Fiona Govan
THE most recent data from new births registered in 2020 reveals Spain’s most popular baby names.
Hugo is the favourite name for boys, while Lucia continues to be the top name for girls across Spain.
The news shows that Spain is continuing to move away from more traditional Biblical names and instead opt for names which have a more international feel and are pronounced more or less the same in English.
The top three girl names chosen in 2020 are Lucia which was given to 3,432 babies, Sofia, (3,190) and Martina (3,042). While for boys, 3,313 were given the name Hugo, 3,248 were called Mateo and 3,144 were named Martin.
Hugo was back in the top spot for a third year and had been in 2013 when it was overtaken by Lucas. But while Lucas claimed pole position for five years, but it no longer features in the top three and has dropped to fourth most chosen name for boys.
Lucia has been the undisputed favourite name for baby girls since 2003 when it knocked Maria off the top spot. Maria now appears at number four.
The records show that there are regional differences. In the Basque Country provinces, the most popular names for boys are Markel, Julen, while for girls its Ane, Izaro and Laia.
In the Catalan province of Barcelona, the top names were Marc, Leo and Nil while for girls, Emma, Julia and Martina were the most popular choices.
You can discover the most popular names in each province of Spain using this interactive map produced by the INE.
The most common names throughout the whole population
Antonio and María Carmen are the most common names in Spain, according to 2020 INE data, more traditional choices in comparison to today’s most popular baby names. The move away from religious and long-established names has been a trend since the 1970s and 1980s.
A total of 655,030 men in Spain are named Antonio and 647,877 women are named María Carmen according to data on January 1 2020.
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