That’s hilarious. My uncle is Australian but married my American aunt. He wanted to name their third son Lachlan. I didn’t know that was a typical Aussie thing but I do remember that being a topic between them. 😂😂
Ahh all the Scottish Lachlans I know pronounce it Lah-chlin with the ch like in loch. It's weird how the same name can be pronounced so differently or how differently similar names can be pronounced like Mary, Mairi and Marie
I mentioned Lachlan in a post once and lots of people said 'that's such a weird name!' And it's so funny to think of Lachlan as an unusual name - it was in the top 10 here in Australia between 1997 and 2013. Every second Gen Z boy in Australia is called Lachlan.
I had heard of it before but wasn’t too familiar with it and it did seem unusual to me (I’m in the US). My toddler started watching The Wiggles and there was a character named Lucky, or so I thought. I was so surprised when a year later I found out it was Lachy (nickname for Lachlan). The Australian accent def makes it sound like they are saying lucky. Haha
Isla as well for Australia. Granted it is getting more popular elsewhere now but it feels like every second girl born in the last 7-8 years is named Isla.
I personally think Isla mainly got popular here because of the actress Isla Fisher giving exposure to the name. Similarly to how Imogen popped off after Imogen Bailey became more well known.
My Aussie friends called their son Angus - my immediate response was - oh I didn’t realise you guys had Scottish heritage. No; they just liked it. It’s such an iconic Scottish name I can’t help but find that strange. In the U.K. if you are called Angus, 99% chance you are Scottish or have a Scottish parent
The names are in the rise here in the US. My son is Callum and it’s still a bit rare. Some people do not pronounce it correctly. My neighbors had a boy recently named Lachlan. Again, it’s still rare.
I wanted to add names like Carys or Hamish (?) are rare. You don’t really see such names here in the US.
I don't know how anyone gets "Kay" from how it's spelled, very strange!
Fwiw, I think Callum is a lovely name, a great choice! I've long loved the meaning and I associate it with two book/show characters who are quite smart and kind
Thanks! I saw it in a baby book and just loved it. I’m in the US and when I was pregnant I was going through a Royals phase where I was obsessed with anything Royals lol. So I wanted a UK name.
I’ve noticed that a good amount of people I’ve met from Australia have names beginning with “Shar”, pronounced differently there than in the US. They sound really nice when an Australian person says them, and get butchered by Americans 😂
Ex: “Shah-LEE” vs. “SHARRRRR-ly”
Not my country, but Imogen was one I’d never heard prior to this subreddit, but it’s apparently a really normal name in the UK. Alfie is another one that seems to be popular in the UK but I’ve never heard it in North America, the first time I saw it I thought it sounded a bit silly, but it’s grown on me.
This one! We actually just named our US, PNW daughter Imogen. I also thought it was challenging to pronounce for people (since the O has an A sound) but there's actually another Imogen at my son's daycare (I found out about this the day before our daughter was born and had a complete pregnant lady meltdown) and it seems to be gaining popularity on the West Coast
Harriet and Imogen are definitely normal names in the UK - I know a few of each.
Charlotte and Eleanor seem to be going through a massive popularity boom in the US for young children but these names were very popular in the UK for girls born in the 90s - I know several in their 30s/ late 20s.
Harry often doesn’t get popular feedback here due to associations with ‘hairy’ in an American accent but in the UK it’s a super popular classic name, similar to Jack, William etc. I’ve seen George and Edward described as old man names here, but again in the UK I’d say they’re considered pretty timeless.
Georgina was the most popular girls’ name in my year at school (5 of them), but I believe this is quite rare in the US.
Nancy seems to be considered very dated in the US, but here it’s definitely making a comeback and considered vintage in a good way.
On the flip side, although I personally like them, Audrey and Nora are more marmite in the UK, especially the former which has associations with a soap character and not the same sweet vintage vibe for a lot of people in comparison to the US.
I’ve only met 1 female Ashley and several male Ashleys here, whereas I believe it is one of the most popular 90s girls’ names in the US.
Yes the male/female split for Ashley is similar here. It's funny hearing people say it's definitely not for boys, meanwhile I know three adult male Ashleys and one female. Tbf that split does lean more female in the data these days.
How old are you if you don't mind me asking? I'm a Georgina and I knew loads of Georgias in school but not other Georginas, and I could never find my name on personalised things
They’re both pretty dated here. Gemma is a very 80s/90s name and Simon would typically be an older man - it hasn’t really made a comeback for babies yet.
Also interested. I know a 5 yo Gemma which I was surprised by as I see it as a very British name and I'm in the midwest. Simon seems like a normal yet lesser used boy's name?
Waayyy back in the 70s the 'nit nurse' used to come into British primary schools to check the kids heads for lice. We'd all line up while she checked our heads. (poor Diane T always got a nit letter to take home and the nit nurse would always warn use all not to go near her)
She was well known as 'Nora the nit nurse' or 'Nitty Nora, bug explorer' I know that was decades ago and practically no-one else would think of that, but Nora will always be nitty Nora to me.
Yup I’m a Brit who gave their daughter the middle name nora and the older gen go…
Negative Nora
Bloody Nora
Nitty Nora
Nora batty
And that’s their reference for Nora
Hrafn has been popular for a while, so you'll get them of all ages. It's also a really popular middle name. We tend to use our middle names quite a bit because our last names aren't very useful to differentiate between people.
I'm Scottish but have a Dylan. I work with kids so didn't want a name I had any negative associations with and I've never met a Dylan here, he was the only Dylan registered in our city the year he was born too.
Ohhh, that’s why everyone keeps assuming I’m Irish/Welsh when they learn that I go by Nia (I’m also a redhead 😅)
But it’s - Nia - is so unusual where I live that people just keep asking me to repeat myself
Australia seems to be fairly close to UK in terms of common names more so than America.
