Two years ago, the archipelagic country of the Philippines welcomed 1,448,522 babies — 695,190 (48%) girls and 753,332 (52%) boys.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Althea and Nathaniel.
Here are the country’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2023:
Girl names
- Althea, 1,850 baby girls
- Angel, 1,363
- Zoey, 1,126
- Chloe, 1,042
- Nathalie, 1,040
- Sofia, 989 [tie]
- Zia, 989 [tie]
- Princess, 975
- Samantha, 971
- Ayesha, 939
Boy names
- Nathaniel, 1,948 baby boys
- Gabriel, 1,669
- Jacob, 1,649
- Ezekiel, 1,592
- Ethan, 1,425
- Nathan, 1,421
- Matthew, 1,383
- Liam, 1,351
- Jayden, 1,341
- Noah, 1,235
In the girls’ top 10, Zoey and Ayesha replaced Athena and Sophia.
In the boys’ top 10, Jayden replaced James.
The name Argus — which derives from the Ancient Greek word argos, meaning “shining, bright” — was one of the fastest-rising names of the year, skyrocketing in usage from 7 baby boys in 2022 to 247 baby boys in 2023.
What made it trendy all of a sudden?
Child star Argus Aspiras, who was regularly featured on a children’s segment of the popular Philippine TV variety show It’s Showtime during 2023.
The compound name Yllana Marie also saw a steep rise in usage — from a one baby girl in 2022 to 30 baby girls in 2023. This increase can be attributed to Filipino beauty queen Yllana Marie Aduana, who placed first runner-up at the Miss Earth pageant in 2023.
(Althea and Nathaniel were also the top names in the country one year earlier, in 2022.)
Sources: The Philippines’ Most Common Baby Names of 2023 – Philippine Statistics Authority (PDF), Registered Live Births in the Philippines, 2023 – Philippine Statistics Authority, Argus – Behind the Name, It’s Showtime (Philippine TV program) – Wikipedia
Images: Adapted from Flag of the Philippines (public domain); screenshot of Argus Aspiras on It’s Showtime (episode from Aug. 2023)
