How popular is the baby name Maria 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 Maria.

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Popularity of the baby name Maria


Posts that mention the name Maria

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)

How did “Battlestar Galactica” influence baby names in the late 1970s?

The character Apollo from the TV series "Battlestar Galactica" (1978-1979)
Apollo from “Battlestar Galactica“

Today, Battlestar Galactica is a sci-fi media franchise. But the original TV series — about a group of humans fleeing Cylons aboard a battleship called the Galactica — wasn’t terribly successful. It aired on ABC for a single season (from September of 1978 to April of 1979) before being canceled.

Still, the show managed to have a sizeable impact on U.S. baby names. Here are the names that various Battlestar Galactica characters influenced in the late 1970s:

Adama
Adama (played by Lorne Greene of Bonanza fame) was the commander of the Battlestar Galactica. The name Adama debuted (for boys) in 1978.

Apollo
Captain Apollo (played by Richard Hatch), a fighter pilot, was the son of Commander Adama. The name Apollo saw an increase in usage in 1978, and reached then-peak usage in 1979. (The peak was eclipsed in 2002 after speed skater Apolo Ohno became famous.)

Actress Maren Jensen as character Athena in the TV series "Battlestar Galactica" (1978-1979)
Maren Jensen in “Battlestar Galactica“

Athena
Lieutenant Athena (played by Maren Jensen) was the daughter of Commander Adama. The name Athena saw a spike in usage 1979, and the name Maren nearly tripled in usage the same year. (Jensen’s first name is a Dutch diminutive of Marina or Maria.)

Cassiopeia
Cassiopeia (played by Laurette Spang) was a former “socialator” (courtesan) who worked as a Medtech aboard the Galactica. The name Cassiopeia debuted in 1979.

Starbuck
Lieutenant Starbuck (played by Dirk Benedict), a fighter pilot, was Apollo’s best friend. The name Starbuck was a one-hit wonder in the data in 1979. The Lieutanant’s name — just like the name of the famous coffee chain — was inspired by the Moby Dick character Starbuck.

Actor Terry Carter as character Colonel Tigh in the TV series "Battlestar Galactica" (1978-1979)
Terry Carter in “Battlestar Galactica“

Tigh
Colonel Tigh (played by Terry Carter) was Adama’s second-in-command aboard the Galactica. The name Tigh debuted in 1979, and the spelling Tighe saw peak usage the same year. (Carter, born John Everett DeCoste in 1928, was nicknamed “Terry” after the main character of the comic strip Terry & the Pirates when he was a teenager.)

What are your thoughts on the names above? (Would you consider using any of them?)

Sources:

Images: Screenshots of Battlestar Galactica

[Latest update: Oct. 2025]

Popular baby names in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1868

19th-century Providence, Rhode Island
19th-century Providence

Years ago, I discovered three documents with relatively complete lists of births for the city of Providence, Rhode Island, for the years 1866, 1867, and 1868. I’ve already created Providence’s baby name rankings for 1866 and 1867 using the first two documents, and today (finally!) I’ve got the third set of rankings for you.

Let’s start with some stats:

  • 1,762 babies were born in Providence in 1868, by my count. According to the introduction of the document I’m using a source, however, the total number is 1,866. I don’t know how to account for this discrepancy.
  • 1,617 of these babies (791 girls and 826 boys) had names that were known at the time of publication. The other 145 babies got blank spaces. Either their names hadn’t been registered yet, or they hadn’t been named yet, or perhaps these babies died young and never received a name.
  • 284 unique names (143 girl names and 141 boy names) were shared among these 1,617 babies.

And now, on to the names!