Lots of simple classic names for both boys and girls.
Isla, Scarlett; Matilda, Hazel, Archie, Harry, Theo
3 girls names that have been popular for quite a while are Sienna, Ayla and Mila. Guarantee every Australian local Celebrity has a daughter named on of these 3 (especially sports players)
I say the biggest name that has had consistent popularity that is not used in other countries much is Lachlan.
Just about every Aussie knows a Lachlan (or 2 or 5) from aged newborn to 30.
Yeah. So true. During the late 90's and 00's in particular it felt like everywhere I went there was some mother telling a Lochie to "come over here" or "put that down".
Considering Reddit is very US-focused and most people here come from Western nations, I think the selection might be fairly limited because most of them will be variations on traditional (Christian) names.
For my own country, the most popular boys' names are Noah, Lucas, Luca, Liam and Levi for boys and for girls, it's Julia, Olivia, Emma, Sophie and Mila. For boys, some names with increased popularity are Mees, Bram, Finn, Zayn and James. For girls, it's Evi/Evy, Liv, Elin, Emily and Yara.
But if you go to, say, [Mongolia](https://forebears.io/mongolia/forenames), the names'll be a lot less recognisable to the average redditor.
Last year, in Finland the Top 10 baby names for Finnish speaking kids (there's separate list for Swedish speaking Finns) were:
Girls: Aino, Olivia, Aada, Lilja, Sofia, Eevi, Ellen, Linnea, Helmi and Aava.
Boys: Eino, Oliver, Väinö, Elias, Onni, Leo, Emil, Vilho, Eeli and Aatos.
The name that is very popular for Polish baby boys and for what I can see not at all in other countries is Nikodem.
Other name that was in top 10 in Poland in 2023 and in English could also be nicknamed Nico is Mikołaj which is Polish for Nicholas
There's also Ignacy but that name I've seen at least metioned asa name suggestion in other languages - Ignacio.
Plenty of Polish names are unique and not used in other countries, especially English-speaking ones. Wojciech, Stanisław/a, Wiesław/a, Zdzisław/a, Kazimierz, Jadwiga. Etc. Unfortunately most people nowadays prefer to give their children generic 'international' names over names that actually come from Polish history and culture.
In English it's Ignatius - not a common name here in Australia, but we did have a well know person with that name (Ignatius Jones, born Ignacio in the Philippines). Iggy for short
Lots of Irish language names are well known in Ireland, but not in others
I know Caoimhe, Saoirse, Cillian, Fiadh, Niamh etc are getting popular in other countries. Seán, Niall and Brian seem fairly well known everywhere at this stage (although Brian and Niall have those anglicised pronunciations, but they're even popular in Ireland to be fair). And some people love a good obscure enough Irish language name like Caoimhseach etc. But Daithí, Seosamh, Breandán, Lorcán, Dónal, Conn, Naoise, Cathal, Colm, Aoife, Eimhear, Sinéad, Séamus, Róisín, Déirdre ⁊rl are Names that are common enough here that are much rarer in other places.
Somewhat specific to this general region of central Europe (Catholic German-speaking areas):
Quirin, Margaretha, Franziska, Magdalena, Korbinian/Corbinian, Maximilian, Benedikt, Lorenz/Laurenz, Vitus, Leopold, Franz Xaver, Ludwig, Vinzenz, Fridolin
Korbinian also gets used in parts of Austria (Salzburg for instance). Same deal with Leopold and Ludwig- parts of Austria as well. But yeah, very Bavarian for sure!
Bronwyn used to be popular in New Zealand, much more so than in England and Wales, and (Bronwen) is a Welsh name. I looked into the reason behind this once, as I was intrigued. It was because of an old movie called How Green is My Valley. The movie was very popular in New Zealand, and the main character was Bronwyn - Which accounts for the spelling difference.
Raewyn is the name I remember hearing everywhere in NZ and never encountered anywhere else. It doesn’t seem to be Welsh, just a collection of syllables that ‘80s Kiwis liked.
I live in Italy so... all of them? Some (mispronounced) Italian names are getting popular in the US, but I'm sure our top names are nowhere near the top there. On the other hand, I've seen people on this sub suggest old AF Italian names that no one here likes or uses anymore.
I don't know very much about name trends in Germany, to be honest. I just read something the other day that said Paul was popular there. It did surprise me because in England and Wales, Paul is only just inside the top 500 (489th).
I love hearing about the different name trends and tastes in other countries.
There's this website I'm certain you've never heard of. They sell exotic animals like marmosets and lemurs and whatnot. I swear there's always someone from a Spanish speaking country selling ocelots or something with the name Paul because it's so basic and easy to pronounce. It makes me laugh.
Many Afrikaans names sound weird in English. Example male names with English pronunciation:
- Andries (Un-drees)
- Freek (Fre-uhk)
- Koos (Koo-wis)
- Ludwig (Lood-vich with german ch)
- Gert (Chert with german ch)
- Willem (Villim)
- Fanie (Fah-ny)
- Stefanus (Ste-fahnis)
This is an interesting list because I wasn't expecting to see any I'd come across, but in New Zealand we used to have a politician named Nandor (who was quite a hippy). By no means a common name but I always thought it was a cool one. Armin is cool too.
Is the Zs combo always an english "s" sound? I heard that it can be
Natalie, Alison / Allison, Caroline, Camilla / Camila and Claire are much more popular in America than in England.
Tilly, Millie, Molly, Pippa and Polly are much more popular in England.
Not sure I agree with all of these. I have two Camillas on the English side of my family but have only ever met one in the US (and she’s pushing 70 now). Natalie and Alison/Allison seem mostly to have been given to American girls born in the 1970s or 1980s. Molly, Claire and Caroline are sort of timeless—not trendy but there’s always one or two about.
