Matthew and Eliza rose to first place as the most popular names given to new-borns in Malta during 2012.
A decrease of 1.2 per cent in live births was observed during 2012 when compared to the previous year. Of the 4,231 babies born last year, 51.8 per cent were boys.
Boys’ names
The most popular name given to baby boys last year was Matthew (including variants like Matthias and Matteo), given to 4.6 per cent of baby boys. Jacob, including its variant Jake, rose to second place while Luke and its variants, which had held the first place for the most popular name for three consecutive years, fell to third place during 2012.
Names which rose in popularity during 2012 include Zachary, John, Aiden, Nathan, Isaac, Liam, Benjamin, Nicholas, Joseph, Yannick and Jack. Names including Kaiden, Alexander,Michael, Jaden, Daniel, Andrew, James and Gabriel decreased in popularity. Thomas, Mason, Julian and Denzel made their debut in the top 20 list last year, while the name Keiran failed to appear.
Girls’ names
Eliza and its variants, including Lisa, Elsie, Elyse and Bettina, was the most popular name given to baby girls during 2012. Elena, which held this position for two consecutive years, placed second last year. Julia also fell one place and ranked as the third most popular name given to girls last year.
New entrants into the girls’ top 20 list included Jade, Amber, Hailey and Faith. Other names declining in popularity for 2012 include Christina, Maria, Amy, Catherine, Sophia, Emilia, Alison and Aaliyah. Aaliyah went down most last year, ranking twentieth in contrast to eighth place in the preceding year. Big climbers for 2012 included Maya, Lea, Mikela and Chloe, which all gained five places respectively in popularity.
Some interesting trends
The predominance of biblical names was once again apparent in the list of popular names given to new-borns. Names like Matthew, Jacob, Luke, Zachary, John and Isaac for boys and Eliza, Helen, Maria, Anna, Catherine and Sarah for girls are all associated with biblical stories and saints. Some popular names given to babies reflect characters in pop culture and sports. Examples of such names include Mason, Denzel, Blake, Thiago, Gerrard and Zion for boys and Kendra, Khloe, Holly, Rihanna, Sienna, Norah, Kimora, Miley, Scarlett and Anouk for girls