Top baby names of the past 120 years

What did you call your little one?

John, David, William, Margaret, Mary and Elizabeth have topped the list of the most popular baby names in New Zealand over the past 120 years.

The Department of Internal Affairs has compiled a 'Top Baby Names of All Time' list, tracking the trend in baby names between 1900 and 2019.

The most popular name used between 1919 and 2019 is John, which saw its peak in 1947, with more than 1600 boys receiving this name.

While the number of boys and girls born is about the same, the variety of boys' names has traditionally been narrower, so the top name for boys has many more than the top name for girls.

James, William, Thomas and Elizabeth have been the most consistently popular over the past 100 years, with most other names having a clear peak.

Most of the top 20 girls' names peaked before the 21st century, with Emma, Sarah and Jessica the most recent to peak in popularity.

The current top names do not feature in this list of the most popular names ever.

Top 10 Boys Names:

John, David, William, James, Michael, Robert, Peter, Thomas, Andrew, Paul.

Top 10 Girls Names:

Margaret, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, Patricia, Susan, Helen, Jennifer, Christine, Karen.

Tauranga woman, Eleanor Burkin has been keeping records of baby names in New Zealand for more than 30 years.

She said she was surprised to see that the most popular names in the last century aren't really popular anymore.

Eleanor said she was particularly surprised by the girls' names.

"It's all because of fashion and of course those names, Elizabeth, Margaret and Mary, those were names the royal family used so they were very, very popular in the past.

"People probably think they're a bit dated for a first name and they're more used as second names now," says Eleanor.

She said the boys' names have stood the test of time, or circled back into fashion a bit more.

"William, David and John, well they are still very, very good classic names, but other names have taken over; people sort of want something different."

Eleanor says she has noticed a lot of boys with surnames as first names now, as well as a resurgence in biblical names.

RNZ

Baby names banned in New Zealand

Among the rejected names for New Zealand are Royal, Prince, Justice, Lucifer and Sex Fruit.

Since 1995, legislation has provided a set of rules for acceptable names for New Zealanders where a name, or combination of names, should not cause offence, be unreasonably long, or resemble an official title or rank.

Below are baby names rejected in New Zealand over the years, by the Department of Internal Affairs. The list of names includes punctuation marks such as a period and asterisk and the use of slashes or brackets.

Justice

Justus

Justyce

Juztice

King

Princess

Prince

Prynce

Royal

Duke

Dukey

Sargent

Major

Corporal

Bishop

Majesty

Lucifer

using brackets around middle names

/ (back slash)

Knight

Lady

using back slash between names

Judge

Royale

Messiah

T

I

Queen

II

Sir

Special Constable

Sex Fruit

Jr

E

V

J

Master

Constable

Queen Victoria1

Regal

Royal-Rule

Emperor

Christ

3rd

C J

G

09

Roman numerals III

General

Saint

Lord

. (full stop)

89

Eminence

M

VI

V8

Mafia No Fear

2nd

Majesti

Rogue

4real

* (star symbol)

5th

S P

C

Honour

D

Minister

MJ

Chief

Mr

V8

President

MC

Anal

A.J

Baron

L B

H-Q

Queen V

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