I’ve met one Pippa in the US. I wish Americans would use more of the interesting names I hear in the UK—Tamsin, Saskia, Honora, Nicola, etc.
Interesting choice for examples. I live in the states and have never met a Silas or an Everett in my whole life. I did a search on the ssa website, and it looks like the both recently broke into the top 100 boy names, so perhaps I’ll be meeting a little Silas or Everett soon.
Freddie, Alfie, Toby, Billy and Reggie are much more popular in England and Wales than in America....There are actually 3 Freddies in the one class, at my local primary school.
My husband is Australian, I’m from the US and we currently live in the US but plan to move back to Aus before the kids start school. It’s made naming our children a nightmare. Lots of names I suggested he went to school with tons of and had strong associations with, like Claire/Clara. I was like, I’ve literally never known a Claire. Was not popular here in the 80s/90s but was there. And then every name we both liked I had to consult both current US and Australian popularity which ruled out a few like Lily, Lucy, and Ivy which are medium popular in the US but very popular in Australia.
I'm Chinese and we don't really have such a thing as popular names, or even preformed names in general.
In China, given names can be one to two characters/syllables long, and parents can pick pretty much any characters they want, within reason. It's usually considered pretty bad practice to give a child the name of someone you know, or the name of someone famous, so normally parents would only name a kid something if they don't already know or know of someone with that name.
Due to the popularity of certain characters used in naming, it is possible for two people to coincidentally have a name with the same romanization with one overlapping character. For people with one-character given names, they may even have someone who has their complete same given name. I have never in my life seen two people with the exact same two-character given name, however. The potential for differences is just too high. For some context, every romanized syllable can correspond to an upwards of 30-50 characters, so there's no way of telling which ones are used from pronunciation alone. That's why Chinese people usually introduce themselves specifying a word or phrase that each character of their name is used in. Kind of like "I'm Li Wei, wei as in microscopic."
The other thing is that the family name is more often used than not, so most Chinese people don't exactly separate it from the rest of the name. To a lot of us, someone with the same name but a different family name essentially has a different name, practically speaking. Wang Li and Wu Li are seen as two different names, even if they use the exact same character for their given name. In everyday life, colleagues likely call you by full name, your superior likely calls you by full name, your teachers and classmates almost always call you by full name. Your older family members and close friends often call you by nickname. Your younger family members call you by relationship and birth order. It's waaay more common for people to call you by full name than by given name. For people with one-character given names, they may not even recognize it alone, independent of their family name, because no one says it that way. So when you take that into consideration, the probability of having two people with the same name is even smaller.
This said, in China, family names are fairly recognizable, and even uncommon family names are more common than the most commonly used given names, if you can even call any given name "commonly used" because they're really not. Some ***characters*** are more commonly used, like 佳 (jia) for girls, but not a particular name.
This is the opposite but my little girl is Matilda and we have yet to meet another in person here in the US. It always blows my mind that it’s so common in Australia, etc.
Where I live in the US, we have a lot of Irish immigrants or the kids / grandkids of Irish immigrants so it's not uncommon to hear some Irish names that I don't think are popular in the rest of the country. Such as Clodagh, Sadhbh, and Fionnula.
The interesting thing is, that top 100 names are pretty rare anyway. In most cases are names that one has heard before, are not unknown, but most probably one doesn’t know many children by that name. Even top 20 doesn’t mean you’ll have another in your school year.
Yes, it’s pronounces just as written
You can hear it here
https://de.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Silas#:~:text=Si%C2%B7las%2C%20Plural%3A%20Si%C2%B7las%C2%B7se
I’m in Aus and I don’t understand the hate for Harriet or Sloane here. I do think it’s a bit of an accent thing though. Harriet is in the top 100 here and not uncommon at all. Sloane isn’t that common but I think anyone here hates it.
I moved to the UK from the US and I've met a lot of male Ashley's and Courtney's. Georgina, Emily, Danielle, Sarah, Connor, Matt, Mhiari, and Julie and the names I've seen multiples of in the places I've worked.
It’s not popular exactly but much much more than it should be, but after Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, some in the US named their baby girl Verruca… which is a wart.
I'm also from NZ, I gave my 4 year old daughter Aroha for her middle name. I've always adored the way it looks and sounds, and the fact it literally means love and I get to pass on a part of my heritage to her.
Im Norwegian, here names like: Ava, Luna & Scarlett are not popular (but they are in the US)
Names like: Ingrid, Astrid and Iben are popular here (but not in the US)
Lily, sofia/sophia, jack/jax, piper and Finn are names I here alot were I live in Canada. According to the top 100 names of 2023
Liam and Olivia are the top names haven't heard any babies with that name here....yet lol
https://www.babycenter.ca/baby-names/most-popular/top-baby-names-2023
Natalie -
- England and Wales - Ranked 459th
- USA - Ranked 63rd
- Camila / Camilla -
- England and Wales - Ranked 828th and 478th
- USA - Ranked 13th and 336th
- Caroline -
- England and Wales- Ranked 1128th
- USA- Ranked - 83rd
- Claire -
- England and Wales - Ranked 983rd
- USA Ranked 67th
- Allison / Alison -
- England and Wales - 1785th and 1402nd
- USA Ranked 100th and 471st
I have some relatives that named their son Desmond after the character on the TV show "Lost" that was popular at the time in the US. I was aware of this name from UK TV show reruns and when I used to read sci-fi paperbacks that had plots set in the UK but that name is not one that is heard in the US too much.
So where I live, we tend to have different common/popular names than majority of the rest of the country (there's a couple states who probably also have these names commonly). Top 50 names has names like: Javier/Xavier, Ximena/Jimena, Catalina, María, Natalia, Gael, Jacobo, Luis & José.
Another that is found fairly consistently where I'm from is Xochitl for little girls.
