How popular is the baby name Miguel 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 Miguel.

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Popularity of the baby name Miguel


Posts that mention the name Miguel

Popular and unique baby names in Portugal, 2015

Flag of Portugal
Flag of Portugal

According to data from the Instituto dos Registos e Notariado (IRN), the most popular baby names in Portugal in 2015 were Maria and João.

Here are Portugal’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2015:

Girl Names

  1. Maria, 5,324 baby girls
  2. Leonor, 1,999
  3. Matilde, 1,889
  4. Beatriz, 1,268
  5. Carolina, 1,228
  6. Mariana, 1,205
  7. Ana, 1,060
  8. Inês, 1,001 (Agnes)
  9. Margarida, 989
  10. Sofia, 950

Boy Names

  1. João, 1,932 baby boys
  2. Martim, 1,778
  3. Rodrigo, 1,666
  4. Santiago, 1,632
  5. Francisco, 1,593
  6. Afonso, 1,439
  7. Tomás, 1,409
  8. Miguel, 1,271
  9. Guilherme, 1,187
  10. Gabriel, 1,143

In the boys’ top ten, Gabriel replaced Duarte (a version of Edward).

The girls’ top ten includes the same ten names.

At the other end of the spectrum, some of the baby names used only once last year:

Unique Girl NamesUnique Boy Names
Billca, Djenyfer, Excel, Foricusa, Hadriela, Hedviges, Iok, Jannatul, Joelma, Krutgna, Leninha, Lwezzy, Moana, Muen, Nayuca, Otchali, Otchaly, Ruixiao, Suncar, Svenya, Tchawi, Tesla, Txissola, Uhenia, Urwa, Valcikleny, WilfaniaAnass, Bambo, Barack, Ben-Hur, Cleidir, Creation, Cheikh, Djassy, Djemo, Duarth, Eurilucio, Fredynilson, Gonzaga, Guto, Habacuque, Hetwik, Lukenny, Man, Mojo, Neculai, Otchali, Petko, Ruzgyar, Skyllen, Tcherstney, Tuttondele, Vanilson

Here are the 2014 rankings for Portugal.

Source: Borja-Santos, Romana. “No país da Maria e do João, a Luana e o Diego estão a ganhar terreno.” Público 5 Jan. 2016.

Image: Adapted from Flag of Portugal (public domain)

Popular baby names in Malta, 2014

Flag of Malta
Flag of Malta

According to data from Malta’s National Statistics Office, the most popular name-groups in Malta in 2014 were Elena/Elenia/Helena/Ella and Luke/Luca/Lucas.

Here are Malta’s top 10 girl and boy name-groups of 2014:

Girl Names

  1. Elena/Elenia/Helena/Ella, 97 baby girls
  2. Julia/Yulia/Julianne, 72
  3. Emma/Emmanuela/Ema, 70
  4. Eliza/Elisa/Elizabeth/Elise, 69
  5. Catherine/Katrina/Kate/Katya, 46
  6. Maya/Mia/Myah, 44
  7. Lea/Leah/Leia, 42
  8. Emilia/Emily/Emelie, 41
  9. Amy/Aimee, 39
  10. Maria/Marija/Mariah/Marie, 37 [tie]
    • Anna/Hannah/Ann, 37 [tie]

Boy Names

  1. Luke/Luca/Lucas, 98 baby boys
  2. Matthew/Matthias/Matteo, 97
  3. Jacob/Jake, 77
  4. Zachary/Zak/Zack, 59
  5. Michael/Miguel/Mikhail, 53
  6. Liam/William, 51 [tie]
    • John/Jean/Jonathan/Juan/Gan, 51 [tie]
  7. Benjamin/Ben, 51
  8. Kaiden/Kayden/Kai ,46 [tie]
    • Alexander/Alessandro/Alec, 46 [tie]
  9. Andrew/Andreas/Andre/Andy, 45
  10. Joseph/Beppe/Giuseppe/Josef, 40

Down in 15th place on the boys’ side is “Yannick/Yan” — both are versions of John, and yet they’re not part of the John group, which is tied for 6th.

