How popular is the baby name Manaia 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 Manaia.

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Popularity of the baby name Manaia


Posts that mention the name Manaia

Popular baby names (and Maori baby names) in New Zealand, 2021

Flag of New Zealand
Flag of New Zealand

According to New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs, the most popular baby names in the country last year were Charlotte and Oliver.

Here are New Zealand’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2021:

Girl Names

  1. Charlotte, 227 baby girls
  2. Isla, 214
  3. Amelia, 206
  4. Olivia, 185
  5. Ava, 184
  6. Willow, 180
  7. Lily, 174
  8. Isabella, 171
  9. Mila, 170
  10. Ella, 165

Boy Names

  1. Oliver, 308 baby boys
  2. Noah, 265
  3. Jack, 235
  4. Leo, 234
  5. George, 222
  6. Charlie, 200
  7. Lucas, 190
  8. Theodore, 187
  9. William, 181
  10. Luca, 172

In the girls’ top 10, Isabella and Mila replaced Harper and Sophie.

In the boys’ top 10, Theodore and Luca replaced Thomas and Hunter.

Manaia comes in as the most evenly-split gender-neutral name, at a 50/50 split for boys and girls, with Quinn sitting just below the top of the list.

The top Maori baby names, according to the Te Taura Whiri Maori Language Commission, were…

Maori girl (kotiro) names

  1. Mia, 164 baby girls
  2. Aria, 120
  3. Maia, 97
  4. Aurora, 86
  5. Amaia, 63
  6. Kiara, 52
  7. Kaia, 50
  8. Amara, 44 (tie)
  9. Kora, 44 (tie)
  10. Maria, 43

Maori boy (tama) names

  1. Nikau, 93 baby boys
  2. Ari, 62
  3. Niko, 47
  4. Koa, 46
  5. Mateo, 45
  6. Keanu, 44
  7. Mikaere, 41 (tie)
  8. Manaia, 41 (tie)
  9. Kairo, 27 (tie)
  10. Kiwa, 27 (tie)

It should be noted, however, that not all of these “Maori” names are, in fact, Maori names. They were picked out of New Zealand’s national rankings because they “include vowels and consonants that appear in the Maori alphabet” — not because they correspond to actual Maori words. This is how non-Maori names like Aurora, Maria, Ari and Keanu end up in the Maori rankings.

(The Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages recently wrote about the difficulties involved in identifying Maori names, and revealed that he might stop releasing Maori rankings altogether after 2021.)

In 2020, the top two names overall in New Zealand were Isla and Oliver.

Sources: Top Baby Names in New Zealand, Charlotte and Oliver were New Zealand’s top baby names in 2021, Most popular Maori baby names for 2021, Top Maori baby names don’t have to be Maori words

Image: Adapted from Flag of New Zealand (public domain)

Popular baby names in New Zealand, 2020

Flag of New Zealand
Flag of New Zealand

According to New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs, the most popular baby names in the country in 2020 were Isla and Oliver.

Here are New Zealand’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2020:

Girl Names

  1. Isla, 243 baby girls
  2. Charlotte, 222
  3. Amelia, 213
  4. Olivia, 208
  5. Willow, 184
  6. Harper, 177
  7. Ava (tie), 175
  8. Lily (tie), 175
  9. Sophie, 168
  10. Ella, 163

Boy Names

  1. Oliver, 315 baby boys
  2. Jack, 261
  3. Noah, 240
  4. Leo, 235
  5. Lucas, 206
  6. George, 197
  7. Charlie, 183
  8. William (tie), 175
  9. Thomas (tie), 175
  10. Hunter, 174

In the girls’ top 10, Lily and Ella replaced Mila and Ruby.

In the boys’ top 10, Hunter replaced James.

Notably, top girl name Isla “first made the top 100 girls’ names in 2004.”

Here are a few other factoids:

Taylor and Darcy are the most evenly split gender-neutral names for 2020, with a 51/49 per cent divide between boys and girls.

There were no Jacindas or Judiths on the top 10 list and no increase in Ashleys despite these names appearing often in the media during 2020.

The top Maori baby names of 2020 were Mia, Aria and Maia for girls and Nikau, Manaia, and Ari for boys.

Back in 2019, the top names were Amelia and Oliver.

Sources: Top Baby Names in New Zealand, Top 2020 baby names: Same name tops list eight years in a row

Image: Adapted from Flag of New Zealand (public domain)

Popular Maori baby names in New Zealand, 2015

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Flag of New Zealand

According to the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs and the Maori Language Commission (Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori), the country’s most popular Maori names during the second half of 2014 and the first half of 2015 were Maia and Nikau.

Here are the top 10 Maori girl names and boy names of 2014/2015:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Maia
2. Manaia
3. Anahera
4. Ana
5. Aroha
6. Kaia
7. Hana
8. Ataahua
9. Tia
10. Kora		1. Nikau
2. Ari
3. Manaia
4. Wiremu
5. Kauri
6. Mikaere
7. Rawiri
8. Ihaia
9. Kai
10. Manaaki

The top 10 lists above are fairly different from the Maori baby name rankings of 2013. (I don’t believe a 2014 list was released.)

One confusing difference is the absence of Aria and Ariana. Were they reclassified as non-Maori? Otherwise, Aria and Ariana should have come in first and third on this list, given how popular they’ve been in New Zealand overall lately.

Also confusing is the fact that the rankings don’t refer to corresponding periods of time. The 2013 list covers April 2012 to March 2013, whereas the 2015 list covers July 2014 to June 2015.

Maia and Nikau weren’t among New Zealand’s top ten baby names of 2015, but they did appear in the top 100: Maia was ranked 34th for girls, Nikau 97th for boys.

Source: Most popular Maori baby names in 2015

Image: Adapted from Flag of New Zealand (public domain)

Popular baby names in New Zealand, 2014

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Flag of New Zealand

According to data from New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs, the most popular baby names in New Zealand in 2014 were Charlotte and Oliver.

Here are New Zealand’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2014:

Girl namesBoy names
1. Charlotte, 255 baby girls
2. Olivia, 243
3. Isla, 226
4. Emily, 221
5. Sophie, 211
6. Amelia, 210
7. Ella, 206
8. Harper, 204
9. Sophia, 198
10. Ruby, 180		1. Oliver, 313 baby boys
2. Jack, 265
3. James, 255
4. Mason, 244
5. Liam, 241
6. William, 234
7. Noah, 231
8. Lucas, 228
9. Benjamin, 207
10. Jacob, 202

Harper and Sophia replaced Ava and Isabella in the girls’ top 10, and Benjamin and Jacob replaced Samuel and Thomas in the boys’ top 10.

The biggest movement within the top 10 is Ruby, which dropped from 3rd place all the way to 10th.

Several articles made note of the absence of Maori names on both top 100 lists:

About 20 percent of Maori women aged 15 and over had given birth to four or more children compared to only 12.2 percent of the European women, meaning there was even more reason for Maori names to be chosen.

But this was not the case.

Fifteen percent of the population (598,602) identified as Maori in the 2013 Census.

Maori names like Manaia and Anahera have appeared on the New Zealand girls’ top 100 in recent years, but neither made the list in 2014.

Finally, here are some older sets of baby name rankings from New Zealand: 2013 overall, 2013 Maori names, 2012 overall, 2012 Maori names, and 2010 overall.

Sources: Charlotte and Oliver top baby names for 2014, Most Popular Male and Female First Names, Parents overlook Maori names

Image: Adapted from Flag of New Zealand (public domain)