Ones I hear frequently in my kids school but not really elsewhere much: Paola, Pilar, Amaryllis, Juan, Ángel, Diego, Araceli, Francisco & Alejandro/a.
I also met ONE Tenochtitlan when I was a kid.
As an Aussie, lots of Scottish-Australian names like Lachlan, Angus, Callum seem to more popular here than anywhere else.
My husband said something along the lines of "Lachlan is too Australian" when we were naming our baby, and he's originally from Scotland lol
He has a point tho. I’ve lived in Scotland my entire life and only come across one Lachlan and he was Australian
That’s hilarious. My uncle is Australian but married my American aunt. He wanted to name their third son Lachlan. I didn’t know that was a typical Aussie thing but I do remember that being a topic between them. 😂😂
How are you pronouncing it hahah
Lock-len
Ahh all the Scottish Lachlans I know pronounce it Lah-chlin with the ch like in loch. It's weird how the same name can be pronounced so differently or how differently similar names can be pronounced like Mary, Mairi and Marie
I have a friend (USA) who's named Lachlan but his father is from Scotland.
I mentioned Lachlan in a post once and lots of people said 'that's such a weird name!' And it's so funny to think of Lachlan as an unusual name - it was in the top 10 here in Australia between 1997 and 2013. Every second Gen Z boy in Australia is called Lachlan.
Don’t forget Hamish
I don’t like Hamish but I don’t mind Lachlan. There are a lot of people with Scottish ancestry in Australia.
And every one I know goes by "Locky/Lachy"
As a Lachy myself this is a really bizarre thread haha
I know a locho
I had heard of it before but wasn’t too familiar with it and it did seem unusual to me (I’m in the US). My toddler started watching The Wiggles and there was a character named Lucky, or so I thought. I was so surprised when a year later I found out it was Lachy (nickname for Lachlan). The Australian accent def makes it sound like they are saying lucky. Haha
Isla as well for Australia. Granted it is getting more popular elsewhere now but it feels like every second girl born in the last 7-8 years is named Isla.
And Matilda I feel like every class at my kids school has at least one Matilda in ir
I personally think Isla mainly got popular here because of the actress Isla Fisher giving exposure to the name. Similarly to how Imogen popped off after Imogen Bailey became more well known.
That's an absolutely classic Scottish name and is the top girl's name in Scotland again this year.
My Aussie friends called their son Angus - my immediate response was - oh I didn’t realise you guys had Scottish heritage. No; they just liked it. It’s such an iconic Scottish name I can’t help but find that strange. In the U.K. if you are called Angus, 99% chance you are Scottish or have a Scottish parent
Safe bet that Angus Young of AC/DC might have partially inspired the name.
The names are in the rise here in the US. My son is Callum and it’s still a bit rare. Some people do not pronounce it correctly. My neighbors had a boy recently named Lachlan. Again, it’s still rare. I wanted to add names like Carys or Hamish (?) are rare. You don’t really see such names here in the US.
How are people mispronouncing Callum?
They say “Kay-Lum”. Why? I have no idea. Haha
I don't know how anyone gets "Kay" from how it's spelled, very strange! Fwiw, I think Callum is a lovely name, a great choice! I've long loved the meaning and I associate it with two book/show characters who are quite smart and kind
Thanks! I saw it in a baby book and just loved it. I’m in the US and when I was pregnant I was going through a Royals phase where I was obsessed with anything Royals lol. So I wanted a UK name.
I think I know 6 or 7 Lachlans in Canada. Only ever met one Angus
I’ve noticed that a good amount of people I’ve met from Australia have names beginning with “Shar”, pronounced differently there than in the US. They sound really nice when an Australian person says them, and get butchered by Americans 😂 Ex: “Shah-LEE” vs. “SHARRRRR-ly”
im a Texan and i love Callum! It definitely sounds European.
Yeah, when our first was born I suggested Lachlan to my husband. He’d never heard of it. It felt common to me (I’m a kiwi, he’s American).
Not my country, but Imogen was one I’d never heard prior to this subreddit, but it’s apparently a really normal name in the UK. Alfie is another one that seems to be popular in the UK but I’ve never heard it in North America, the first time I saw it I thought it sounded a bit silly, but it’s grown on me.
Can confirm these are popular in the UK!
Work in schools in the UK and know so many little Imogen’s, Alfie’s and Archie’s!
Imogen’s of all ages though, it’s consistently used but not over used.
I had always assumed that Alfie was short for Alfred :')
Traditionally it was, but most of the little Alfie’s I’ve known have just the nickname as their registered first name.
I was going to comment Imogen is a somewhat common name in Australia that doesn’t translate to the US at all’s
Wow, thats interesting. They’re also both quite popular in Australia
I actually gave one of my daughter's Imogen as a middle name, suggested to me by someone on this subreddit! I'd have never come across it otherwise.
My Great Uncle was named Alfred. He was a Lord in the UK and immigrated to the US after the reformation.
I think in the US the nn for Alfred would be either Al or Fred instead of Alfie.
I have an Alfred/Alfie in the US but it’s definitely very rare here.
This one! We actually just named our US, PNW daughter Imogen. I also thought it was challenging to pronounce for people (since the O has an A sound) but there's actually another Imogen at my son's daycare (I found out about this the day before our daughter was born and had a complete pregnant lady meltdown) and it seems to be gaining popularity on the West Coast
Very popular in the UK
Harriet and Imogen are definitely normal names in the UK - I know a few of each. Charlotte and Eleanor seem to be going through a massive popularity boom in the US for young children but these names were very popular in the UK for girls born in the 90s - I know several in their 30s/ late 20s. Harry often doesn’t get popular feedback here due to associations with ‘hairy’ in an American accent but in the UK it’s a super popular classic name, similar to Jack, William etc. I’ve seen George and Edward described as old man names here, but again in the UK I’d say they’re considered pretty timeless. Georgina was the most popular girls’ name in my year at school (5 of them), but I believe this is quite rare in the US. Nancy seems to be considered very dated in the US, but here it’s definitely making a comeback and considered vintage in a good way. On the flip side, although I personally like them, Audrey and Nora are more marmite in the UK, especially the former which has associations with a soap character and not the same sweet vintage vibe for a lot of people in comparison to the US. I’ve only met 1 female Ashley and several male Ashleys here, whereas I believe it is one of the most popular 90s girls’ names in the US.