Speaking of strange things…

Quote about Malta being unable to use Maltese fonts for birth registrations (Times of Malta)

(My blog also cannot handle Maltese fonts, or else I’d be able to write out that paragraph for you.)

I’ve seen governments (e.g., NWT, California) make excuses about not being able to render minority/ethnic names properly on birth certificates, but I’ve never heard of a country that couldn’t render names from its own national language.

Oh, Malta.

Here are the 2013, 2012, 2009, 2007, and 2006 rankings.

Sources: Naming Babies – National Statistics Office – Malta, Luke and Elena remain most popular names given to newborns, ‘Dotty’ system bars patriot baby names

Image: Adapted from Flag of Malta (public domain)

Popular and unique baby names in Portugal, 2014

Flag of Portugal
Flag of Portugal

According to data from the Instituto dos Registos e Notariado (IRN), the most popular baby names in Portugal in 2014 were Maria and João.

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

Girl namesBoy names
1. Maria, 4,809 baby girls
2. Matilde, 2,062
3. Leonor, 1,859
4. Beatriz, 1,378
5. Mariana, 1,330
6. Carolina, 1,295
7. Ana, 1120
8. Inês, 1062 (Agnes)
9. Sofia, 980
10. Margarida, 930		1. João, 1,809 baby boys
2. Rodrigo, 1,783
3. Francisco, 1,718
4. Martim, 1,663
5. Santiago, 1,428
6. Tomás, 1,400
7. Afonso, 1,378
8. Duarte, 1,244 (Edward)
9. Miguel, 1,207
10. Guilherme, 1,206

Those #1 names remind me of all the old U.S. popularity lists (e.g., 1910s) that were dominated by Mary and John.

But that’s not all — Portugal released all of its baby name data (yay!) via the newspaper Público (you can download the full list here), so let’s check out a few of the unique baby names used only once last year:

Unique girl namesUnique boy names
Deegbi, Dricla, Elizangila, Euclidiana, Gelciline, Hotchali, Jacymiilly, Jeckliny, Ketley, Luwejíyane, MaMa, Naziriti, Quedna, Quintazinha, Swazilene, Taldia, Túlipa, Uhenya, Vissolela, WysmaraAriful, Award, Djezzy, Ducu, Eviquene, Iunussa, Lheônidas, Lyrics, Melquizedeque, Odissei, Otchali, Ovidiu, Stalone, Uxío, Visual, Wivendelson, Womna, Yax, Yowami, Zniber

Finally, here are Portugal’s top 10 compound names for each gender:

Girl namesBoy names
1. Maria Inês, 603 baby girls
2. Maria Leonor, 496
3. Maria Francisca, 315
4. Maria Clara, 257
5. Maria Carolina, 164
6. Ana Carolina 161
7. Maria João 140
8. Maria Beatriz 140
9. Lara Sofia, 130
10. Maria Luísa, 125		1. João Pedro, 343 baby boys
2. Rodrigo Miguel, 204
3. Pedro Miguel, 174
4. Afonso Miguel, 140
5. João Miguel, 138
6. Diogo Miguel, 136
7. João Maria, 127
8. Duarte Miguel, 124
9. Tiago Miguel, 123
10. José Pedro, 114

I’m guessing that compound names are counted separately from single names, but I’m not entirely sure.

Source: Em 2014 as meninas continuaram a responder por Maria, os rapazes por João (found by Skizzo — thank you!)

Image: Adapted from Flag of Portugal (public domain)

Popular baby names in Malta, 2013

Flag of Malta
Flag of Malta

Malta’s top baby names of 2013 came out a few weeks ago.

According to data from the National Statistics Office, the most popular name-groups last year were Elena/Elenia/Helena/Ella and Luke/Luca/Lucas.

