Press Release
9 January 2007

Jade And Cameron Fade But Ava And Charlie On The Rise

The list of the most popular baby names for 2006 has been released by the office of Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) of the Department of Internal Affairs.

Two new names enter the top 30 boy’s and girl’s lists. Ava and Hayley enter the top 30 for girls while Jade and Amy move off the list. Charlie and Tyler make the top 30 most popular names for boys with Cameron and Jordan dropping off.

There are changes in the ranking for individual names. Jayden has gained five places from 24 in 2005 to 19 in 2006. William, Noah, Blake and Riley have all made good gains in ranking in 2006.

For the girls, Madison and Zoe have leapt seven places, Chloe is up six places and Lily, Amelia, Mia and Jasmine have all made gains. Caitlin, Holly, Paige and Brooke fall a few places.

The most popular names worldwide are similar but with some interesting individual variations. Ireland includes local names such as Ciara and Aiofe for girls and Daragh and Ciaran for boys. Australian newborns have names much the same as ours, though Lachlan is ranked second there and doesn’t feature in New Zealand lists.

ENDS