NZ Baby Names Guides Compare names Biggest Movers By year Māori pēpi names Top NZ Baby Names of the 1920s Registrations added up across 1920-1929. Margaret and John were the decade's most registered names. Click any name to see its full trend.
Top 50 girls' names 1 Margaret 5,392 2 Mary 4,145 3 Joan 3,727 4 Dorothy 3,259 5 Joyce 3,143 6 Betty 2,942 7 Patricia 2,903 8 Jean 2,582 9 Shirley 2,564 10 Kathleen 2,123 11 June 2,064 12 Elizabeth 1,822 13 Eileen 1,720 14 Phyllis 1,690 15 Audrey 1,633 16 Doreen 1,548 17 Nancy 1,398 18 Mavis 1,362 19 Marjorie 1,330 20 Marie 1,229 21 Norma 1,175 22 Thelma 1,170 23 Edna 1,168 24 Doris 1,122 25 Helen 1,095 26 Gladys 1,087 27 Daphne 1,086 28 Ngaire 1,047 29 Barbara 1,040 30 Olive 1,033 31 Irene 988 32 Nola 985 33 Florence 968 34 Valerie 949 35 Elsie 938 36 Lorna 920 37 Hazel 900 38 Annie 897 39 Alice 881 40 Frances 865 41 Beryl 822 42 Ruth 788 43 Evelyn 786 44 Winifred 751 45 Edith 740 46 Noeline 736 47 Catherine 727 48 Iris 726 49 Muriel 718 50 Ellen 713 Top 50 boys' names 1 John 9,378 2 William 7,160 3 James 5,038 4 Robert 4,625 5 George 3,349 6 Ronald 3,048 7 Thomas 2,826 8 Raymond 2,747 9 David 2,293 10 Donald 2,247 11 Arthur 2,223 12 Kenneth 2,120 13 Gordon 2,103 14 Douglas 2,101 15 Ian 2,078 16 Peter 2,034 17 Charles 2,014 18 Leslie 1,896 19 Colin 1,884 20 Edward 1,838 21 Eric 1,835 22 Keith 1,640 23 Allan 1,571 24 Richard 1,552 25 Norman 1,514 26 Francis 1,502 27 Alan 1,491 28 Jack 1,489 29 Albert 1,425 30 Frederick 1,403 31 Desmond 1,351 32 Maurice 1,351 33 Brian 1,330 34 Noel 1,311 35 Stanley 1,298 36 Harold 1,281 37 Henry 1,255 38 Trevor 1,243 39 Leonard 1,219 40 Walter 1,207 41 Alexander 1,143 42 Bruce 1,121 43 Alfred 1,106 44 Ernest 1,055 45 Frank 1,042 46 Ivan 1,039 47 Patrick 1,004 48 Joseph 989 49 Roy 971 50 Mervyn 853 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.
Data-informed by DIA baby name registrations
Popularity signals only - every name is the right one.