Matthew and Maria remain the two most popular names chosen by parents for their babies in 2004 and 2005, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.
During the two years under review, Matthew and its variants was the most popular name given to baby boys, as was the case in 2003. Of all the boys born in 2004, 4.7 per cent were given this name while in 2005, this percentage stood at 5.9.
Luke and its variants ranked as the second most popular male name in 2004, given to 4.4 per cent of male registered births. This name maintained its second-place ranking in the popularity stakes regarding male babies’ names throughout 2005.
In 2004, Jake was the third most popular name, followed by Michael and Nathaniel. In 2005, Michael was third, followed by Aidan and Jake (with Jamie/James as variants of the latter).
Jake seems to have lost some of its popularity, moving a couple of notches down from 2003.
As regards the 20 most popular names for baby boys, these two years have been characterised by a number of new entrants such as Karl and Zac at the expense of Thomas, Christian, Sean, Ryan, Francesco, Christopher, Joseph and Kyle.
The latter name registered a considerable loss in popularity. It 2004, it was in eighth position but failed to make the top 20 boy’s names in 2005.
On the other hand, Maria and its variants is still one of the main preferences for girls’ names, albeit losing some popularity when compared to 2003. In 2004, nearly five per cent of all baby girls were given this name or a version of it, with this proportion standing at just over four per cent in the ensuing year. In 2004, Martina shared second place with Nicole followed by Emma, Maya and Julia. In 2005 the second most popular name given to baby girls remained Martina, followed by Amy, Julia and Shania.
New entrants also featured in the top rankings for girls’ names.
Elisa and Catherine, together with their variants, and Mireille disappeared from the top 20 rankings in 2005.
While the appeal of famous personalities like Kluivert, Emerson, Klajdi, Ruslana and Shakira was also reflected in name choices for babies in the two years under review, the same period registered an upturn in Maltese names; these include Karm, Salvu, Marija, Gorg, Tereza and Manwela. In 2005, names with a biblical connotation were on the rise – 26.4 per cent of all babies’ names, with an increase also evident in the occurrence of Italian names – 17.2 per cent.
In 2004, 3,887 babies were born of whom 2,002 – 51.5 per cent – were boys. Total live births in 2005 registered a slight decrease of 0.7 per cent when compared to 2004. In 2005, four babies were born at home.