In the first three quarters of 2020, 580,342 children were born in Germany, explained the Federal Statistical Office at destatis.de via press release in December. The editors of Babelli also looked at the births of the past year, but the focus was not on the number, but on the names of the new citizens of the earth.
So according to the ranking, which shows the most popular first names in 2020, a large proportion of the more than 580,000 children born in 2020 are named Mia, Emilia, Sofia/Sophia, Hannah/Hanna, Emma, Lina, Mila, Lea/Leah, Marie or Ella if a girl was born, and Leon, Ben, Noah, Finn/Fynn, Paul, Elias, Felix, Luis/Louis, Henry/Henri or Luca/Luka if a boy was born(source: babelli.de).
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Rising And Falling – Which Names Are Becoming (Dis)popular?
If you look at the overall result of the Babelli count, you will see both losers and winners in the ranking.
Girls’ Names
The names Lena, Leni, Lisa, Antonia, Maria, Elina, Julia, Emely/Emelie, Mina, Milena, Magdalena, Luana, Jana, Jule, Anastasia, Elif, Liya, Ela, Greta, Emmi/Emmy, Aurelia, Alicia, Miriam, Alexandra, Liv, Cataleya, Alice, Talia/Thalia, Jette, Linea/Linnea, Mona, Sina/Sinah, Vanessa and Celine fell enormously in favor with parents. They lost more than ten places in the Top 200 ranking.
By contrast, the names Holly, Hedda, Jella, Elsa, Esther, Dilara, Cleo, Amilia, Alca, Adriana, Naila/Nayla, Julie, Hana, Nelly/Nelli, Nala/Nahla, Leiya/Leya, Dana, Hermine, Arya, Hedi/Hedy, Alena, Leticia/Letizia and Ayla gained over 50 places.
Boys’ Names
The names Mats/Mads, Leonard, Vincent, Jannis/Janis/Yannis, Aaron, Johann, Maxim/Maksim, Johannes, Kilian, Lennard/Lennart, Mattis/Mathis/Matthis, Lian, Luke/Luc, Ole, Bruno, Malte, Timo, Michael, Damian, Dominic/Dominik, Elia/Eliah, Jayden/Jaden, Tobias, Luan, Emilian, Lion, Frederik/Frederic, Nicolas/Nikolas, Noel, Emir, Nikita, Alessio, Bennet, Ferdinand, Josef/Joseph, Lennox, Dean, Enno, Jamie, Joris, Lionel, Piet, Omer, Jaron/Yaron and Lino fell out of favor.
They lost over ten places in the top 200 ranking. In contrast, the names Kai/Kay, Keno, Hennig, Kalle, Brian/Bryan, Mailo, Kian, Curt/Kurt and Leonardo gained over 50 places.
What Can Help Find A Name For The Baby?
There are several ways to go name hunting as the baby grows and thrives in the womb. The following tips reveal what options are available:
Name Hit Lists As A Trend Barometer Or A Deterrent?
Ultimately, it is a question of the attitude of the parents, who are free to decide how they want to use the list of the most popular first names. For some, the top 10 are an indication of which names are in vogue so that they can also be in vogue with their own offspring. Others take the most popular names as a barometer for which name they’d better not give their offspring.
Especially parents with professions that deal with children – for example, educators or teachers – often want a name that does not allow comparisons. There are two possibilities: Either a particularly popular name is chosen, making the number of those with the same name so large that it is impossible to draw comparisons. Or a comparatively unknown name is chosen – in the hope of not having a child with the same name in the kindergarten group or in the school class.
Names With A Regional Connection
Those who are particularly connected with their home, their place of residence or with a certain region could also choose a name typical for the region. Krezentia/Creszentia is a Bavarian girl’s name that is often called Senta or Zenzi.
Ludwig then not infrequently becomes Luggi in the vernacular. Franziskas become Fannys or Franzis. It is quite obvious to give the offspring a regionally typical name and to raise the child in dialect to a certain extent.
According to euroakademie.de dialects should even make smart. There is also a separate, small hit list for each federal state, which for Saxony, for example, shows the boys’ names Mario, Kevin and Nico in the top three places, as well as Lea, Leonie and Anna for the girls. There are also name hit lists for countries outside Germany, for example for Nordic names.
Names That Sound Good In Multiple Languages
If the baby is born into a multi-cultural family, it may be a good idea to look for a name that sounds good in the native languages of the family members. Emma, Olivia, Clara, Jessica, Jennifer, Kim and Kira sound nice in English and German. Adrian, Marcus, Marc, Henry, Jonathan, Jacob and Oscar work well as boy names in German and English.
A Final Check And The Name Is Decided
Once a choice of first names for the offspring has been decided, it should be checked how the first and last names fit together. Also, the initials resulting from the first name and the surname should be checked, so as not to fabricate an unloved abbreviation with the initials.
A look at the meaning of the name can also be helpful. A practical tool for this is available at rtl.de. According to this, the most popular girl’s name in 2020, Mia, means God’s gift. Leon, the most popular boy’s name in 2020, means lion.