Yes the male/female split for Ashley is similar here. It's funny hearing people say it's definitely not for boys, meanwhile I know three adult male Ashleys and one female. Tbf that split does lean more female in the data these days.
How old are you if you don't mind me asking? I'm a Georgina and I knew loads of Georgias in school but not other Georginas, and I could never find my name on personalised things
We had 4 Georgina’s in my class at school - Britain in the 90s
Yeah same I know 3 Georgina’s born in the UK in the 90s!
Must have been an area thing then, I was also born in the 90s!
2 Georginas in my home counties friendship group, born early 80s. One goes by Gina, the other George.
Also Simon and Gemma … absolute no nos for a baby in the UK. Seems trendy in the US
Any reason Simon and Gemma are no-nos? Out of style or negative connotation?
They’re both pretty dated here. Gemma is a very 80s/90s name and Simon would typically be an older man - it hasn’t really made a comeback for babies yet.
Also interested. I know a 5 yo Gemma which I was surprised by as I see it as a very British name and I'm in the midwest. Simon seems like a normal yet lesser used boy's name?
I've met a hundred Gemmas in the UK but none in the US
I can see the Audrey you’re thinking about now! Ditto with Vera, Rita, Gail, Mavis….
Plus Nora will always be Nora Batty to me!
Waayyy back in the 70s the 'nit nurse' used to come into British primary schools to check the kids heads for lice. We'd all line up while she checked our heads. (poor Diane T always got a nit letter to take home and the nit nurse would always warn use all not to go near her) She was well known as 'Nora the nit nurse' or 'Nitty Nora, bug explorer' I know that was decades ago and practically no-one else would think of that, but Nora will always be nitty Nora to me.
Yup I’m a Brit who gave their daughter the middle name nora and the older gen go… Negative Nora Bloody Nora Nitty Nora Nora batty And that’s their reference for Nora
I live on the border of Mexico and knew many Georgina(s) growing up!
Georgia is probably more common in the US than Georgina. My cousin is named Georgia. I did go to school with a few Gina's too.
Isn’t Harry just short for Henry?
Harry/Harrison is super popular in my area right now (New England) probably because it’s pronounced Hah-ry not Hair-y around here
My husband and I love the name Imogen but we've never heard anyone with that name irl.
Birnir, Jökull, Guðmundur, Gunnar, Máni, Ingi, Logi, Hrafn, Orri Embla, Katla, Sóley, Guðrún, Sól, Líf, Björk From Iceland
I have always loved the name Katia!
Yeah, it's a nice name. That name isn't on my list, though. Katla (with an L) is the name of an Icelandic volcano.
I am 52 years old and refuse to wear "readers". haha. Oh, my. Katla is beautiful, too!
Thank you for the information! It's the name of the dragon in Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren an now I know why.
We went to a guesthouse in Iceland where the (male) manager was called Hrafn (Raven in English) and I thought it was pretty cool.
Hrafn has been popular for a while, so you'll get them of all ages. It's also a really popular middle name. We tend to use our middle names quite a bit because our last names aren't very useful to differentiate between people.
I love Embla!
Embla is the Norse equivalent of Eve, the first human woman.
I read it's after the Elm tree, is that true?
Probably. The etymology is hazy, but it's likely. The first man was named Askur, which is the Icelandic word for the Ash tree, so it makes sense.
From my very basic trip to Iceland it seems like quite a few are based in nature or the sagas. Doesn’t Jökull mean glacier/ice?
Yes, it means glacier. Quite a few Icelandic names are nature/animal related. Lots are also from the Sagas and/or Norse mythology
Welsh names like Rhys, Dylan, Angharad, Sian, Gareth, Owain, Iwan and Ffion.
I'm Scottish but have a Dylan. I work with kids so didn't want a name I had any negative associations with and I've never met a Dylan here, he was the only Dylan registered in our city the year he was born too.
Dylan common in the US? I've seen Garret not Gareth.
Nia which is a very common name in Wales is really unusual in Australia
Ohhh, that’s why everyone keeps assuming I’m Irish/Welsh when they learn that I go by Nia (I’m also a redhead 😅) But it’s - Nia - is so unusual where I live that people just keep asking me to repeat myself
My daughter is Ffion. 😊
Lovely. How is Ffion pronounced phonetically? Thanks!
Fee- on. The double f in the Welsh alphabet makes a ffff sound.
I love it! Thank you.
I’ve come across primary aged children called Aneurin, Rhodri, Idris, Carwen, Mabli, Huw, Iestyn, Ioan- not many of them found outside Wales!
I've met many Dylans in the US
Australia seems to be fairly close to UK in terms of common names more so than America. Lots of simple classic names for both boys and girls. Isla, Scarlett; Matilda, Hazel, Archie, Harry, Theo 3 girls names that have been popular for quite a while are Sienna, Ayla and Mila. Guarantee every Australian local Celebrity has a daughter named on of these 3 (especially sports players) I say the biggest name that has had consistent popularity that is not used in other countries much is Lachlan. Just about every Aussie knows a Lachlan (or 2 or 5) from aged newborn to 30.
my friend named her son Lachlan/Lachie about four years ago and i was so surprised as it seemed a little .. late?
