Tag: maia

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

1. Emma, 682 baby girls
2. María, 564
3. Julieta, 495
4. Martina, 477
5. Isabella, 400
6. Catalina, 383
7. Maria, 378
8. Sofía, 372
9. Emilia, 368
10. Delfina, 320
11. Olivia, 310
12. Zoe, 249
13. Emily, 236 (tie)
14. Paulina, 236 (tie)
15. Renata, 233
16. Francesca, 227
17. Clara, 220
18. Ana, 208
19. Mía, 203
20. Valentina, 199
21. Maite, 194 (3-way tie)
22. Josefina, 194 (3-way tie)
23. Juana, 194 (3-way tie)
24. Agustina, 192
25. Alfonsina, 186
26. Bianca, 170
27. Mia, 161
28. Camila, 149
29. Victoria, 148
30. Oriana, 142
31. Milagros, 137
32. Alma, 131 (tie)
33. Pilar, 131 (tie)
34. Julia, 127
35. Faustina, 111
36. Maia, 106
37. Lara, 105
38. Sofia, 103
39. Guillermina, 102
40. Ámbar, 100
41. Lucía, 98
42. Federica, 96
43. Luciana, 94 (tie)
44. Sara, 94 (tie)
45. Luana, 90
46. Aitana, 86 (tie)
47. Bruna, 86 (tie)
48. Florencia, 85
49. Joaquina, 83
50. Jazmín, 79

Boy Names

1. Juan, 861 baby boys
2. Mateo, 611
3. Felipe, 460
4. Lorenzo, 408
5. Thiago, 354
6. Santino, 347
7. Lucas, 334
8. Dante, 330
9. Lautaro, 327
10. Benjamín, 315
11. Bautista, 312 (tie)
12. Santiago, 312 (tie)
13. Joaquín, 259
14. Francisco, 235
15. Luis, 222 (tie)
16. Bruno, 222 (tie)
17. Carlos, 220
18. Facundo, 215
19. Emiliano, 211
20. Valentino, 209
21. Tomás, 192
22. Luciano, 188
23. Bastian, 186
24. Enzo, 184
25. Dylan, 182
26. Agustín, 180
27. Nahitan, 175
28. Jorge, 172
29. Valentín, 167
30. Liam, 164
31. José, 160
32. Renzo, 159
33. Franco, 155 (tie)
34. Manuel, 155 (tie)
35. Benicio, 154
36. Ian, 152
37. Ignacio, 150
38. Diego, 143
39. Pedro, 140
40. Vicente, 129 (3-way tie)
41. Camilo, 129 (3-way tie)
42. Guillermo, 129 (3-way tie)
43. Noah, 128
44. Ciro, 127
45. Salvador, 126
46. Alfonso, 125
47. Ramiro, 124
48. Daniel, 120
49. Máximo, 117
50. 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.