For the fifth year in a row, Oliver is the most popular name chosen for newborn baby boys in New Zealand. In 2017, 314 Kiwi families chose the name which, according to Kidspot’s Baby Name Finder, is related to the olive tree and can mean a symbol of peace. The girls have a new leader, with 277 babies named Charlotte – no doubt growing in popularity due to the Royal Family’s adorable Princess Charlotte. Over 13,000 different names were chosen for newborn babies in New Zealand in 2017.
Most popular names in 2017
While parents are choosing a wider range of names for their children than in the past, a lot of names still remain popular, year after year. Statistics released by the Department of Internal Affairs show that the most popular boys’ names in 2017 were Oliver, Jack, Noah, William, Hunter, James, George, Mason, Lucas and Arlo. George and Arlo are the only newcomers to the top 10.
For girls, the most popular were Charlotte, Harper, Isla, Olivia, Ava, Amelia, Mia, Mila, Sophie and Emily. Mila is the only new entrant to the top 10.
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.
Most popular names for mum and dad
OK, there’s no real science involved here – more like a bit of curious guesswork! Currently the average age of a mother when their first baby is born is about 30 years old. The average for a father is around 32 years. So looking back to 1987 and 1985, the time when today’s new parents were born, we can see what the most popular names were. Apart from James, it doesn’t look like these new parents are passing on their own names to their offspring.
Most popular baby girl names in 1987:
- Sarah
- Jessica
- Emma
- Amanda
- Nicole
Most popular baby boy names in 1985:
- Daniel
- Michael
- James
- Matthew
- Christopher
A century of baby names
Way back in 1915, the most popular names for baby boys were John, William and James – two of which are still popular today. On the other hand, popular choices for girls a century ago – Mary, Margaret and Dorothy – are rarely heard now.
In 1965, just over half a century ago, the most popular names were Karen, Susan and Sandra for girls and David, Michael and Paul for boys.
New Zealand’s 100 most popular baby names in 2017
| Rank | Boys | Girls |
| 1 | Oliver | Charlotte |
| 2 | Jack | Harper |
| 3 | Noah | Isla |
| 4 | William | Olivia |
| 5 | Hunter | Ava |
| 6 | James | Amelia |
| 7 | George | Mia |
| 8 | Mason | Mila |
| 9 | Lucas | Sophie |
| 10 | Arlo | Emily |
| 11 | Leo | Isabella |
| 12 | Liam | Ella |
| 13 | Max | Lucy |
| 14 | Thomas | Ruby |
| 15 | Charlie | Lily |
| 16 | Cooper | Chloe |
| 17 | Benjamin | Zoe |
| 18 | Elijah | Emma |
| 19 | Henry | Grace |
| 20 | Joshua | Aria |
| 21 | Lachlan | Willow |
| 22 | Oscar | Georgia |
| 23 | Ethan | Sophia |
| 24 | Alexander | Evelyn |
| 25 | Samuel | Hazel |
| 26 | Carter | Eva |
| 27 | Jacob | Scarlett |
| 28 | Jackson | Ivy |
| 29 | Finn | Indie |
| 30 | Isaac | Madison |
| 31 | Daniel | Isabelle |
| 32 | Theodore | Alice |
| 33 | Luke | Matilda |
| 34 | Harrison | Mackenzie |
| 35 | Harry | Evie |
| 36 | Blake | Thea |
| 37 | Levi | Zara |
| 38 | Archie | Hannah |
| 39 | Eli | Stella |
| 40 | Ryan | Layla |
| 41 | Riley | Ayla |
| 42 | Lincoln | Sienna |
| 43 | Logan | Paige |
| 44 | Luca | Maddison |
| 45 | Austin | Millie |
| 46 | Archer | Bella |
| 47 | Hugo | Poppy |
| 48 | Xavier | Frankie |
| 49 | Theo | Riley |
| 50 | Caleb | Maia |
| 51 | Joseph | Florence |
| 52 | Aiden | Piper |
| 53 | Jordan | Phoebe |
| 54 | Connor | Abigail |
| 55 | Beau | Eden |
| 56 | Ezra | Freya |
| 57 | Michael | Addison |
| 58 | Toby | Ellie |
| 59 | Jayden | Quinn |
| 60 | Hudson | Olive |
| 61 | Nathan | Sofia |
| 62 | Felix | Violet |
| 63 | Harvey | Lilly |
| 64 | Edward | Sadie |
| 65 | Ryder | Pippa |
| 66 | Zachary | Penelope |
| 67 | Braxton | Aurora |
| 68 | Flynn | Jasmine |
| 69 | Dylan | Aaliyah |
| 70 | Asher | Peyton |
| 71 | Ashton | Victoria |
| 72 | Arthur | Summer |
| 73 | Sebastian | Zoey |
| 74 | Jaxon | Luna |
| 75 | Beauden | Charlie |
| 76 | Charles | Rose |
| 77 | Bodhi | Leah |
| 78 | Grayson | Keira |
| 79 | Tyler | Eleanor |
| 80 | John | Anna |
| 81 | Matthew | Jessica |
| 82 | Gabriel | Emilia |
| 83 | David | Elizabeth |
| 84 | Patrick | Harriet |
| 85 | Leon | Molly |
| 86 | Kingston | Heidi |
| 87 | Reuben | Amaia |
| 88 | Phoenix | Nina |
| 89 | Angus | Amber |
| 90 | Louis | Annabelle |
| 91 | Owen | Maya |
| 92 | Jasper | Lola |