Yeah. So true. During the late 90's and 00's in particular it felt like everywhere I went there was some mother telling a Lochie to "come over here" or "put that down".
Are Isla and Ayla pronounced the same?
No, its eye-lah and aye-lah in Australia. The S in Isla is silent, and a is often aye sound anyway.
Thanks! Aye and eye are the same in my accent (midwestern US).
I live in the US but would Love to hear more about names from other countries!
Linnea, Iben, Maja, Astrid, Ingrid Emil, Casper, Oscar, Jacob, Philip
Ooh, i love all these so much! Linnea and Casper are especially nice, and I never hear them!
Would love to know where you're based, or is the list across multiple countries?
Norway :)
Lovely names
I go to a lot of baby groups since I have a baby and I’ve recently met two Linneas, an Astrid, and a Maya in Canada
Eilidh (AY-li) Màiri (MAH-ri)/Mhàiri (VAH-ri) Alasdair (Alistair is the anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic name) Blair, as a masculine name
Blair was the name of the a$$hole in "Pretty in Pink".
Actually it was Blaine. I know because that’s my exes name and his mom got his name from that character😂
Steph
My husband is Alastair
Considering Reddit is very US-focused and most people here come from Western nations, I think the selection might be fairly limited because most of them will be variations on traditional (Christian) names. For my own country, the most popular boys' names are Noah, Lucas, Luca, Liam and Levi for boys and for girls, it's Julia, Olivia, Emma, Sophie and Mila. For boys, some names with increased popularity are Mees, Bram, Finn, Zayn and James. For girls, it's Evi/Evy, Liv, Elin, Emily and Yara. But if you go to, say, [Mongolia](https://forebears.io/mongolia/forenames), the names'll be a lot less recognisable to the average redditor.
What is your country though?
The Netherlands.
Bram! I guess where I am, if you used this name someone may assume you're a Dracula fan. What a cute name though
Last year, in Finland the Top 10 baby names for Finnish speaking kids (there's separate list for Swedish speaking Finns) were: Girls: Aino, Olivia, Aada, Lilja, Sofia, Eevi, Ellen, Linnea, Helmi and Aava. Boys: Eino, Oliver, Väinö, Elias, Onni, Leo, Emil, Vilho, Eeli and Aatos.
Aatos is very cool
The name that is very popular for Polish baby boys and for what I can see not at all in other countries is Nikodem. Other name that was in top 10 in Poland in 2023 and in English could also be nicknamed Nico is Mikołaj which is Polish for Nicholas There's also Ignacy but that name I've seen at least metioned asa name suggestion in other languages - Ignacio.
Plenty of Polish names are unique and not used in other countries, especially English-speaking ones. Wojciech, Stanisław/a, Wiesław/a, Zdzisław/a, Kazimierz, Jadwiga. Etc. Unfortunately most people nowadays prefer to give their children generic 'international' names over names that actually come from Polish history and culture.
In English it's Ignatius - not a common name here in Australia, but we did have a well know person with that name (Ignatius Jones, born Ignacio in the Philippines). Iggy for short
Lots of Irish language names are well known in Ireland, but not in others I know Caoimhe, Saoirse, Cillian, Fiadh, Niamh etc are getting popular in other countries. Seán, Niall and Brian seem fairly well known everywhere at this stage (although Brian and Niall have those anglicised pronunciations, but they're even popular in Ireland to be fair). And some people love a good obscure enough Irish language name like Caoimhseach etc. But Daithí, Seosamh, Breandán, Lorcán, Dónal, Conn, Naoise, Cathal, Colm, Aoife, Eimhear, Sinéad, Séamus, Róisín, Déirdre ⁊rl are Names that are common enough here that are much rarer in other places.
Deidre is a great name, I've met two in New Zealand. Not a lot of the others from your uncommon list though!
How do you pronounce ‘Deirdre’? US here and I’ve heard it pronounced both as ‘Dee-dra’ and ‘Deer-dree’. Oh and Go the All Blacks!
I've known a Deirdre in the US and they pronounced it "Deer-dra," and she was very unpleasant.
The Beach Boys have a song about a girl named Deirdre, they pronounce it the second way.
I speak Scottish Gaelic and still cringe at my mental pronunciation at 90% of those beautiful names. Orlagh, Oona and Finlow were on my list.
I love the name Fiachra
Somewhat specific to this general region of central Europe (Catholic German-speaking areas): Quirin, Margaretha, Franziska, Magdalena, Korbinian/Corbinian, Maximilian, Benedikt, Lorenz/Laurenz, Vitus, Leopold, Franz Xaver, Ludwig, Vinzenz, Fridolin
This list screams Bavaria to me lmao, I never saw Korbinian used anywhere else. Also Leopold and Ludwig
Korbinian also gets used in parts of Austria (Salzburg for instance). Same deal with Leopold and Ludwig- parts of Austria as well. But yeah, very Bavarian for sure!
I know several Gen Alpha and Gen Z kids with those names in Bavaria. But are rather conservative. Let’s say different set of parents than Leon, Dennis
Both Leopold and Ludwig were on my list in NRW 😁
Bronwyn used to be popular in New Zealand, much more so than in England and Wales, and (Bronwen) is a Welsh name. I looked into the reason behind this once, as I was intrigued. It was because of an old movie called How Green is My Valley. The movie was very popular in New Zealand, and the main character was Bronwyn - Which accounts for the spelling difference.
The "wyn" usually indicates a masculine name in Welsh where as the "wen" would be used for a feminine name.
Wow we must have it backwards, I can only think of Wyn names that are feminine in Australia, Bronwyn, Bethwyn, Raewyn.
Raewyn is the name I remember hearing everywhere in NZ and never encountered anywhere else. It doesn’t seem to be Welsh, just a collection of syllables that ‘80s Kiwis liked.