Top 5

A quick look at the top 5 girl names and boy names in Providence in 1868:

Top baby girl namesTop baby boy names
1. Mary
2. Catherine
3. Sarah
4. Ellen
5. Margaret		1. John
2. William
3. James
4. Charles
5. George

All Girl Names

  1. Mary, 149 baby girls
  2. Catherine, 39
  3. Sarah, 38
  4. Ellen, 31
  5. Margaret, 28
  6. Elizabeth, 25
  7. Alice, 24
  8. Anna, 20
  9. Ann, 16
  10. Emma, 14
  11. Eliza, 13
  12. Clara & Martha, 11 each (tie)
  13. Hannah & Lucy, 10 each (tie)
  14. Bridget, Grace, Jennie, Julia & Maria, 9 each (5-way tie)
  15. Annie, Florence, Jane, Minnie & Susan, 8 each (5-way tie)
  16. Agnes, Caroline, Cora, Ella & Harriet, 7 each (5-way tie)
  17. Anne, Carrie, Hattie, Ida, Mabel & Nellie, 6 each (6-way tie)
  18. Eva, Joanna, Lydia & Rosanna, 5 each (4-way tie)
  19. Abby, Charlotte, Emily, Jessie, Josephine, Lillian, Lizzie, Louisa, Louise, Marion, Phebe, Rosella & Theresa, 4 each (13-way tie)
  20. Anastasia, Bertha, Edith, Gertrude, Isabella, Nettie, Pearl, Rebecca & Susanna, 3 each (9-way tie)
  21. Ada, Almira, Edna, Fannie, Flora, Frances, Helen, Henrietta, Inez, Laura, Lelia, Lillie, Lottie, Maud, Priscilla & Virginia, 2 each (16-way tie)
  22. Addie, Adelaide, Adelicia, Adeline, Agatha, Allene, Amanda, Amy, Angelica, Antoinette, Arabella, Augusta, Aurelia, B.,* Belle, Bessie, Betsey, Catharine, Celia, Claudia, Della, Eleanor, Eleanora, Estella, Estelle, Esther, Eudavelia, Eulalie, Evelyn, Francenia, Genevieve, Georgia, Honora, Imogene, Jesse, Juliette, Kate, Leonora, Lilla, Lillias, Lorena, Luella, Luetta, Magdalena, Marian, Marietta, Matilda, Mercy, Minerva, Miriam, Myra, Myrtis, Nanoan, Nora, Pauline, Reberta, Rhoda, Roberta, Rosa, Rose, Ruth, Sabrina, Sophia, Stella & Winifred, 1 each (65-way tie)

*What do you think the “B.” might have stood for?

All Boy Names

  1. John, 112 baby boys
  2. William, 68
  3. James, 64
  4. Charles, 52
  5. George, 45
  6. Thomas, 37
  7. Frederick, 25
  8. Henry, 23
  9. Joseph, 22
  10. Edward, 19
  11. Daniel & Patrick, 18 each (tie)
  12. Robert, 17
  13. Frank, 16
  14. Francis, 15
  15. Walter, 13
  16. Michael, 11
  17. Albert, 10
  18. Arthur, 9
  19. Benjamin, Peter & Samuel, 7 each (3-way tie)
  20. Freddie, Harry, Herbert & Stephen, 6 each (4-way tie)
  21. Edwin, Lawrence, Lewis, Martin & Timothy, 5 each (5-way tie)
  22. Bernard, Edmund, Eugene, Louis, Philip & Richard, 4 each (6-way tie)
  23. Alfred, Augustus, Christopher, Eben, Horace, Howard, Hugh, Jeremiah, Matthew & Willard, 3 each (10-way tie)
  24. Abel, Barney, Byron, Dennis, Edgar, Ferdinand, Gilbert, Luke, Max, Nathaniel, Owen, Roger, Solomon & Victor, 2 each (14-way tie)
  25. Alden, Alexis, Allen, Alrick, Amos, Andrew, Ansel, Anson, Archibald, Asa, Ashby, Bartholomew, Calvin, Carlos, Clarence, Clark, Clarke, Clement, Clifford, Collyer, Crolander, Darius, David, Earl, Elisha, Ellis, Eri, Ernest, Erwin, Eusebe, Everett, Felix, Forrest, Foster, Franklin, Fred, Gardner, Jacob, Jason, Jerome, Jireh, Joaneto, Josiah, Jubal, Justin, Lawson, Lodovic, Louis, Lucien, Lyman, Major, Malachi, Manuel, Melbourne, Monroe, Morey, Morris, Myron, Nelson, Nicholas, Olney, Orville, Oscar, Pendleton, Ralph, Reuben, Rolfe, Rowland, Rufus, Simeon, Simon, Steven, Stewart, Theodore, Ulysses,* Volney, Warren, Whiting, Willie & Winchester, 1 each (80-way tie)

