the most popular baby names last year:

Girl Names

  1. Maria/Mariah/Marie, 82 baby girls
  2. Elena/Ylenia/Ella, 79
  3. Christina/Kristina/Krista, 63
  4. Eliza/Elizabeth/Lisa, 52
  5. Amy/Aimee, 49
  6. Julia/Gulia, 45
  7. Maya/Maia, 39 [tie]
  8. Emma, 39 [tie]
  9. Martina, 33
  10. Rihanna/Rhiana, 32
  11. Jasmine/Yasmine 31
  12. Keira, 29
  13. Mikela/Michaela, 28
  14. Jade 27
  15. Hannah/Anna/Ann, 26
  16. Nicole, 25 [3-way tie]
  17. Mireille, 25 [3-way tie]
  18. Hailey/Hayley, 25 [3-way tie]
  19. Sarah/Sara, 24
  20. Emilia, 22 [tie]
  21. Lea, 22 [tie]
  22. Thea, 20
  23. Shania, 18 [4-way tie]
  24. Katrina/Kate, 18 [4-way tie]
  25. Amber, 18 [4-way tie]
  26. Kailey/Kayleigh, 18 [4-way tie]
  27. Faith, 17 [tie]
  28. Laura, 17 [tie]

Boy Names

  1. Luke/Luca, 92 baby boys
  2. Matthew/Matthias/Matteo, 84
  3. Jake, 59
  4. Aiden, 53
  5. Jaden/Jayden, 51
  6. John/Giovanni/Jean, 48
  7. Kaiden/Kayden, 47
  8. Michael/Miguel/Mikele, 46
  9. Nicholas/Nick, 42
  10. Isaac/Izaak, 39
  11. Nathan, 38
  12. Liam/William, 36 [tie]
  13. Gabriel, 36 [tie]
  14. Benjamin/Ben, 35
  15. Alexander/Alessandro/Alejandro, 34 [tie]
  16. Zachary/Zak, 34 [tie]
  17. James, 33 [tie]
  18. Daniel, 33 [tie]
  19. Denzel/Danzil, 31
  20. Keiran, 29
  21. Andre/Andrew/Andrea, 26 [tie]
  22. Sven, 26 [tie]
  23. Julian, 25
  24. Kyle, 24 [tie]
  25. Joseph/Giuseppe/Beppe, 24 [tie]

You’ll notice that Malta still lumps variants together. (They even lump non-variants like Elena and Ella together.) I’m not a big fan of this method because when groupings change from year to year, comparisons become impossible.

Malta also seems to have some issues with spelling. Aidan and Kieran became Aiden and Keiran between 2006 and 2009, for instance. And I wonder if “Gulia” wasn’t supposed to be spelled “Giulia.” (Though I do like the fact that there’s a “Julia/Gulia” grouping. Very Wedding Singer-esque.)

But it’s interesting stuff nonetheless. I’m especially intrigued by all the -ayden names on the boys’ list. (Worldwide phenomenon, anyone?)

If you want to see more from Malta, the top baby names of 2008, 2007, 2004/2005, 2003 and 2002 are available for download.

Source: National Statistics Office – Malta

Image: Adapted from Flag of Malta (public domain)

Baby names from hockey

A reader named Elizabeth has sent me a rather cool list of hockey-inspired baby names. She writes:

I’m a name enthusiast and a hockey fanatic, and my husband and I have been tossing around the idea of naming our son after hockey players.

They haven’t seen any lists of hockey names for babies, though, so they decided to compile one themselves. It includes “both all-time greats and current players.”

I thought I’d pass it along to share with fellow rink rats who may be reading your blog and can’t think of anything other than Wayne (Gretzky), Herb (Brooks), or Patrick (Roy).

Here’s their list:

  • Andreas (Andreas Lilja, Andreas Nödl)
  • Aurèle (Aurèle Émile Joliat)
  • Bentley (Max Bentley, Doug Bentley)
  • Bourque (Ray Bourque, Rene Bourque)
  • Briere (Danny Briere)
  • Brooks (Herb Brooks, Brooks Laich)
  • Crosby (Sidney Crosby)
  • Dryden (Ken Dryden)
  • Eaves (Patrick Eaves)
  • Elias (Patrik Elias)
  • Émile (Aurèle Émile Joliat)
  • Ennis (Tyler Ennis)
  • Evgeni (Evgeni Malkin, Evgeni Nabokov)
  • Ilya (Ilya Kovalchuk, Ilya Bryzgalov)
  • Kane (Patrick Kane)
  • Lach (Elmer Lach)
  • Lemieux (Mario Lemieux)
  • Luca (Luca Caputi)
  • Malkin (Evgeni Malkin)
  • Malone (Joe Malone, Ryan Malone)
  • Marek (Marek Svatos)
  • Mario (Mario Lemieux)
  • Marleau (Patrick Marleau)
  • Michal (Michal Handzus)
  • Milan (Milan Hejduk)
  • Modano (Mike Modano)
  • Nikolai (Nikolai Khabibulin)
  • Parise (Zach Parise)
  • Pavel (Pavel Datsyuk)
  • Rene (Rene Bourque)
  • Savard (Serge Savard, Marc Savard)
  • Shore (Eddie Shore)
  • Stephane (Stephane Yelle)
  • Turco (Marty Turco)

Thanks so much for sharing, Elizabeth!

Another good source of hockey names is the Legends of Hockey website, which is affiliated with the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Which hockey names are your favorites?

Update, Feb. 2024: Since publishing this list, I’ve written a few posts featuring hockey players: Jaromír Jágr, Sidney Crosby, and P. K. Subban.

Most popular baby names in various locations, 2009

Here are some of the most popular baby names of 2009 in various places in the U.S. and elsewhere. I’ll add to this list as I spot other articles and news releases. In the meanwhile, if you see something that I’ve missed, please comment or e-mail me (with the source).

LocationGirl nameBoy name
Alberta, Canada (source)OliviaEthan
Australian Capital Territory (source)OliviaWilliam
Arizona, USA (source)IsabellaJacob
British Columbia, Canada (source)OliviaEthan
Chile (source)MartinaBenjamín
Derry, Northern Ireland, UK (source)Ava & Ellie (tie)Matthew
Evansville, IN, USA (source)OliviaAidan
Germany (source)MarieMaximilian
Knox County, IL, USA (source)AddisonLogan
Macomb County, MI, USA (source)AvaAnthony
Malta (post)Maria/Mariah/MarieLuke/Luca
Manitoba, Canada (source)AvaLiam
Nebraska, USA (source)AddisonAlexander
New South Wales, Australia (source)IsabellaWilliam
New Zealand (source)SophieJack
Newcastle, England, UK (source)LexiOliver
Northern Territory, Australia (source)IsabellaJack
Peterborough, England, UK (source)SophieMohammed
Oakland County, MI, USA (source)IsabellaJack
Quebec, Canada (source)LéaWilliam
Queensland, Australia (source)ChloeWilliam
San Mateo County, CA, USA (source)SophiaAlexander
Saskatchewan, Canada (source)EmmaEthan
Scotland, UK (source)SophieJack
Sheffield, England, UK (source)ChloeHarry
South Australia, Australia (source)CharlotteJack
Sweden (source)AliceLucas
Tasmania, Australia (source)Ruby & Charlotte (tie)Oliver
Tennessee, USA (source)EmmaWilliam
The Netherlands (source)EmmaDaan
United States (source)IsabellaJacob
Victoria, Australia (source)OliviaWilliam
Wyoming, USA (source)MadisonAiden

P.S. Some of the names above actually represent several variants of the name.