Top NZ Baby Names of 1928

Margaret (500) and John (904) were New Zealand's most registered names in 1928. Below are the top 50 girls' and boys' names for the year. See the whole 1920s for context.

Top 50 girls' names

  1. 1Margaret500
  2. 2Shirley398
  3. 3Betty364
  4. 4Patricia354
  5. 5Mary326
  6. 6Joan262
  7. 7Dorothy260
  8. 8Joyce246
  9. 9Elizabeth245
  10. 10June214
  11. 11Jean203
  12. 12Audrey189
  13. 13Valerie186
  14. 14Kathleen169
  15. 15Doreen162
  16. 16Marie152
  17. 17Barbara132
  18. 18Daphne130
  19. 19Ngaire130
  20. 20Mavis129
  21. 21Phyllis124
  22. 22Eileen122
  23. 23Norma117
  24. 24Nancy116
  25. 25Helen106
  26. 26Irene101
  27. 27Lorna101
  28. 28Thelma101
  29. 29Noeline100
  30. 30Marjorie98
  31. 31Colleen97
  32. 32Dawn95
  33. 33Maureen89
  34. 34Nola89
  35. 35Frances88
  36. 36Edna86
  37. 37Beryl85
  38. 38Joy82
  39. 39Ruth81
  40. 40Hazel77
  41. 41Lois73
  42. 42Marion73
  43. 43Yvonne73
  44. 44Beverley72
  45. 45Pauline72
  46. 46Gladys71
  47. 47Olive70
  48. 48Pamela70
  49. 49Florence68
  50. 50Annie67

Top 50 boys' names

  1. 1John904
  2. 2William636
  3. 3James458
  4. 4Robert424
  5. 5Ronald325
  6. 6Peter312
  7. 7Raymond295
  8. 8George292
  9. 9David261
  10. 10Thomas254
  11. 11Donald253
  12. 12Ian248
  13. 13Gordon213
  14. 14Colin208
  15. 15Brian207
  16. 16Kenneth200
  17. 17Douglas199
  18. 18Keith199
  19. 19Arthur166
  20. 20Eric165
  21. 21Leslie161
  22. 22Richard160
  23. 23Desmond158
  24. 24Edward152
  25. 25Maurice147
  26. 26Trevor147
  27. 27Alan146
  28. 28Charles146
  29. 29Norman144
  30. 30Allan138
  31. 31Noel137
  32. 32Ivan131
  33. 33Bruce130
  34. 34Stanley120
  35. 35Francis117
  36. 36Jack112
  37. 37Albert111
  38. 38Leonard108
  39. 39Alexander107
  40. 40Frederick105
  41. 41Mervyn105
  42. 42Patrick103
  43. 43Walter98
  44. 44Harold96
  45. 45Joseph92
  46. 46Ernest88
  47. 47Kevin86
  48. 48Rex86
  49. 49Graham85
  50. 50Henry84

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.