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 |
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”
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