NZ’s Most Popular Baby Names From 2020

Statistics released by the Department of Internal Affairs’ Smart Start website show that in 2020, 17,749 different names were chosen for the 58,676 newborn babies in New Zealand.

Whether you know what you will call your child before they are even conceived, or you grab a name out of thin air in the delivery suite, choosing your baby’s name is a personal thing. Here’s our round-up of the most popular baby names New Zealand parents choose for their babies born during 2020.

There’s a new girl at the top

In 2019 Amelia finally knocked Charlotte from the top spot, but 2020 has brought another new name to the top. Isla takes first place after entering the top 100 for the first time in 2004. For the boys, however, it’s a case of déjà vu with Oliver again the most popular name, as it has been since 2013!

Nikau and Mia are once again the most popular Māori names for boys and girls respectively.

Taylor and Darcy are the most evenly split gender-neutral names for 2020, with almost a 50/50 split between boys and girls.

Most popular names in 2020

Rounding out the top five for the girls are Charlotte, Amelia, and, new to the top five, Willow. For the boys – Jack, Noah, Leo and Lucas complete the top five. Aria is the only new entrant to the girl’s top 20 from the previous year. Meanwhile, Hudson and Cooper make their way into the top 20 boy’s names. The 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.

Declined baby names

Now, we couldn’t give you a list of popular baby names without a quick look at those names that were declined by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Names can be declined if there’s a chance they will cause offence, are an unreasonable length, or unjustifiably resemble an official title or rank. During 2020 there seems to be a run on “Royal” name requests, but Roya Ltee, Royal-Blue, Royal-Reign, Royalty-Rain, Royele-Blue, and Royell were among the 44 names declined.

As a special mention for the year 2020, there were no babies given the name Covid – phew!

Other declined baby names in 2020 included:

  • Commodore
  • Constable
  • Justice and Justus
  • King and Kiing
  • Mistah
  • Prinz
  • Saint

New Zealand’s 100 most popular baby names in 2020

RANK GIRLS NUMBER BOYS NUMBER
1 Isla 243 Oliver 315
2 Charlotte 222 Jack 261
3 Amelia 213 Noah 240
4 Olivia 208 Leo 235
5 Willow 184 Lucas 206
6 Harper 177 George 197
7 Ava 175 Charlie 183
8 Lily 175 Thomas 175
9 Sophie 168 William 175
10 Ella 163 Hunter 174
11 Mia 162 Elijah 170
12 Isabella 160 Cooper 163
13 Mila 154 James 157
14 Chloe 153 Lachlan 157
15 Emily 148 Theodore 157
16 Lucy 147 Arlo 156
17 Grace 146 Mason 153
18 Ruby 146 Liam 152
19 Aria 132 Oscar 148
20 Hazel 130 Hudson 140
21 Zoe 123 Archie 135
22 Ivy 121 Benjamin 130
23 Olive 103 Luca 130
24 Matilda 101 Carter 129
25 Millie 101 Finn 126
26 Scarlett 100 Hugo 126
27 Poppy 99 Max 126
28 Sophia 95 Levi 125
29 Georgia 93 Ethan 124
30 Riley 93 Henry 123
31 Evelyn 92 Arthur 119
32 Stella 91 Alexander 112
33 Frankie 90 Harrison 110
34 Florence 89 Eli 107
35 Evie 88 Theo 101
36 Mackenzie 88 Jacob 100
37 Freya 85 Joshua 100
38 Maia 85 Luke 99
39 Ellie 83 Harry 97
40 Thea 83 Beau 96
41 Layla 81 Daniel 92
42 Luna 78 Caleb 91
43 Alice 77 Felix 89
44 Aurora 77 Jackson 89
45 Emma 76 Asher 88
46 Quinn 74 Ezra 88
47 Bella 73 Jasper 88
48 Indie 73 Ryan 86
49 Isabelle 73 Archer 84
50 Zara 72 Samuel 84
51 Ayla 71 Isaac 82
52 Sadie 71 Louis 82
53 Harriet 70 Riley 80
54 Madison 70 Lincoln 78
55 Sofia 66 Blake 77
56 Eden 65 Jordan 76
57 Maddison 65 Harvey 73
58 Abigail 64 Luka 73
59 Eva 62 Austin 72
60 Penelope 61 Braxton 72
61 Billie 60 Connor 72
62 Emilia 60 Ryder 72
63 Amaia 59 Bodhi 71
64 Maeve 59 Logan 71
65 Violet 59 Louie 71
66 Harlow 56 Edward 70
67 Piper 55 Grayson 70
68 Addison 54 Joseph 70
69 Eleanor 54 Roman 69
70 Elizabeth 53 Jayden 68
71 Sienna 53 Oakley 66
72 Amber 52 Xavier 64
73 Elsie 51 Flynn 63
74 Hannah 51 Nikau 63
75 Leah 51 Toby 63
76 Margot 49 Aiden 62
77 Charlie 48 Quinn 62
78 Holly 48 River 61
79 Phoebe 48 Angus 60
80 Rosie 48 Dylan 60
81 Summer 48 Michael 60
82 Ada 46 Nathan 60
83 Heidi 46 Sebastian 60
84 Kiara 46 David 59
85 Zoey 46 Ezekiel 59
86 Molly 45 Adam 58
87 Paige 45 Charles 58
88 Daisy 44 Jaxon 57
89 Eliza 44 Harley 55
90 Isabel 44 Zion 55
91 Maya 43 Micah 53
92 Rose 43 Kingston 52
93 Athena 42 Patrick 52
94 Delilah 42 Manaia 51
95 Esther 42 Spencer 50
96 Annabelle 41 Zachary 50
97 Jasmine 41 Ari 49
98 Lilly 41 Ashton 49
99 Maisie 41 John 49
100 Iris 40 Matthew 48


Source: Department of Internal Affairs 

What influences your baby name choices?

her world julieWritten 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”

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