The second of Germany’s two annual popular baby name rankings is here: Emilia and Noah are still going strong after three consecutive years at the top spot. Below them, the usual suspects continue to fight for glory.

Popularity of baby names Emilia and Noah remains unchallenged

The annual ranking of babies' names in Germany, conducted by the Association for the German Language (GfdS), is back. At first glance, the findings for 2022 aren’t much to write home about, staying relatively on track from the first Bielefeld ranking released in January. Parents in Germany are continuing their three-year-long obsession with naming every girl Emilia and every boy Noah.

Hyperbole of course. While Emilia dominates the charts she actually made up only 1,4 percent of feminine names written on birth certificates over the course of the year, and newborn Noahs only took just over 1,4 percent. 

Below Emilia, the regular list of “-as” appeared: Sophia / Sofia, Emma, Mia, Hannah / Hanna, Lina, Mila, Ella, the C / Klaras and Maries, prolonging the trend of recent years for short and sweet names using lots of syllables punctuated with Ms and Ls. While Hannah / Hanna has slipped down the charts, it was a good year for Maria, who made it back into the top 10.

The Ms-and-Ls-with-a-heavy-dose-of-vowels trend is seen in 13 percent of the top 20 names of 2022 and continues in the masculine names with Noah, Mat(h)eo / Matt(h)eo, Leon, Finn, Paul, Elias, Emil, Luca / Luka, Louis / Luis and Henry / Henri.

Variety of names in Germany continues to increase

The annual GfdS list of baby names in Germany has been going since 1977 and collects data from more than 750 registration offices in Germany.

Last year, 70.000 different names were registered in Germany, 5.000 more than in 2021. Director of the GfdS, Andrea Ewels pointed out that “this diversity of names better reflects the diversity of German society”.

Trends vary across the federal states. In Berlin, Mohammed is the number one masculine name, while down in Saarland, Finn is first.

The top 10 baby names in Germany in 2022

According to the GfdS ranking, the top baby names of 2022 were as follows:

10 most popular feminine baby names in 2022

1. Emilia
2. Sophia / Sofia
3. Emma
4. Mia
5. Hannah / Hanna
6. Lina
7. Mila
8. Ella
9. Clara / Klara
10. Marie

10 most popular masculine baby names in 2022

1. Noah
2. Mat(h)eo / Matt(h)eo
3. Leon
4. Finn
5. Paul
6. Elias
7. Emil
8. Luca / Luka
9. Louis / Luis
10. Henry / Henri

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