The most popular baby names in Switzerland are in! The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) list for 2023 saw an old favourite return to the top spot for girls' names, while families still have a lot of love for a boys' name that has placed first in 10 of the last 23 years.
Last year, Mia was the most popular name for newborn girls in Switzerland. Mia had been the most popular girls’ name in 2013, 2015, 2016 and from 2019 to 2021, but had lost out to Emma last year.
Mia, originating from an old Egyptian word meaning "beloved" and the Latin word for "mine", was used 380 times last year, compared to 376 uses of Emma. After experiencing a boom in popularity in 2021 and 2022, Sofia has maintained its status in the higher echelons by placing third with 358 registrations.
Last year saw a resurgence of the rather traditional name Vera - a Slavic name meaning "faith" - going from 287th most popular to 173rd. Thea, a Greek name for "goddess", saw its popularity fall, dropping from 112th to 175th place.
In 2023, Noah retained its title as the most popular name for baby boys in Switzerland. 495 babies were registered with the name, which means “rest” or “repose” in Hebrew. Noah has been a dominant name across Swiss cities and cantons in recent years, having placed first in 2010, 2011, from 2013 to 2017, 2021, 2022 and now in 2023.
Noah was closely followed by Liam, with the Irish name being used in 442 Swiss birth certificates last year. Matteo rounded out the podium with 362, meaning the top three in Switzerland have remained unchanged since 2021.
Last year, the boys’ name that saw the biggest rise in popularity was Kiyan - a Kurdish / Persian name meaning "king" - going from 310th on the list to 124th. By contrast the French name Maxime saw the biggest drop in favour, falling from 131st to 199th in the 2023 list.
While Noah and Mia may be popular, they have a long way to go if they want to challenge the most popular Swiss names, Daniel and Maria. In 2023, there were 74.840 people called Maria and 62.884 people called Daniel living in Switzerland, compared to just 7.874 Mias and 12.129 Noahs.
Here are the 10 most popular baby boy names in Switzerland as of 2023:
Interestingly, each language region had its preferences for boys’ names. Noah, Matteo and Liam made up the top three in the German-speaking regions, Noah, Gabriel and Liam were the most popular in French areas, Leonardo, Noah and Enea took the podium in Italian Switzerland and Mauro, Luca and Nino were the top three in the Romansh region.
Here are the 10 most popular girl names in Switzerland:
Once again each region had its own interpretation of the best names for girls. Mia, Emilia and Sofia were top in German-speaking Switzerland, Emma, Olivia and Alice were the top three in the Romandie, and Emma, Aurora and Ginevra were Italian Switzerland’s choices. As only six girls were born in the Romansh region last year, Amalia, Gianna and Hannah took joint first with two registrations each.
For more information, and to see where your first name is placed, check out the official data.