Top NZ Baby Names of 1980

Sarah (657) and Daniel (725) were New Zealand's most registered names in 1980. Below are the top 50 girls' and boys' names for the year. See the whole 1980s for context.

Top 50 girls' names

  1. 1Sarah657
  2. 2Rebecca430
  3. 3Anna391
  4. 4Lisa376
  5. 5Kelly340
  6. 6Nicola329
  7. 7Amy324
  8. 8Emma292
  9. 9Melissa277
  10. 10Amanda275
  11. 11Angela274
  12. 12Michelle272
  13. 13Rachel256
  14. 14Jessica212
  15. 15Kylie205
  16. 16Melanie190
  17. 17Elizabeth185
  18. 18Natasha182
  19. 19Tania171
  20. 20Renee158
  21. 21Kate157
  22. 22Jennifer156
  23. 23Claire146
  24. 24Catherine142
  25. 25Tracey132
  26. 26Megan131
  27. 27Louise128
  28. 28Helen127
  29. 29Katrina125
  30. 30Vanessa124
  31. 31Hayley123
  32. 32Joanne121
  33. 33Andrea120
  34. 34Rachael118
  35. 35Amber115
  36. 36Fiona115
  37. 37Kathryn115
  38. 38Natalie115
  39. 39Stacey115
  40. 40Julie111
  41. 41Joanna107
  42. 42Karen104
  43. 43Katie104
  44. 44Katherine103
  45. 45Kirsty103
  46. 46Victoria102
  47. 47Anita97
  48. 48Kim97
  49. 49Nicole97
  50. 50Shannon96

Top 50 boys' names

  1. 1Daniel725
  2. 2Michael685
  3. 3David609
  4. 4James586
  5. 5Andrew563
  6. 6Matthew480
  7. 7Christopher442
  8. 8Mark424
  9. 9Paul424
  10. 10Jason411
  11. 11Nicholas401
  12. 12Timothy363
  13. 13Richard351
  14. 14Benjamin346
  15. 15Scott340
  16. 16Robert314
  17. 17John303
  18. 18Jonathan292
  19. 19Aaron289
  20. 20Simon280
  21. 21Shane273
  22. 22Luke257
  23. 23Nathan252
  24. 24Craig248
  25. 25Adam226
  26. 26Samuel220
  27. 27Stephen212
  28. 28Steven210
  29. 29Jeremy208
  30. 30Jamie199
  31. 31Peter191
  32. 32Joshua185
  33. 33Gareth182
  34. 34William180
  35. 35Joseph170
  36. 36Ryan170
  37. 37Hayden167
  38. 38Anthony163
  39. 39Thomas160
  40. 40Shaun138
  41. 41Phillip133
  42. 42Cameron129
  43. 43Karl128
  44. 44Philip126
  45. 45Brendon123
  46. 46Jared123
  47. 47Justin123
  48. 48Hamish121
  49. 49Bradley113
  50. 50Carl108

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.