The names that parents give to newborns reflect not only deeply rooted traditions, but also fashion and popular culture trends of a particular era in which a small nameless baby is born. Someone is influenced by world-famous TV shows, while someone, on the contrary, turns to the ancient epic to find a name for their baby: names say a lot about the society in which young citizens will grow up.
Today, in the spirit of the era, there are many Internet sites with lists of names that help parents make a choice and tell them one or another unusual name. These sites are usually based on the same sources: national statistical offices and social registers that keep records of names recorded in civil status records.
This is the case in all EU countries except Germany. In the case of Greece and Cyprus, the data refer to the latest 2011 census. In Romania, name data is not systematically collected at all.
We managed to make a map of the most commonly used names in Europe. We already wrote about the names that are popular in Russia a few years ago. li>
The most popular boy names in Europe 2021-2022
Among boys, Noah is the most common name in the largest number of countries. It tops the list in six countries, almost all of which border each other: Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden, as well as Switzerland and England and Wales combined.
Two more names reach the top spot in several countries : George is the most popular name in Greece and Bulgaria, and Yakub is in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The most popular girl names in Europe 2021-2022
Among girls, Maria is the name that tops the list in the most countries. Four widely dispersed countries—Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, and Portugal—have produced more Marys than any other. To these countries we can add Greece with Maria and Romania with the compound name Ana-Maria.
Followed by Emma in Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands (and Ema in Slovakia), Mia is the first name in three countries — Croatia, Estonia and Switzerland — and Sophia in Latvia and Lithuania.
Expanding to the city of Moscow, we find Sophia at the top of the list for girls. For boys, Alexander continues to be the most frequently called name over the past 30 years, with the exception of Artyom in 2012.
The most common names in Europe
It is difficult to determine the name given to the largest number of babies in the European Union. National statistical institutes do not all provide the same data. They range from 1625 identical names with number of births in Belgium to only the 5 most popular names (no number of births) in Greece.
Another difficulty is the variations in the spelling of the same name in different countries, and sometimes even within the same country, for example, Alexander, Alexander, Alksendr, etc. or Jasmine, Yasmina, Jezmine, Yasmeen, etc.
On the other hand, you can count how many times a given name appears in the official lists of all countries taken into account (EU, Switzerland and England and Wales). Therefore, we continued this count and grouped the spellings of the same name in order to establish, outside the real number of births, which names are most common in Europe.
In general, across Europe, the most common boy names< /strong>arranged in the following order:
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The most common girl names in all European countries:
Most popular names by country for boys and girls
Names will appear original depending on the origin of the reader of the list of names. When looking for really rare names, you will have to spend some time and look through thousands of options to find Cezanne, Toulouse, Castor, Mont, Frey, Fey or Africa.
It is also worth noting diminutive formsclassic names that today have become full names. Sometimes they are written in the most unusual way to make others forget about the connection with the original name. Thus, Jax (Jaxx) or (Jax) are used today as diminutives of Jackson (in the English tradition) or Axl (in German).
Some compound namesthey also sometimes turn out to be combinations of non-traditional forms, such as Billy-Lou, or Rosie-Elaine-Antoinette in the Czech Republic, Oliver-Kye or Danielle-Raymond. However, compound names are still rare in lists of popular names (with the exception of the Czech Republic).
Finally, as it turned out, names suitable for both sexes equally are out of fashion today. Only four of the thirty countries surveyed have «common» names on the lists of names for girls and boys. There are six of them in the Czech Republic (Alex, Eda, Michaela, Michelle, Nicol, Chanel), five in Germany (Eliya, Isa, Janne, Mika, Tony), two in France (Kamiy and Charly) and one in Poland (Iliya).< /p>
Of all countries surveyed, preference is given to short names(no longer than four letters for boys and five for girls) are given by the Netherlands, while Greece, Italy and Cyprus prefer long names (seven to eight letters for boys or six to seven for girls).
How are things in Russia?
According to the capital registry office, where the names of newborn Muscovites are registered, in 2022 parents most often chose the names Sofia for girls (2.762 times) and Alexanderfor boys (2.335 times). This name among other male names has been the most popular for 30 years, and only in 2012 the name Artem was in first place. The leaders of the most popular male names are also Mikhail and Maxim, while for girls the second and third places in popularity have been occupied by Maria and for several years. Anna.
There are names with growing popularity, for example, more and more boys are called Miroslav, Leon and Boris. And among girls, Athena and Angelina are growing in popularity.
More and more often, unusual names appear in Moscow, such as the names of the Greek tradition — Seraphim< /strong> and Theodore, or the Latin tradition — Christian and Maximilian.
Among the unusual male names in 2022, registered such as Ural, Agat, Zareslav, Eleazar, Feofan, Dionysus, Cornelius and Theodosius. And Avocady, Troyan, Lavr-Kosmos, Lev-August and Mark-Leon now live in the capital.
Last year, girls were often called flower names: in the capital there are now more 106 Lilies, there are Roses, and Asters, and one happy owner of the name Lavender. Among female names, Akulina, Nicoletta, Zabava, Praskovya, Agrippina, Juliet, Felicia and Venice.