Top NZ Baby Names of 1926

Margaret (533) and John (914) were New Zealand's most registered names in 1926. Below are the top 50 girls' and boys' names for the year. See the whole 1920s for context.

Top 50 girls' names

  1. 1Margaret533
  2. 2Mary376
  3. 3Shirley357
  4. 4Joan353
  5. 5Patricia323
  6. 6Joyce313
  7. 7Dorothy310
  8. 8Betty268
  9. 9June263
  10. 10Jean215
  11. 11Kathleen183
  12. 12Elizabeth182
  13. 13Doreen174
  14. 14Audrey168
  15. 15Eileen157
  16. 16Phyllis150
  17. 17Marjorie145
  18. 18Mavis144
  19. 19Nancy143
  20. 20Norma133
  21. 21Marie127
  22. 22Ngaire126
  23. 23Daphne123
  24. 24Helen117
  25. 25Nola116
  26. 26Barbara115
  27. 27Lorna112
  28. 28Olive105
  29. 29Gladys104
  30. 30Thelma104
  31. 31Valerie103
  32. 32Irene101
  33. 33Noeline99
  34. 34Doris93
  35. 35Edna88
  36. 36Alice83
  37. 37Lois83
  38. 38Elsie81
  39. 39Catherine79
  40. 40Beryl78
  41. 41Frances78
  42. 42Iris78
  43. 43Joy78
  44. 44Ellen77
  45. 45Florence75
  46. 46Ruth74
  47. 47Hazel71
  48. 48Evelyn70
  49. 49Muriel70
  50. 50Dawn67

Top 50 boys' names

  1. 1John914
  2. 2William692
  3. 3James479
  4. 4Robert467
  5. 5Ronald354
  6. 6George314
  7. 7Raymond304
  8. 8Thomas263
  9. 9David260
  10. 10Gordon254
  11. 11Donald244
  12. 12Ian225
  13. 13Colin221
  14. 14Peter216
  15. 15Kenneth209
  16. 16Arthur208
  17. 17Leslie199
  18. 18Douglas191
  19. 19Alan190
  20. 20Charles187
  21. 21Eric184
  22. 22Edward175
  23. 23Keith172
  24. 24Desmond164
  25. 25Jack158
  26. 26Richard155
  27. 27Allan154
  28. 28Trevor151
  29. 29Brian150
  30. 30Francis150
  31. 31Norman148
  32. 32Maurice144
  33. 33Noel139
  34. 34Albert123
  35. 35Ivan122
  36. 36Harold117
  37. 37Stanley115
  38. 38Henry114
  39. 39Bruce108
  40. 40Ernest107
  41. 41Patrick104
  42. 42Mervyn103
  43. 43Alfred102
  44. 44Leonard102
  45. 45Frederick98
  46. 46Frank93
  47. 47Joseph93
  48. 48Roy92
  49. 49Walter86
  50. 50Alexander84

About this data: figures come from Department of Internal Affairs birth registrations for 1954-2025. The DIA only publishes a name for a given year when at least 10 babies were registered with it, so rarer names - and rarer spellings - are missing entirely, and a name can drop out of the record in quieter years. Spelling variants are counted separately, and counts reflect first names as registered.