Top NZ Baby Names of 1948

Margaret (730) and John (1,575) were New Zealand's most registered names in 1948. Below are the top 50 girls' and boys' names for the year. See the whole 1940s for context.

Top 50 girls' names

  1. 1Margaret730
  2. 2Judith543
  3. 3Patricia523
  4. 4Jennifer466
  5. 5Barbara431
  6. 6Susan416
  7. 7Mary414
  8. 8Christine413
  9. 9Sandra356
  10. 10Elizabeth353
  11. 11Pamela338
  12. 12Janice337
  13. 13Lynette323
  14. 14Helen322
  15. 15Diane287
  16. 16Carol286
  17. 17Heather283
  18. 18Kathleen272
  19. 19Shirley269
  20. 20Linda263
  21. 21Lorraine244
  22. 22Marilyn232
  23. 23Robyn226
  24. 24Beverley217
  25. 25Janet214
  26. 26Pauline204
  27. 27Colleen196
  28. 28Maureen189
  29. 29Carolyn187
  30. 30Lesley187
  31. 31Suzanne186
  32. 32Dianne178
  33. 33Anne177
  34. 34Raewyn173
  35. 35Karen170
  36. 36Alison162
  37. 37Jillian156
  38. 38Marie156
  39. 39Catherine147
  40. 40Valerie145
  41. 41Denise143
  42. 42Joan142
  43. 43Annette141
  44. 44Wendy141
  45. 45Rosemary140
  46. 46Yvonne137
  47. 47Julie135
  48. 48Frances133
  49. 49Ann129
  50. 50Dorothy128

Top 50 boys' names

  1. 1John1,575
  2. 2David982
  3. 3Peter891
  4. 4Robert719
  5. 5Michael602
  6. 6William590
  7. 7Brian555
  8. 8Kevin495
  9. 9James432
  10. 10Richard414
  11. 11Ian406
  12. 12Graeme404
  13. 13Bruce402
  14. 14Paul386
  15. 15Graham371
  16. 16Murray348
  17. 17Alan343
  18. 18Kenneth324
  19. 19Colin310
  20. 20Wayne287
  21. 21Barry283
  22. 22Anthony282
  23. 23Raymond276
  24. 24Ronald257
  25. 25Donald254
  26. 26Trevor254
  27. 27Christopher248
  28. 28Allan238
  29. 29Dennis228
  30. 30Keith225
  31. 31Roger219
  32. 32Geoffrey217
  33. 33Ross217
  34. 34Russell211
  35. 35Gary205
  36. 36Thomas200
  37. 37Douglas189
  38. 38Philip183
  39. 39Stephen182
  40. 40Neil156
  41. 41Warren153
  42. 42Terence146
  43. 43George144
  44. 44Edward136
  45. 45Leslie133
  46. 46Neville127
  47. 47Robin124
  48. 48Stuart123
  49. 49Gordon121
  50. 50Patrick121

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.