Top 500 - Gender-neutral names on the rise, Taylor also on the rise: these are the most popular first names in 2023
Noah and Emilia are the most popular first names for newborn boys and girls in 2023. This is the result of an analysis by Ahrensburg-based amateur name researcher Knud Bielefeld, which was published on Friday. The frontrunners are the same as last year. "It's quite typical that such first name fashions develop very slowly, that hardly anything really changes over decades," Bielefeld assessed the development in an interview with the news agency DPA.
Another trend that the Ahrensburg native has identified: Gender-neutral names that can be used by both girls and boys are becoming increasingly common. One example: the name Taylor is now also being used as a girl's name - presumably inspired by superstar Taylor Swift.
Other anomalies that Bielefeld has identified:
- Half of the children born in Germany bear one of the 60 most popular girls' or boys' names.
- Bavaria stands out with a special naming landscape that is relatively conservative. "Names such as Thomas, Michael or Sabine still do relatively well there, which are no longer possible in other countries."
- In Saxony, "retro names" are very popular. "Something like Karl and Gerda, which are not so well known elsewhere."
- "The further north, the more modern. First name trends are more likely to be shaped in northern Germany than in southern Germany."
For his statistics, Knud Bielefeld and his team analyzed first name data from 412 cities, from registry offices and from baby galleries of maternity clinics - a total of around 280,000 reports (around 40 percent of all babies born in Germany ).
The most popular baby first names in Germany in 2023
The Society for the German Language publishes similar first name statistics with, according to its own figures, around 90 percent of all data from registry offices - but later than Knud Bielefeld.
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In the new trend of gender-neutral names, the moniker Taylor, perhaps influenced by renowned artist Taylor Swift, is now being used for babies in Germany as well. Despite the popularity of gender-neutral names, Noah and Emilia remain the most preferred first names for newborn boys and girls in 2023, according to Knud Bielefeld's analysis of baby first name data from 412 cities across Germany, representing around 40% of all babies born in the country.
Source: www.stern.de
