Statistics released by the Department of Internal Affairs’ Smart Start website show that in 2019, 18,816 different names were chosen for the 61,018 newborn babies in New Zealand.
There’s no doubt that parents are increasingly choosing more unique names, but popular names still rule the roost. Here’s the most popular monikers for 2019 babies.
Move over Charlotte, there’s a new girl taking your top spot!
Amelia just pipped last year’s most popular girl’s name, Charlotte, for the top spot. However, for the boys, it’s a case of same again as Oliver remains New Zealand’s most popular baby name for boys since 2013.
Nikau and Mia are once again the most popular Māori names for boys and girls respectively. Taika and Rawiri enter the top 10 Māori boys’ names, and Tui and Ataahua make it into the top 10 Māori girls’ names for the first time.
Most popular names in 2019
Rounding out the top five for the girls are Charlotte, Isla, Olivia, and Ruby. And for the boys – Noah, Leo, Jack, and Lucas. Willow and Mila are new entries in the girls’ top 10. The full top 100 names are shown below.
Want to know what the most popular names were in the year your baby was born (or even yourself)? Pop over to the SmartStart website to go right back to 1954.
New Zealand’s declined baby names
A roundup of popular baby names wouldn’t be complete without a list of those names that were not allowed. No names are specifically banned in New Zealand, but names can be declined by the Registrar-General if there is a chance they will cause offence, are an unreasonable length, or “unjustifiably resemble an official title or rank”. The list of declined baby names in 2019 included:
- Crown
- Empress
- Ford-Royal
- Gunner
- Justice and Justyce
- King and Kyng
- Lady and Lord
- Majesti
- Major
- Pope
- Prince and Princess
- Queenie and Queeny
- Queenmerry
- Rogue
- Royal, Royale and Royall
- Saint
- Sur
- Syre
New Zealand’s 100 most popular baby names in 2019
| RANK | GIRLS | NUMBER | BOYS | NUMBER | |
| 1 | Amelia | 255 | Oliver | 335 | |
| 2 | Charlotte | 248 | Noah | 297 | |
| 3 | Isla | 232 | Leo | 257 | |
| 4 | Olivia | 225 | Jack | 251 | |
| 5 | Ruby | 206 | Lucas | 247 | |
| 6 | Sophie | 190 | George | 232 | |
| 7 | Harper | 188 | William | 210 | |
| 8 | Mila | 187 | James | 210 | |
| 9 | Willow | 186 | Thomas | 202 | |
| 10 | Ava | 185 | Charlie | 192 | |
| 11 | Grace | 181 | Arlo | 180 | |
| 12 | Ella | 179 | Hunter | 178 | |
| 13 | Emily | 174 | Liam | 175 | |
| 14 | Isabella | 171 | Mason | 175 | |
| 15 | Mia | 167 | Theodore | 169 | |
| 16 | Zoe | 161 | Oscar | 164 | |
| 17 | Chloe | 151 | Ethan | 162 | |
| 18 | Hazel | 151 | Elijah | 157 | |
| 19 | Lily | 148 | Lachlan | 154 | |
| 20 | Lucy | 147 | Henry | 149 | |
| 21 | Sophia | 145 | Max | 145 | |
| 22 | Evelyn | 132 | Hudson | 144 | |
| 23 | Aria | 130 | Cooper | 143 | |
| 24 | Ivy | 123 | Alexander | 140 | |
| 25 | Georgia | 120 | Luca | 136 | |
| 26 | Matilda | 111 | Jackson | 134 | |
| 27 | Emma | 110 | Jacob | 131 | |
| 28 | Evie | 105 | Carter | 129 | |
| 29 | Scarlett | 102 | Benjamin | 127 | |
| 30 | Abigail | 101 | Levi | 125 | |
| 31 | Thea | 100 | Archie | 123 | |
| 32 | Freya | 100 | Finn | 121 | |
| 33 | Riley | 92 | Harrison | 121 | |
| 34 | Layla | 92 | Joshua | 119 | |
| 35 | Sienna | 89 | Arthur | 118 | |
| 36 | Maia | 89 | Isaac | 117 | |
| 37 | Poppy | 88 | Samuel | 116 | |
| 38 | Mackenzie | 88 | Harry | 115 | |
| 39 | Millie | 87 | Beau | 110 | |
| 40 | Zara | 86 | Hugo | 110 | |
| 41 | Ellie | 85 | Lincoln | 104 | |
| 42 | Indie | 85 | Ryan | 104 | |
| 43 | Maddison | 84 | Caleb | 101 | |
| 44 | Olive | 84 | Theo | 101 | |
| 45 | Eva | 84 | Eli | 100 | |
| 46 | Frankie | 83 | Asher | 99 | |
| 47 | Ayla | 82 | Felix | 99 | |
| 48 | Piper | 81 | Daniel | 96 | |
| 49 | Alice | 81 | Luke | 96 | |
| 50 | Violet | 77 | Logan | 95 | |
| 51 | Luna | 77 | Archer | 93 | |
| 52 | Bella | 76 | Ezra | 92 | |
| 53 | Hannah | 75 | Riley | 90 | |
| 54 | Isabelle | 75 | Joseph | 90 | |
| 55 | Florence | 72 | Blake | 87 | |
| 56 | Sadie | 69 | Harvey | 86 | |
| 57 | Emilia | 68 | Jaxon | 85 | |
| 58 | Elizabeth | 68 | Grayson | 85 | |
| 59 | Sofia | 68 | Xavier | 81 | |
| 60 | Stella | 67 | John | 78 | |
