How popular is the baby name Noa 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 Noa.

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Popularity of the baby name Noa


Posts that mention the name Noa

Popular baby names in Spain, 2016

Flag of Spain
Flag of Spain

According to data released on June 22nd by Spain’s Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, the most popular baby names in Spain in 2016 were (again) Lucia and Hugo.

Here are Spain’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:

Girl Names
1. Lucia, 4,672 baby girls
2. Martina, 4,308
3. Maria, 4,143
4. Sofia, 4,047
5. Paula, 3,439
6. Daniela, 3,151
7. Valeria, 3,110
8. Alba, 3,042
9. Julia, 2,992
10. Noa, 2,888

Boy Names
1. Hugo, 4,870 baby boys
2. Daniel, 4,195
3. Martin, 4,050
4. Pablo, 3,776
5. Alejandro, 3,774
6. Lucas, 3,730
7. Alvaro, 3,030
8. Adrian, 2,989
9. Mateo, 2,845
10. David, 2,818

In the girls’ top 10, Valeria and Noa replaced Sara and Carla.

In the boys’ top 10, Mateo replaced Mario.

Here are the 2015 rankings, if you’d like to compare.

Source: Nombres de los recién nacidos – INEbase

Image: Adapted from Flag of Spain (public domain)

Popular baby names in Norway, 2016

Flag of Norway
Flag of Norway

According to data released back in January by Statistics Norway, the most popular baby names in Norway in 2016 were Nora/Norah/Noora and William.

Here are Norway’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:

Girl Names

  1. Nora/Norah/Noora, 551 baby girls
  2. Emma, 410
  3. Sara/Sarah/Zara, 379
  4. Sofie/Sophie, 367
  5. Sofia/Sophia, 340
  6. Maja/Maia/Maya, 324
  7. Olivia, 323
  8. Ella, 313
  9. Ingrid/Ingerid/Ingri, 310
  10. Emilie, 309

Boy Names

  1. William, 498 baby boys
  2. Oskar/Oscar, 420
  3. Lucas/Lukas, 408
  4. Mathias/Matias, 397
  5. Filip/Fillip/Philip/Phillip, 396
  6. Oliver, 385
  7. Jakob/Jacob, 378
  8. Emil, 369
  9. Noah/Noa, 362
  10. Aksel/Axel, 359
Norway, girl names, 2016

This image is a piece of a larger infographic showing the most popular baby names in each Norwegian county. In two counties, Oppland and Aust-Agder, the top girl name last year was the intriguing Tiril. Tiril seems to have no specific meaning; it may have been derived from the (nonsense?) word tirilil from the 19th century poem “Lokkende Toner” by Johan Sebastian Welhaven.

(A similar name we talked about recently was Tirrell.)

I forgot to post Norway’s 2015 rankings, but in 2014 the top names were Nora/Norah and Lucas/Lukas.

Sources: Navn – SSB, Tiril – Nordic Names

Top image: Adapted from Flag of Norway (public domain)

Popular and unique baby names in Quebec (Canada), 2016

Flag of Quebec
Flag of Quebec

According to data released recently by Retraite Québec, the most popular baby names in Quebec in 2016 were Emma and William.

Here are the province’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:

Girl Names
1. Emma, 632 baby girls
2. Lea, 514
3. Olivia, 507
4. Alice, 489
5. Florence, 470
6. Zoe, 416
7. Rosalie, 406
8. Charlotte, 400
9. Charlie, 387
10. Beatrice, 378

Boy Names
1. William, 791 baby boys
2. Thomas, 697
3. Liam, 654
4. Nathan, 614
5. Felix, 603
6. Jacob, 597
7. Noah, 590
8. Logan, 580
9. Alexis, 532
10. Gabriel, 530

In the girls’ top 10, Charlie returned and ousted Chloe.

In the boys’ top 10, Gabriel replaced Samuel.

Some of the baby names used just once last year include:

  • Girls: Aucelia, Augia, Denasada, Eulogia, Flechere, Haydence, Juridielle, Luotta, Mavericka, Nermine, Omica, Saranella, Sydra, Tuleen, Waapikun, Zealy, Zoralie
  • Boys: Bienvenu, Brinx, Clouthier, Danevick, Dyberry, Endrick, Holiday, Knochlan, Luzolo, Naulaq, Ozroy, Rockwell, Syphax, Tchaz, Tunu, Vinicius, Zabian

A CBC News article about how Quebec’s baby names are evolving to reflect the province’s changing values mentioned several name trends observed from the 1980s to today:

  • Compound names (Anne-Marie, Jean-François) are falling out of style.
  • Once-taboo English names (Elliot, Mia) are seeing new acceptance.
  • Similarly, French names are flipping languages (Anne to Anna, Guillaume to William).
  • Names are also flipping gender (Ariel, Noa).
  • Pop culture is influencing names (Shania, Logan).
  • Unique names are on the rise.

Speaking of unique names, sociologist Laurence Charton of the INRS (Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique) suggested that the rise of unique names starting in the early 1980s was fueled in part by a 1981 change in Quebec’s Civil Code that loosened restrictions on babies’ surnames.

rare baby names, quebec baby names, baby name graph

This claim makes me wish the article had included data from the ’60s and ’70s. I don’t doubt that parents felt liberated by the law change, but I do suspect that unique names were already on the rise by 1981.

Here are Quebec’s 2015 rankings.

Source: List of Baby Names – Retraite Québec

Image: Adapted from Flag of Quebec (public domain)

Popular baby names in Germany, 2016

Flag of Germany
Flag of Germany

According to data from the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache (the Association for German Language), the most popular baby names in Germany in 2016 were Sophia/Sofia and Jonas.

Here are the country’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:

Girl Names
1. Sophia/Sofia (was 4th)
2. Emma (was 2nd)
3. Hanna/Hannah (same rank)
4. Mia (was 1st)
5. Emilia (was 6th)
6. Anna (was 5th)
7. Mila (same)
8. Lea/Leah (was 8th)
9. Lena (was 10th)
10. Marie (was 11th)

Boy Names
1. Jonas (same rank)
2. Elias (was 8th)
3. Ben (same rank)
4. Leon/Léon (was 5th)
5. Luca/Luka (was 4th)
6. Noah/Noa (was 10th)
7. Paul (was 11th)
8. Louis/Luis (was 6th)
9. Luke/Lucas (was 7th)
10. Finn/Fynn (was 13th)

On the girls’ side, Marie replaced Lina.

On the boys’ side, Paul and Finn/Fynn replaced Felix and Maximilian (which dropped from 2nd to 11th).

Here are the Germany’s 2015 rankings, if you’d like to compare.

Source: Ausführliche Auswertung: Die beliebtesten Vornamen 2016

Image: Adapted from Flag of Germany (public domain)