Baby names
The top baby names from 2025 are out, together with historic data to look at trends. Sadly, the historic data for boys’ names and for girls’ names come as three-page PDF tables with very small print, not as some conveniently computer-readable or human-readable format. We can still see some interesting trends
The top names last year were Noah for boys (244 times) and Isla for girls (179 times). There has always been more variability in girls’ names: there are always more boys with the most popular name than girls with the most popular name.
The total number of births in NZ has been broadly stable since the 1950s but the number of babies with the most popular name has steadily been decreasing, implying increasing name diversity. In 1954 there were 1389 Johns; in 1979 there were 707 Michaels; in 2004 there were 504 Joshuas. For girls, the numbers were 779 Christines in 1954, 578 Sarahs in 1979, and 352 Emmas in 2004.
There aren’t any names that appear in the top 100 for both boys and girls. There are few names that, over history, have been in both lists but I haven’t found any that were in both lists in the same year — the closest was Kim. a top-100 name for boys in 1961 and 1962 and for girls in quite a few years starting from 1968.
Thomas Lumley (@tslumley) is Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Auckland. His research interests include semiparametric models, survey sampling, statistical computing, foundations of statistics, and whatever methodological problems his medical collaborators come up with. He also blogs at Biased and Inefficient See all posts by Thomas Lumley »