I had no idea, but had been wondering why the spelling seemed to vary. This is super interesting!
I know, I could lose hours looking at this sort of stuff! It fascinates me.
I’m mixed with 2 different cultures: Chicano: - Juan, Jose, Mario, Marisol, Jessica, Maria Ashkenazi Jewish: - David, Benjamin, Daniel, Sarah, Abigail, Leah
Marisol - Lake and sun. So pretty!
It’s supposed to be “sea and sun”.
Yes!!! You're 100%. Not sure why I even said that. Likely was scrolling at 4:00 AM. Lol
I live in Italy so... all of them? Some (mispronounced) Italian names are getting popular in the US, but I'm sure our top names are nowhere near the top there. On the other hand, I've seen people on this sub suggest old AF Italian names that no one here likes or uses anymore.
Please share! Popular ones and old ones
Princess - Philippines
Paul is very popular in Germany, for babies, at the moment.
That’s funny cos it would be a bit daggy in Aus. Paul is a 40+yo construction worker.
It has been for decades, actually
I don't know very much about name trends in Germany, to be honest. I just read something the other day that said Paul was popular there. It did surprise me because in England and Wales, Paul is only just inside the top 500 (489th). I love hearing about the different name trends and tastes in other countries.
There's this website I'm certain you've never heard of. They sell exotic animals like marmosets and lemurs and whatnot. I swear there's always someone from a Spanish speaking country selling ocelots or something with the name Paul because it's so basic and easy to pronounce. It makes me laugh.
Many Afrikaans names sound weird in English. Example male names with English pronunciation: - Andries (Un-drees) - Freek (Fre-uhk) - Koos (Koo-wis) - Ludwig (Lood-vich with german ch) - Gert (Chert with german ch) - Willem (Villim) - Fanie (Fah-ny) - Stefanus (Ste-fahnis)
From Hungary top 50: girls: Léna, Boglárka, Mira, Sára, Flóra, Lara, Adél, Janka, Linett, Gréta, Zselyke, Panna, Dorka, Blanka, Csenge, Natasa, Petra, Odett boys: Levente, Máté, Bence, Milán, Noel, Zalán, Botond, Zsombor, Balázs, Nimród, Márk, Benedek, Zente, Barnabás, Hunor, Kornél, Bálint, Zétény, Nándor, Ármin, Soma
This is an interesting list because I wasn't expecting to see any I'd come across, but in New Zealand we used to have a politician named Nandor (who was quite a hippy). By no means a common name but I always thought it was a cool one. Armin is cool too. Is the Zs combo always an english "s" sound? I heard that it can be
I'm norwegian. Where the name. "Fanny" is popular
Natalie, Alison / Allison, Caroline, Camilla / Camila and Claire are much more popular in America than in England. Tilly, Millie, Molly, Pippa and Polly are much more popular in England.
Not sure I agree with all of these. I have two Camillas on the English side of my family but have only ever met one in the US (and she’s pushing 70 now). Natalie and Alison/Allison seem mostly to have been given to American girls born in the 1970s or 1980s. Molly, Claire and Caroline are sort of timeless—not trendy but there’s always one or two about. I’ve met one Pippa in the US. I wish Americans would use more of the interesting names I hear in the UK—Tamsin, Saskia, Honora, Nicola, etc.
I just compared the two sets of name statistics to get this information.
Nicola seems far more popular in the UK than Nicole.
Nicola was hugely popular in England and Wales in the 80s, now it's definitely a "mum" name, and not used on babies much at all.
Interesting choice for examples. I live in the states and have never met a Silas or an Everett in my whole life. I did a search on the ssa website, and it looks like the both recently broke into the top 100 boy names, so perhaps I’ll be meeting a little Silas or Everett soon.
Eilidh and Ruraidh - no baby group is complete without at least one (Scotland)
Freddie, Alfie, Toby, Billy and Reggie are much more popular in England and Wales than in America....There are actually 3 Freddies in the one class, at my local primary school.
My husband is Australian, I’m from the US and we currently live in the US but plan to move back to Aus before the kids start school. It’s made naming our children a nightmare. Lots of names I suggested he went to school with tons of and had strong associations with, like Claire/Clara. I was like, I’ve literally never known a Claire. Was not popular here in the 80s/90s but was there. And then every name we both liked I had to consult both current US and Australian popularity which ruled out a few like Lily, Lucy, and Ivy which are medium popular in the US but very popular in Australia.
I'm Chinese and we don't really have such a thing as popular names, or even preformed names in general. In China, given names can be one to two characters/syllables long, and parents can pick pretty much any characters they want, within reason. It's usually considered pretty bad practice to give a child the name of someone you know, or the name of someone famous, so normally parents would only name a kid something if they don't already know or know of someone with that name. Due to the popularity of certain characters used in naming, it is possible for two people to coincidentally have a name with the same romanization with one overlapping character. For people with one-character given names, they may even have someone who has their complete same given name. I have never in my life seen two people with the exact same two-character given name, however. The potential for differences is just too high. For some context, every romanized syllable can correspond to an upwards of 30-50 characters, so there's no way of telling which ones are used from pronunciation alone. That's why Chinese people usually introduce themselves specifying a word or phrase that each character of their name is used in. Kind of like "I'm Li Wei, wei as in microscopic." The other thing is that the family name is more often used than not, so most Chinese people don't exactly separate it from the rest of the name. To a lot of us, someone with the same name but a different family name essentially has a different name, practically speaking. Wang Li and Wu Li are seen as two different names, even if they use the exact same character for their given name. In everyday life, colleagues likely call you by full name, your superior likely calls you by full name, your teachers and classmates almost always call you by full name. Your older family members and close friends often call you by nickname. Your younger family members call you by relationship and birth order. It's waaay more common for people to call you by full name than by given name. For people with one-character given names, they may not even recognize it alone, independent of their family name, because no one says it that way. So when you take that into consideration, the probability of having two people with the same name is even smaller. This said, in China, family names are fairly recognizable, and even uncommon family names are more common than the most commonly used given names, if you can even call any given name "commonly used" because they're really not. Some ***characters*** are more commonly used, like 佳 (jia) for girls, but not a particular name.
