Top NZ Baby Names of 1956

Susan (849) and Peter (1,451) were New Zealand's most registered names in 1956. Below are the top 50 girls' and boys' names for the year. See the whole 1950s for context.

Top 50 girls' names

  1. 1Susan849
  2. 2Christine755
  3. 3Karen616
  4. 4Judith478
  5. 5Margaret467
  6. 6Jennifer433
  7. 7Elizabeth394
  8. 8Robyn388
  9. 9Patricia380
  10. 10Linda369
  11. 11Mary360
  12. 12Barbara335
  13. 13Helen326
  14. 14Wendy325
  15. 15Sharon319
  16. 16Anne318
  17. 17Heather317
  18. 18Sandra312
  19. 19Lynette308
  20. 20Carol296
  21. 21Diane275
  22. 22Pamela251
  23. 23Julie242
  24. 24Suzanne235
  25. 25Janice230
  26. 26Dianne222
  27. 27Catherine215
  28. 28Deborah215
  29. 29Janet203
  30. 30Raewyn203
  31. 31Rosemary194
  32. 32Alison192
  33. 33Pauline188
  34. 34Kathleen186
  35. 35Shirley184
  36. 36Lorraine171
  37. 37Denise166
  38. 38Annette157
  39. 39Ann152
  40. 40Jane150
  41. 41Yvonne149
  42. 42Lesley141
  43. 43Glenda139
  44. 44Jacqueline134
  45. 45Marie134
  46. 46Gail133
  47. 47Jillian128
  48. 48Kathryn128
  49. 49Colleen127
  50. 50Beverley124

Top 50 boys' names

  1. 1Peter1,451
  2. 2John1,279
  3. 3David1,200
  4. 4Michael869
  5. 5Paul726
  6. 6Stephen720
  7. 7Robert696
  8. 8Kevin599
  9. 9Mark573
  10. 10Christopher523
  11. 11Ian451
  12. 12Richard436
  13. 13Brian429
  14. 14William428
  15. 15Wayne397
  16. 16Bruce395
  17. 17Anthony382
  18. 18James354
  19. 19Gary348
  20. 20Graeme337
  21. 21Alan329
  22. 22Murray312
  23. 23Graham293
  24. 24Grant259
  25. 25Barry256
  26. 26Colin256
  27. 27Geoffrey245
  28. 28Andrew242
  29. 29Kenneth237
  30. 30Gregory236
  31. 31Neil236
  32. 32Philip234
  33. 33Ross232
  34. 34Steven215
  35. 35Allan207
  36. 36Donald200
  37. 37Trevor198
  38. 38Raymond187
  39. 39Stuart175
  40. 40Keith170
  41. 41Roger169
  42. 42Garry166
  43. 43Russell165
  44. 44Thomas160
  45. 45Malcolm157
  46. 46Patrick151
  47. 47Phillip149
  48. 48Jeffrey145
  49. 49Douglas144
  50. 50Martin141

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.