Top NZ Baby Names of 1938

Margaret (724) and John (960) were New Zealand's most registered names in 1938. Below are the top 50 girls' and boys' names for the year. See the whole 1930s for context.

Top 50 girls' names

  1. 1Margaret724
  2. 2Patricia438
  3. 3Barbara340
  4. 4Judith338
  5. 5Beverley302
  6. 6Mary295
  7. 7Shirley294
  8. 8Valerie241
  9. 9Elizabeth208
  10. 10Pamela200
  11. 11Dorothy191
  12. 12Joan191
  13. 13Maureen183
  14. 14Helen178
  15. 15Colleen172
  16. 16Janice166
  17. 17Marie165
  18. 18Jennifer158
  19. 19June156
  20. 20Kathleen145
  21. 21Janet134
  22. 22Heather130
  23. 23Elaine127
  24. 24Dawn121
  25. 25Jean113
  26. 26Anne111
  27. 27Lorraine111
  28. 28Lois108
  29. 29Yvonne101
  30. 30Jeanette98
  31. 31Noeline98
  32. 32Alison94
  33. 33Betty90
  34. 34Ann89
  35. 35Ngaire85
  36. 36Marion84
  37. 37Beverly80
  38. 38Fay80
  39. 39Joy80
  40. 40Eileen76
  41. 41Joyce76
  42. 42Pauline74
  43. 43Nancy71
  44. 44Annette69
  45. 45Jocelyn66
  46. 46Daphne65
  47. 47Diana65
  48. 48Doreen65
  49. 49Josephine65
  50. 50Irene64

Top 50 boys' names

  1. 1John960
  2. 2William540
  3. 3Robert536
  4. 4David514
  5. 5Peter485
  6. 6Brian481
  7. 7James368
  8. 8Donald312
  9. 9Ronald303
  10. 10Ian300
  11. 11Barry275
  12. 12Colin224
  13. 13Graham224
  14. 14Raymond223
  15. 15Michael215
  16. 16Graeme192
  17. 17Richard190
  18. 18Kenneth189
  19. 19George179
  20. 20Alan167
  21. 21Thomas167
  22. 22Bruce165
  23. 23Trevor145
  24. 24Allan137
  25. 25Gary137
  26. 26Edward135
  27. 27Gordon127
  28. 28Anthony124
  29. 29Charles121
  30. 30Douglas119
  31. 31Leslie119
  32. 32Murray117
  33. 33Arthur112
  34. 34Keith110
  35. 35Kevin108
  36. 36Paul108
  37. 37Neville107
  38. 38Neil99
  39. 39Maurice95
  40. 40Noel95
  41. 41Eric90
  42. 42Russell87
  43. 43Terence87
  44. 44Malcolm82
  45. 45Alexander79
  46. 46Roger78
  47. 47Desmond75
  48. 48Francis74
  49. 49Frederick73
  50. 50Ivan73

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.