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Popular baby names in Portugal, 2025

Flag of Portugal
Flag of Portugal

In 2025, from January through November, the European country of Portugal welcomed approximately 87,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Maria and Francisco, yet again, according to provisional data released in late December, 2025, by the Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado (IRN).

Here are Portugal’s projected top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2025:

Girl names

  1. Maria, 4,791 baby girls
  2. Alice, 1,195
  3. Leonor, 1,146
  4. Matilde, 1,047
  5. Benedita, 963
  6. Aurora, 874
  7. Olívia, 722
  8. Carolina, 714
  9. Camila, 703
  10. Francisca, 692

Boy names

  1. Francisco, 1,495 baby boys
  2. Tomás, 1,356
  3. Duarte, 1,256
  4. Afonso, 1,226
  5. Vicente, 1,201
  6. João, 1,095
  7. Lourenço, 1,087
  8. Martim, 980
  9. Miguel, 928
  10. Gabriel, 896

Maria has been the No. 1 name in Portugal since 2004. Before that, the top girl name was Ana.

Finally, here’s a link to Portugal’s 2024 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Source: Camilo, Diogo. “Veja a lista dos nomes de bebés mais escolhidos em Portugal em 2025.” Rádio Renascença 22 Dec. 2025.

Image: Adapted from Flag of Portugal (public domain)

Baby name story: Gale

The Great Blizzard of 1978
The Great Blizzard of 1978

In January of 1978, a massive winter storm struck the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley regions of the U.S. (as well as parts of southern Canada).

Nine months after the historic “Great Blizzard of 1978,” a baby girl was born into the Redstone family of Indianapolis.

Her name? Victoria Gale — middle name in commemoration of the “winter gale,” as her father Marion told the The Indianapolis Star in 1993.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from the daily weather map for January 26, 1978 (NOAA)

What gave the baby name Luci a boost in the mid-1960s?

Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of Lyndon Baines Johnson
Luci Baines Johnson

The name Lucy had been on the decline for about a decade when, in 1964, the uncommon spelling Luci nearly quadrupled in usage:

  • 1966: 78 baby girls named Luci
  • 1965: 81 baby girls named Luci
  • 1964: 42 baby girls named Luci
  • 1963: 11 baby girls named Luci
  • 1962: 8 baby girls named Luci

(Lucy itself also saw an uptick in usage that year.)

What was influencing the name Luci in the mid-1960s?

Luci Baines Johnson, the younger daughter of president Lyndon Baines Johnson and his wife Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Johnson.

Luci was regularly in the headlines while she was campaigning for her father in 1964. She was, for instance, the queen of an Apple Blossom Festival in Virginia in April, the narrator of a Peter and the Wolf concert in Michigan in July, and the guest of honor at a barbecue in Beverly Hills (attended by the likes of Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen) in August.

She was featured on the cover of Life in mid-May. In the accompanying article, the magazine noted that Luci was “the first teen-aged daughter in the White House since William Howard Taft’s 17-year-old, Helen, lived there a half-century ago.”

Lucy Baines Johnson, who was born in July of 1947, began going by “Luci” soon after moving into the White House (in late 1963). Decades later, she explained:

It was a small way to establish my independence. I didn’t have a name like Elizabeth that I could shorten, so I just changed the spelling.

What are your thoughts on the name Luci? (Which spelling do you prefer?)

P.S. Bader Howar, the flower girl at Luci’s 1966 wedding, also ended up influencing U.S. baby names…

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the cover of Life magazine (15 May 1964)

Popular baby names in South Africa, 2024

Flag of South Africa
Flag of South Africa

In 2024, the country of South Africa welcomed more than 787,900 babies.*

What were the most popular names among these babies? Onalerona and Lethabo, for the third year in a row.

Here are South Africa’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Onalerona, 2,289 baby girls
  2. Zanokuhle, 2,223
  3. Melokuhle, 2,108
  4. Lisakhanya, 2,097
  5. Lethabo, 1,934
  6. Nkanyezi, 1,824
  7. Onthatile, 1,765
  8. Lesedi, 1,745
  9. Omphile, 1,725
  10. Olwemihla, 1,591

Boy names

  1. Lethabo, 2,791 baby boys
  2. Lubanzi, 1,907
  3. Nkazimulo, 1,808
  4. Nkanyezi, 1,691
  5. Langelihle, 1,555
  6. Lesedi, 1,519
  7. Lethokuhle, 1,508
  8. Siphosethu, 1,484
  9. Junior, 1,467
  10. Leano, 1,441

And what about middle names? The top five middles for girls were Precious, Princess, Blessing, Angel, and Faith, and the top five middles for boys were Junior, Blessing, Gift, Prince, and Jayden.

Finally, here’s a link to South Africa’s 2023 rankings, if you’d like to compare.

*Tens of thousands of South African newborns are registered late every year, so the true total will likely be much higher than this.

Sources (both from Statistics South Africa): Recorded live births, 2024, What’s in a Name? South Africa’s Baby Naming Trends Tell a Story of Hope and Heritage

Image: Adapted from Flag of South Africa (public domain)