The two most popular baby names in the Netherlands in 2023 were Noah and Julia, according to information released by the Social Insurance Bank (SVB). The data shows that there were 888 baby boys born in 2023 given the name Noah in 2023, and 681 girls registered as Julia.
Noah has proven particularly popular with new parents in the last few years, with the name having topped the charts in the Netherlands for five years in a row. As for girls' names, Julia was top in 2023, but in 2022 was beaten by the name Emma. In 2021 both Noah and Julia were also in first place.
Behind Noah, the boys’ names Luca, Lucas, Liam and Levi rounded out the top five. For the girls, Olivia, Mila, Emma and Sophie proved the most popular. As for gender-neutral names for children, Riley, Sky and Jonne were the favourite names chosen for newborn boys and girls in 2023.
According to NOS, Gerrit Bloothooft, an onomastic at Utrecht University found that the top names only actually accounted for around 7 percent of all births in the Netherlands in 2023. "In total, approximately 13,000 different girls' names and 11,500 different boys' names are given every year: parents always choose a more varied choice for girls."
The names are often similarly ranked each year, with the list of the most popular baby names often looking the same or fairly similar year after year. "Names are often chosen because people hear them in the environment. A name needs time to spread, which is a process of ten to forty years."