Top 100 baby names in Australia

The most popular monikers for boys and girls

Content Editor / November 12 2018

The annual McCrindle report has been released, detailing the top Australian names for the past year. Around one in ten of Australia’s 300,000 babies born in the last year were given one of the top 10 baby names. There were 2063 boys named Oliver and 1687 girls named Charlotte last year, making these two monikers the most popular Australian names.

Floral names a big hit
For girls, floral and botanic names featured prominently, such as Ivy (18th), Lily (19th), Willow (20th), Violet (37th), Poppy (43rd), Jasmine (51st), Rose (69th), Daisy (72nd) and Olive (100th).

Shorter names are more popular
Australian baby names are being truncated, for example Jack (3rd) beats out Jackson (41st), Archie (33rd) beats Archer (34th) and Max (22nd) is more popular than Maxwell (didn’t make the Top 100). Even for girls, currently Lily (19th) is more popular than Lillian (didn’t make the Top 100) and Ella (8th) outranks Isabella (15th) and Isabelle (32nd).

Biblical names on the decline
Two decades ago, all five of the top five boys’ Aussie names were Bible characters (Joshua, Daniel, Matthew, James and Thomas), and twelve of the top twenty were from the Bible (which included Benjamin, Luke, Nathan, Andrew, Alexander, Jacob and Samuel). Today, just six of the top twenty boys’ names can be found in the Bible (Noah, James, Thomas, Ethan, Alexander and Samuel).

Celebrity and royal influences
Actors, actresses, sports and music stars continue to have an influence on the top baby names in Australia. Harper (David and Victoria Beckham’s daughter), has been on the rise over the past six years, finally debuting in the Top 10 for 2017. Luna debuted at 83rd and is the name of John Legend and Chrissy Teigen’s daughter. Willow (Pink’s daughter), Penelope (Kourtney Kardashian’s daughter), and Billie (Chris and Bec Judd’s daughter) are also in the top 100.

The younger generation of the Royal Family have resonated with their contemporary Generation Y’s in Australia who are now also in their family forming life-stage. The births of Prince George (born 2013) and Princess Charlotte (born 2015) have contributed to the popularity of these names. Other well-known traditional royal names that feature in the Top 100 include Louis, Henry, William, Edward, Charles, Elizabeth, Zara and Victoria.

Top 50 Australian girl names

1 Charlotte
2 Olivia
3 Ava
4 Amelia
5 Mia
6 Isla
7 Grace
8 Ella
9 Chloe
10 Harper
11 Zoe
12 Sophie
13 Evie
14 Evelyn
15 Isabella
16 Ruby
17 Emily
18 Ivy
19 Lily
20 Willow
21 Matilda
22 Lucy
23 Sophia
24 Aria
25 Georgia
26 Sienna
27 Scarlett
28 Hannah
29 Emma
30 Zara
31 Abigail
32 Isabelle
33 Audrey
34 Layla
35 Mila
36 Eva
37 Violet
38 Alice
39 Hazel
40 Piper
41 Ellie
42 Mackenzie
43 Poppy
44 Annabelle
45 Sofia
46 Maya
47 Savannah
48 Penelope
49 Frankie
50 Maddison

Top 50 Australian boy names

1 Oliver
2 William
3 Jack
4 Noah
5 Thomas
6 James
7 Lucas
8 Henry
9 Ethan
10 Mason
11 Charlie
12 Leo
13 Harrison
14 Liam
15 Alexander
16 Hunter
17 Lachlan
18 Samuel
19 Hudson
20 Levi
21 Harry
22 Max
23 Oscar
24 Harvey
25 Elijah
26 Xavier
27 Isaac
28 Cooper
29 Logan
30 Jacob
31 Benjamin
32 Joshua
33 Archie
34 Archer
35 George
36 Ryan
37 Sebastian
38 Theodore
39 Lincoln
40 Arlo
41 Jackson
42 Eli
43 Finn
44 Riley
45 Patrick
46 Daniel
47 Hugo
48 Connor
49 JaxonC
50 Luca

Nicola Conville has worked as a journalist and editor for more than 20 years across a wide range of print and online publications. Her areas of expertise are parenting, health and travel. She has two children; Lucy, age eight, and Nathan, age five.