| 61 | Eden | 67 | Louie | 78 | |
| 62 | Aurora | 67 | Jayden | 78 | |
| 63 | Phoebe | 66 | Jasper | 77 | |
| 64 | Eleanor | 64 | Austin | 75 | |
| 65 | Amber | 62 | Braxton | 74 | |
| 66 | Penelope | 61 | Toby | 73 | |
| 67 | Quinn | 60 | Connor | 73 | |
| 68 | Jasmine | 55 | Ryder | 73 | |
| 69 | Madison | 55 | Matthew | 73 | |
| 70 | Aaliyah | 53 | Nathan | 72 | |
| 71 | Summer | 52 | Roman | 72 | |
| 72 | Harriet | 52 | Sebastian | 72 | |
| 73 | Holly | 51 | Angus | 70 | |
| 74 | Imogen | 51 | Jordan | 70 | |
| 75 | Kiara | 51 | Louis | 69 | |
| 76 | Cora | 50 | Edward | 65 | |
| 77 | Elsie | 50 | Tyler | 64 | |
| 78 | Billie | 49 | Adam | 63 | |
| 79 | Amaia | 49 | Ashton | 63 | |
| 80 | Nina | 49 | Luka | 62 | |
| 81 | Addison | 48 | Zion | 61 | |
| 82 | Leah | 48 | Wyatt | 61 | |
| 83 | Maisie | 48 | Charles | 60 | |
| 84 | Lilly | 47 | Bodhi | 59 | |
| 85 | Jessica | 46 | Isaiah | 59 | |
| 86 | Harlow | 44 | Ezekiel | 59 | |
| 87 | Heidi | 44 | Dylan | 59 | |
| 88 | Lola | 44 | Aiden | 57 | |
| 89 | Rose | 44 | Michael | 56 | |
| 90 | Annabelle | 44 | Zachary | 53 | |
| 91 | Anna | 44 | Micah | 51 | |
| 92 | Peyton | 44 | Harley | 51 | |
| 93 | Charlie | 43 | Flynn | 51 | |
| 94 | Daisy | 43 | Phoenix | 50 | |
| 95 | Esther | 43 | Reuben | 50 | |
| 96 | Victoria | 42 | Gabriel | 49 | |
| 97 | Ada | 42 | Elliot | 49 | |
| 98 | Marley | 42 | Nikau | 48 | |
| 99 | Zoey | 41 | Leon | 48 | |
| 100 | Sarah | 41 | David | 48 |
What influences your baby name choices?
Written by Julie Scanlon
Julie is Editor for Kidspot NZ and our MVP. Her hobbies include laughing uncontrollably at her own jokes, annoying her family by asking questions about movie plots, and never taking anything too seriously. She speaks a little Spanish and a lot of Yorkshire.
Favourite motto to live by: “It ain’t nothing but a thing”
I was talking to a mum at my kids school the other day, her name is also Sarah, and she was saying how its a ‘dying’ name and isnt popular anymore, its was number 100 last year so thats pretty good, maybe its not so unpopular after all!
Didn’t think Amelia would be a top favourite for girls. I like the name Zara if only it’s not name after a clothing brand. It’s hard to pick names nowadays especially when it starts to be come popular. Although names are sometimes named after family members so it does get used quite a bit.
I have two little girls on the popular name list and I still love their names as much as the day my husband and I chose them. I grew up with a name that was not spelt as the ‘norm’ so have never had anything personalised with my name on it which I hate! My girls will never miss out now 🙂
Wow first time I’ve seen my boys name all appearing in top 100…not sure how I feel about that hahaha. Influence of names for us was the Bible but also wanted unique names that were spelt how they sounded. We have Roman, Silas and Micah but spelt MyKah.
My daughter Abigail is at number 30 and my little ones name is not even on the list… which i think is not too bad…if i had had a boy. His name would have been Noah… i love the meanings behind names…i think they make a difference… and interesting the declined names list …pretty out there.
Wowee can’t believe Oliver has been most popular since 2013. Awesome to read the statistics on different names it’s quite cool knowing most popular names. So the things that influence my baby names well for my daughter we went through the alphabet and kept saying different names. Most were unique names as we didn’t want a name most children have already so we went with Keisha. Middle names are always names from the family like great grand parents middle names to keep their names going through generations. My son we did exactly the same and came up with the name Tyson.
They don’t seem to change much over the years for my children I have one at number 13 the other is 9 and the last at number 38 this is the one which is slowly dropping back. But it’s good to see the names people are using.
It seems the most popular names for girls hasn’t really changed much since my daughter was born in 2012. The names that were popular when I was born are pretty plain haha although mine isn’t there 🙂