NZ Baby Name Predictions for 2026

How the forecast works

Each name and sex combination gets its own least-squares trend line fitted to registrations from 2021 to 2025. The slope is damped to 60% before it is projected forward, then blended with the most recent year so one unusual season cannot dominate the result.

The output is a projected count of babies for each name, which we then rank. Small movements near the bottom of the top 100 are well within the noise - treat the shape of the list, not the exact rank, as the signal.

What to expect in 2026

The very top of both lists is stable. Names that have led for several years rarely lose the top spot in a single year, so the interesting movement happens between roughly rank 15 and rank 60, where a handful of registrations changes a name's position.

Two forces keep reshaping the New Zealand list: te reo Māori names continuing their long climb, and the vintage revival cycle pulling early-1900s names back into fashion. Both show up as steady positive slopes rather than sudden jumps.

A caveat worth reading

This is a statistical projection, not official data. The Department of Internal Affairs publishes the real 2026 figures in early 2027, and we will update the site as soon as they land.