| 93 | Wyatt | Brooklyn |
| 94 | Roman | Sarah |
| 95 | Nixon | Arabella |
| 96 | Jake | Skylar |
| 97 | Adam | Madeline |
| 98 | Spencer | Faith |
| 99 | Jesse | Holly |
| 100 | Cohen | Clara |
We were just having this discussion about names the other day with the kids after I found a baby name book in a box. ( we are getting a kitten soon so its a hot topic with this naming business!!) We only used the book to look up meanings not get ideas as we had firmly chosen our first 2 names well before they were born. My boys are in the top 100 but not my daughter.
All the names on the lists are really lovely, when naming my kids I wanted to stay away from those top 10 as I didn’t want my kids to have the same name as several other kids in their class. Was surprised to see my daughters name Faith on the list but it was 98th. A friend and I have the same name we grew up together known each other since we were 3 and we used to get our surname initial tagged on to our name.
I have one child on the popular list and one that is not. Choosing a name can be hard. I think the name I have chosen for my daughter doesn’t suit her personality, its weird I know but if I could do it again I would change her name.
I really like the name Arlo, it’s cute. But I see it a lot now, so I guess a few people agree. I try not to pick from popular lists at all. My approach with names was to get the top 1000 names and just veto all of those. If names on my list were on the top 1000 they were out. I like historical names, ancient Greek or Roman, or those that sound like it. The meaning is really important to me too. It’s fun to see the trends though. I remember there was one other Kim in my school when I was little but different spelling (I haven’t got the I) but so many -elle/el names (Rochelle, Michelle, Rachel, Racquel)
I don’t really care much about if names are “in” or not – my 24 year old son is Matthew and we named our 5 year old daughter Peyton. I like both of them doesn’t matter if they are traditional or fashionable 🙂
Out of my 6 kids names there is one on the list, but I don’t think that Eden was as popular 16 years ago when I had mine as it is now! I also have a Jorja and the traditional spelling is on the list. My name is on the parents list and the top 100 baby names list.
Our little girl is #2 on the list which is surprising! Hopefully she doesn’t start school with a whole bunch of other Harper’s 😛
so many awesome names to choose from, i really love the names that can be surnames as well.
Cool and extensive list. We are trying for baby number 2 and hopefully we ca go back and see which names would suit. Not much on Z names though as this is a letter that we are looking into as an initial.
I love(D) the name Arlo and each time we found out we were having a boy it was on the list but due to its ever growing popularity that’s what stopped us naming any of our 3 boys Arlo. However for the first time ever one of my boys names features on a popular list though towards the end which I will admit I’m kinda glad about as their originality had always helped esp at school… They ate the only ones in each of their schools with their names but with that comes mis said as there’s been prior kids with similar names eg:Roman gets Ronan alot and Silas gets Cyris… Mykah on other hand gets surprised looked when they see he’s a boy not a girl hehee. Hubby and I will always make a list of names we like and then go giggling to see if the name has ever been on a popular list and when so we can try stay abit unique and lessen the chances of having heaps of kids similar age with same name, it’s worked everytime so far at least… My current fav name if we did decide to try again is Jett both for a boy or girl
I love the name Jett!
These names lists are cool I think all three of my kids names are always in the top 100 names with my daughter’s still being in the top 10 it hasn’t changed much since they were born over the years. It’s funny how over the years as we see here the older names then the names like our parents then us, then of course our kids.
I love seeing these name lists! 2 out of 4 of my kids names are on last years top 100 list. All our kids are named with more “traditional “ names and had the most popularity a long time ago but are coming back into “fashion” again now. I really wanted biblical names for my kids so they aren’t unique names but suit my kids all extremely well!