Here are Malta’s top 20 girl name-groups and top 20 boy name-groups of 2013:

Girl Names

  1. Elena/Elenia/Helena/Ella, 106 baby girls (5.5% of all girls)
  2. Eliza/Elisa/Elizabeth/Elise, 78
  3. Julia/Yulia/Julianne, 69
  4. Emma/Emmanuela/Ema, 51
  5. Maya/Mia/Myah, 47
  6. Maria/Marija/Mariah/Marie, 42
  7. Lea/Leah/Leia, 37
  8. Martina/Martine, 36
  9. Christina/Christa/Christabel/Krystle, 35
  10. Kailey/Kai/Kaleigh, 34 (3-way tie)
    • Catherine/Katrina/Kate/Katya, 34 (3-way tie)
    • Emilia/Emily/Emelie, 34 (3-way tie)
  11. Amy/Aimee, 32
  12. Anna/Hannah/Ann, 31
  13. Mikela/Makaila/Michelle, 27 (tie)
    • Alison/Alice/Alicia/Alyssa/Aly, 27 (tie)
  14. Sophia/Sophie, 26
  15. Jade/Giada, 22 (tie)
    • Alexandra/Alessia/Alexia/Lexi, 22 (tie)
  16. Aaliyah/Alaya, 21
  17. Chloe/Khloe, 20 (3-way tie)
    • Amber/Amberley, 20 (3-way tie)
    • Karla/Carla/Carly, 20 (3-way tie)
  18. Jasmine/Yasmine/Yasmeen, 17 (3-way tie)
    • Nina, 17 (3-way tie)
    • Faith, 17 (3-way tie)
  19. Hailey/Hailee/Hayleigh, 16
  20. Nicole/Nicola/Nicky, 14 (4-way tie)
    • Rachel/Raquel, 14 (4-way tie)
    • Keira/Kyra, 14 (4-way tie)
    • Claire/Clara/Clarisse, 14 (4-way tie)

Boy Names

  1. Luke/Luca/Lucas, 106 baby boys (5% of all boys)
  2. Matthew/Matthias/Matteo, 93
  3. Jacob/Jake, 70
  4. Zachary/Zak/Zack, 56
  5. John/Jean/Jonathan/Juan/Gan, 53 (tie)
    • Michael/Miguel/Mikhail, 53 (tie)
  6. Andrew/Andreas/Andre/Andy, 46
  7. Kaiden/Kayden/Kai, 45 (tie)
    • Alexander/Alessandro/Alec, 45 (tie)
  8. Aiden/Ayden, 43
  9. Liam/William, 42
  10. Nicholas/Nick/Nicolai, 41
  11. Benjamin/Ben, 40
  12. Daniel/Dan/Danil, 33
  13. Isaac/Izaak, 32 (tie)
    • Mason/Maison, 32 (tie)
  14. Jack/Jackson/Jacques, 30
  15. Jaden/Jayden/Jadon, 29 (tie)
    • Thomas/Tommas/Tommy, 29 (tie)
  16. Nathan/Nathaniel, 28
  17. Julian/Julien/Guiliano, 27
  18. Gabriel/Gabrijel/Gabryl, 24 (tie)
    • Adam, 24 (tie)
  19. Joseph/Beppe/Giuseppe/Josef, 23 (tie)
    • Noah, 23 (tie)
  20. James/Jamie/Jayme, 22 (3-way tie)
    • Samuel/Sam, 22 (3-way tie)
    • Keiran/Kyran, 22 (3-way tie)

Some of the unusual names registered in Malta last year were Aizley, Amporn, Breeze, Chinenye, Coco, Delson, Diyas, Enonima, Freedom, Gundula, Jaceyrhaer, Kobbun, Limoni, Love, Netsrik, Summer, Symphony, Zarkareia and Zveyrone.

Malta’s 2012 list was topped by Eliza/Lisa/Elsie/Elyse/Bettina and Matthew/Matthias/Matteo.

Sources: NSO – Naming Babies: 2013, Quality and Amporn top the list of unusual names

Image: Adapted from Flag of Malta (public domain)