*Ulysses was likely named in honor of Ulysses S. Grant, who was elected president in 1868.

Twins

Finally, nineteen sets of twins were born in Providence in 1868. (All of these twin names are accounted for in the rankings above.)

Girl-girl twinsGirl-boy twinsBoy-boy twins
Caroline & Harriet
Lucy & Lydia
Mary & Rosanna
Margaret & Mary
Lizzie & Martha
(blank) & (blank)		Anne & Thomas
Emma & Charles
Florence & William
Hannah & Josiah
Ida & John
Isabella & John
Jennie & Horace		Charles & William
Francis & Robert
George & John
James & John
James & Stephen
(blank) & (blank)

Have any thoughts about these rankings, or about any of the specific names above?

Source: Snow, Edwin M. Alphabetical Lists of the Names of Persons Deceased, Born and Married in the City of Providence. Number three. Providence: Millard & Harker, 1870.

Popular baby names in Israel, 2020

Flag of Israel
Flag of Israel

According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the most popular baby names in the country in 2020 were Maya and Mohammed.

The top baby names within each of Israel’s main religious groups were…

In Israel…Top girl nameTop boy name
Jewish population (74.2%)TamarDavid
Muslim population (17.8%)MaryamMohammed
Christian population (2.0%)LinCharbel
Druze population (1.6%)MilaAdam
OverallMayaMohammed

Among the Jews in Israel…

  • The top 10 girl names were Tamar, Maya, Abigail, Noa, Sarah, Ayalah, Adele, Yael, Shira, and Esther.
  • The top 10 boy names were David, Lavi, Ariel, Yosef, Noam, Uri, Refael, Ari, Moshe, and Yehuda.
  • Less popular girl names included “Ahava (Love), Alta, Herut (Liberty), Ya’ar (Forest), Alexandra, Dorin, Ortal, Pessele, Kayla, Ruthi, Shalhevet and Tamari.”
  • Less popular boy names included “Avi, Yigal, Yaron, Yaniv, Eran, and Ram, with the most unusual ones being Lear, Shayel, Luka, Don and Tay.”
  • “Among Ethiopian Jewish boys, the most popular names were Refael, Emmanuel and Noam.”

Among the Muslims in Israel…

  • The top 10 girl names were Maryam, Sham, Lin, Malek, Jori, Lian, Mila, Aline, Nur, and Marya.
  • The top 10 boy names were Mohammed, Ahmad, Adam, Yusef, Omer, Ali, Abd, Amir, Ibrahim, and Mahmoud.

Among the Christians in Israel…

  • The top girl names were Lin, Maria, Sama, Celine, and Leah.
  • The top boy names were Charbel, Jude, Niel, Elias, Liam, and George.

Among the Druze in Israel…

  • The top girl names were Mila, Ayalah, Lur, Lin, and Yasmin.
  • The top boy names were Adam, Taim, Niel, Amir, and Jude.

The last set of rankings I posted for Israel was the 2015 set of rankings.

Sources: Most popular baby names of 2020: Mohammed, David, Tamar and Maryam, Muhammad and Maya top list of Israeli newborn’s names in 2020, Muhammad and Maya were Israel’s most popular baby names in 2020, Religion in Israel – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Israel (public domain)