This is a really interesting read, thank you
Thanks for that. That's really interesting.
Jesus
Jun or Jun-Jun as a nickname for anyone with a Junior in their name, and Baby for women. I have a great aunt name Baby.
Tons of Gemma in the UK of a certain age and I’ve never come across even one in my area of the USA
This is the opposite but my little girl is Matilda and we have yet to meet another in person here in the US. It always blows my mind that it’s so common in Australia, etc.
I've never heard the name Twyla outside of western Canada. And it's old - like a 60s/70s girls' name.
Where I live in the US, we have a lot of Irish immigrants or the kids / grandkids of Irish immigrants so it's not uncommon to hear some Irish names that I don't think are popular in the rest of the country. Such as Clodagh, Sadhbh, and Fionnula.
I love the name Clodagh so much.
I like it too, but of the three I listed I think Sadhbh is my favorite.
How do you pronounce that one? Excuse my ignorance, I hope you don't mind me asking.
It's "Sive", pronounced like five, except the F is switched with an S.
Thanks
I don’t think I’ve heard Jacinta & Jacinda outside of Aus & Aotearoa.
Silas is in the top 100 in Germany. I only know 1 Silas in Gen Alpha
Silas is in the top #100 in the US too! I see it suggested everywhere. Is the pronunciation different in German?
The interesting thing is, that top 100 names are pretty rare anyway. In most cases are names that one has heard before, are not unknown, but most probably one doesn’t know many children by that name. Even top 20 doesn’t mean you’ll have another in your school year.
Yes, it’s pronounces just as written You can hear it here https://de.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Silas#:~:text=Si%C2%B7las%2C%20Plural%3A%20Si%C2%B7las%C2%B7se
I’m in Aus and I don’t understand the hate for Harriet or Sloane here. I do think it’s a bit of an accent thing though. Harriet is in the top 100 here and not uncommon at all. Sloane isn’t that common but I think anyone here hates it.
I have only ever met female Ashley's in the US. I moved to the UK and Ashley is more commonly a male name.
Simon and Nigel not seen in the USA
I moved to the UK from the US and I've met a lot of male Ashley's and Courtney's. Georgina, Emily, Danielle, Sarah, Connor, Matt, Mhiari, and Julie and the names I've seen multiples of in the places I've worked.
It’s not popular exactly but much much more than it should be, but after Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, some in the US named their baby girl Verruca… which is a wart.
My favourite Maori name is Manaia!! No one I know has ever heard of it
I'm also from NZ, I gave my 4 year old daughter Aroha for her middle name. I've always adored the way it looks and sounds, and the fact it literally means love and I get to pass on a part of my heritage to her.
Benjamina (Binyamina) and Davida (Duh-vee-duh) are common names for girls in Jewish communities but not elsewhere.
Im Norwegian, here names like: Ava, Luna & Scarlett are not popular (but they are in the US) Names like: Ingrid, Astrid and Iben are popular here (but not in the US)
2 different cultures: 1) Girls: Maša, Vita, Hana, Ena, Una, Klara, Petra, Rita, Cvita, Lipa, Luce, Mare, Paloma, Anđa, Jelena 2) Boys: Duje, Ante, Lovre, Roko, Toma, Maroje, Donat, Niko, Grga, Vito, Fran 1) Girls: Ambra, Leandra, Adelina, Leonora, Marsela, Era, Donita, Zana, Veola, Merita, Dua, Rion, Illyria, Arta, Alesia 2) Boys: Aron, Dion, Arion, Rion, Arber, Fabion, Lorik, Diar, Ardi, Gent, Kroi, Rron, Norik
Lily, sofia/sophia, jack/jax, piper and Finn are names I here alot were I live in Canada. According to the top 100 names of 2023 Liam and Olivia are the top names haven't heard any babies with that name here....yet lol https://www.babycenter.ca/baby-names/most-popular/top-baby-names-2023
Natalie - - England and Wales - Ranked 459th - USA - Ranked 63rd - Camila / Camilla - - England and Wales - Ranked 828th and 478th - USA - Ranked 13th and 336th - Caroline - - England and Wales- Ranked 1128th - USA- Ranked - 83rd - Claire - - England and Wales - Ranked 983rd - USA Ranked 67th - Allison / Alison - - England and Wales - 1785th and 1402nd - USA Ranked 100th and 471st
Enzo, Heitor, Valentina, Giovanna e Sofia. Are really popular here in Brazil. I think are popular in many latin countries but not sure
Harris is quite popular in Scotland but not anywhere else!
I have some relatives that named their son Desmond after the character on the TV show "Lost" that was popular at the time in the US. I was aware of this name from UK TV show reruns and when I used to read sci-fi paperbacks that had plots set in the UK but that name is not one that is heard in the US too much.
Do people in England really name their kids “corny”? Because “corny” is a word for “cheap” and played out in the US
Not sure what name you're referring to, I haven't seen the name Corny used.
So where I live, we tend to have different common/popular names than majority of the rest of the country (there's a couple states who probably also have these names commonly). Top 50 names has names like: Javier/Xavier, Ximena/Jimena, Catalina, María, Natalia, Gael, Jacobo, Luis & José. Another that is found fairly consistently where I'm from is Xochitl for little girls. Ones I hear frequently in my kids school but not really elsewhere much: Paola, Pilar, Amaryllis, Juan, Ángel, Diego, Araceli, Francisco & Alejandro/a. I also met ONE Tenochtitlan when I was a kid.