Top Ten Babies’ Names

This is the list published by the Department of Internal Affairs for last year’s top 10 babies’ names for girls and boys. The number given in brackets is the place in 2013. For example, the second most popular girls’ name last year, Olivia, was fifth the previous year. It has moved up. Harper was 19th in 2013 but last year it moved to 8th place.

However, Charlotte was the most popular name for girls in 2013 and again in 2014. Similarly, Oliver was the most popular name for boys for two years in a row.

2014 Top 10 Girls’ Names (2013 place in brackets):

1. Charlotte (1)
2. Olivia (5)
3. Isla (6)
4. Emily (2)
5. Sophie (4)
6. Amelia (7)
7. Ella (10)
8. Harper (19)
9. Sophia (16)
10. Ruby (3)

Top 10 Boys’ Names (2013 place in brackets):

1. Oliver (1)
2. Jack (2)
3. James (3)
4. Mason (5)
5. Liam (6)
6. William (4)
7. Noah (9)
8. Lucas (8)
9. Benjamin (14)
10. Jacob (13)

Although these names were chosen by many parents, there were 12,000 different names registered with the Department of Internal Affairs. Parents can be creative when choosing a name for their baby, but there are some kinds of names that are not allowed. It must not be offensive like a swear word. It cannot be too long, be a number or a punctuation mark, or be a title. One family wanted to call their daughter “Queen Victoria”. Another chose “Full stop” and another wanted “V8”. These were not allowed.

Listen to February 13th 2013 and January 9th 2014 to hear more about popular babies’ names.