The 100 most popular baby boy and baby girl names in New Zealand have been released. The winners for 2010 were Sophie (again) and Liam (beating previous #1 Jack).
Here are the top 10 lists…
Girl Names
- Sophie, 377 baby girls
- Olivia, 335
- Ruby, 322
- Charlotte, 305
- Isabella, 286
- Lily, 281
- Ella, 277
- Chloe, 262
- Emily, 232
- Emma, 228
Boy Names
- Liam, 374 baby boys
- James, 333
- Oliver, 327
- Jack, 325
- William, 320
- Joshua, 298
- Benjamin, 286
- Jacob, 285
- Samuel, 282
- Lucas, 271
Two interesting names I noticed in the top 100 were Sione and Pippa:
- Sione, ranked 92nd for boys, seems to be a Tongan name. (There’s no s-sound in Maori.) In the trailer for the film Sione’s Wedding (2006) [vid], you can hear Sione at 0:07, 0:28 and 1:52. Sounds like see-O-nay or see-O-nee, or something in between.
- Pippa, ranked 95th for girls, is a contraction/diminutive of Philippa. The popularity of this one might be attributable to New Zealand television personality Pippa Wetzell.
Just for reference, New Zealand has roughly 4.3 million residents. So, population-wise, it’s about the same size as Kentucky.
Source: The Department of Internal Affairs – New Zealand Government
Image: Adapted from Flag of New Zealand (public domain)
