Parents demonstrate their creativity in naming babies

WELLINGTON: The release of the list of most popular baby names in 2018 shows New Zealand parents are getting more creative as the years go by.

The list, released annually by Internal Affairs, found a total of 13,668 names were given to 59,302 last year.

Charlotte and Oliver have held the top spot for the second year in a row, while Jack and Isla were ranked the second most popular.

The registrargeneral for births, deaths and marriages, Jeff Montgomery said the number of unusual names was increasing.

‘‘New Zealanders are becoming increasingly creative in the way they choose to name their babies.

‘‘There were 30,000 boys born last year and there were 8600 different names for those boys,’’ he said.

Asked how people were getting more creative, Mr Montgomery said it was in the way names were spelt — Oliver, for example, could be spelt three different ways and with many variations on Ollie.

This year’s list had 12 different combinations of Oliver or Ollie. Girls’ names ending in a vowel including Isla, Ella, Mia and Ava were also popular.

Mia and Nikau were the top Maori girls’ and boys’ names respectively.

Oliver has been the most popular boys’ name for six years in a row. For girls, Olivia has been in close competition with Charlotte since 2011, swapping first and second place many times.