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Top 5 NZ Baby Names by Generation

Every generation has its signature names. Using Department of Internal Affairs registration data, we added up every birth in each generation's birth years and pulled out the five most-given names for girls and boys - from the Boomers through to Gen Alpha.

How the generations are defined

We use the commonly cited generation bands: Baby Boomers born 1946-1964, Generation X 1965-1980, Millennials 1981-1996, Generation Z 1997-2012, and Generation Alpha 2013 onwards.

The registration data starts in 1954, so the Baby Boomer figures only cover 1954-1964 - the youngest Boomers. The other generations are fully covered.

Counts are total babies registered with that name across the whole generation window, so a name that was huge for a decade can outrank one that was steady for two.

The top 5 names for each generation

Baby Boomers

Born 1954-1964

Girls

  1. 1Christine8,358
  2. 2Susan8,143
  3. 3Margaret5,911
  4. 4Ella97
  5. 5Charlotte80

Boys

  1. 1David7,637
  2. 2Michael5,575
  3. 3Andrew1,425
  4. 4Jack207
  5. 5William92

Generation X

Born 1965-1980

Girls

  1. 1Susan4,838
  2. 2Christine3,991
  3. 3Margaret2,450
  4. 4Ella605
  5. 5Charlotte542

Boys

  1. 1Michael12,793
  2. 2Andrew9,188
  3. 3David7,126
  4. 4Jack1,232
  5. 5William592

Millennials

Born 1981-1996

Girls

  1. 1Ella2,564
  2. 2Charlotte2,432
  3. 3Olivia1,836
  4. 4Amelia1,467
  5. 5Maia837

Boys

  1. 1Andrew6,275
  2. 2Jack4,822
  3. 3Michael3,225
  4. 4William2,719
  5. 5Oliver2,401

Generation Z

Born 1997-2012

Girls

  1. 1Charlotte7,260
  2. 2Ella6,547
  3. 3Olivia6,347
  4. 4Amelia5,256
  5. 5Maia2,680

Boys

  1. 1Jack9,906
  2. 2Oliver7,667
  3. 3William7,584
  4. 4Noah5,979
  5. 5Tāne2,053

Generation Alpha

Born 2013-2025

Girls

  1. 1Olivia7,738
  2. 2Charlotte7,249
  3. 3Amelia6,789
  4. 4Ella5,636
  5. 5Isla4,375

Boys

  1. 1Oliver8,314
  2. 2Noah6,924
  3. 3William6,773
  4. 4Jack6,704
  5. 5Theodore4,614

Sources & further reading

About this data: figures come from Department of Internal Affairs birth registrations for 1954-2025. The DIA only publishes a name for a given year when at least 10 babies were registered with it, so rarer names - and rarer spellings - are missing entirely, and a name can drop out of the record in quieter years. Spelling variants are counted separately, and counts reflect first names as registered.

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