Most popular baby names in 2021 - two real surprises at number one

Created: 12/31/2021, 06:21 AM

There are clear trends in names for girls and boys in 2021. © Michael Weber / imago

Choosing the first name for the baby is often a torture for parents. A look at the list of the top 10 first names for 2021 can help.

This time there is a real high-flyer.

Ahrensburg - The year 2021 offers clear climbers and equally clear relegations for the most popular first names: The names Emilia and Matteo have finally made it to the top of the ranking of the naming expert Knud Bielefeld.

"These are both names that are in first place for the first time," said Bielefeld to the German Press Agency in Ahrensburg (Schleswig-Holstein).

The hobby name researcher published his ranking on Thursday, the dpa has it.

Emilia has climbed slowly but steadily over the years.

Most popular first names for girls in 2021

“Matteo, on the other hand, went very steeply uphill.

Two years ago it wasn't even the top ten and is now number 1. That is very unusual. “Both names would fit well into the German naming system, said Bielefeld, explaining their current popularity.

“With Emilia in particular, you can think of a lot of similar names.

Ella, Emma, ​​Emily.

Matteo also has many similar names that we have known for a long time.

Mattis, Matthias or Mats.

The names are already very familiar, but also have a little something new. "

Most popular first names for boys in 2021

The most popular first names in Germany in 2021

The triumph of both names was foreseeable: Bielefeld had already assumed in 2020 that they would quickly make it to the top of the ranking.

Bielefeld couldn't explain why Matteo in particular has shot up so steeply in the statistics.

“I did not find an event.

I am also not aware of any particular name model in radio, television, media or sports. "

It is not uncommon for parents to be inspired by their favorite films, series or athletes when choosing a name for their offspring.

There were no surprises in the further course of the hit list either.

With the girls, the names Hannah, Mia, Emma and Sophia follow Emilia.

Among the boys, in addition to Matteo, the names Noah, Leon, Finn and Elias are among the top 5. Bielefeld: "These are all the names that have been in the top 10 for a long time."

"The name Luca is interesting"

Further down the list, on the other hand, there are still exciting aspects.

One of them is even related to Corona.

"The name Luca is interesting," says Bielefeld.

The question was whether parents no longer call their children that because of the Luca app, which can currently be found on almost every smartphone due to the corona.

“But that didn't happen.

The name has become even more popular this year. ”This year it landed in eighth place, in previous years always on 12 or 13. In the summer, a computer animation film from Pixar Studios called“ Luca ”was released on the streaming service Disney +.

The name Greta is clearly relegated

On the other hand, the clear relegation is still the name Greta, which the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg also bears.

“In the year before last, it was still in 30th place and the years before that too roughly.

It fell to 130th last year and this year it went even further downhill.

Greta is only in 200th place. “In contrast, the basic trends with regard to the choice of names of parents in the regions of Germany have remained the same.

"In southern Germany, the names that are actually out of fashion are more common."

Bielefeld

“In southern Germany, the names that are actually out of fashion are more common.” The reason for this is that in the south names are more often passed on from generation to generation.

Examples are Annika, Nina, Franziska, Sebastian, Matthias and Dominik.

In Bavaria there was already a surprise with the baby names * in 2020.

Southern Germany: Top 10 first names for boys and girls in 2021

There are two name trends in the east

In northern Germany, Scandinavian, Frisian names such as Ava, Jetta, Lena, Jonte, Joris and Piet are often disproportionately represented.

According to Bielefeld, there are even two trends in eastern Germany.

“On the one hand, retro names are popular.

And the other trend is English and American names. ”Popular retro names include Anton, Theodor and Paul as well as Mathilda, Frieda and Emma.

Unusual names have also found their way back into the statistics.

Accordingly, Antonino, Maleo, Bendix, Wisdom, Napoleon and Rurik were given relatively rarely for the boys and Alondra, Diliana, Soley, Adora, Lillesol and Soulin for the girls.

East Germany: Top 10 first names for girls and boys in 2021

Top first names 2021: This is how Bielefeld evaluates baby names

For the nationwide evaluation, Bielefeld and his small team used first name data from 433 cities.

Two thirds of the data comes from registry offices and the rest from baby galleries in maternity hospitals.

According to its own information, Bielefeld has recorded around 230,000 birth notifications.

This corresponds to about 30 percent of the babies born in Germany.

The Society for German Language also publishes similar statistics with around 90 percent of all data from the registry offices - but later than Knud Bielefeld.