Top NZ Baby Names of 1976

Sarah (519) and Michael (801) were New Zealand's most registered names in 1976. Below are the top 50 girls' and boys' names for the year. See the whole 1970s for context.

Top 50 girls' names

  1. 1Sarah519
  2. 2Nicola413
  3. 3Angela404
  4. 4Lisa397
  5. 5Rebecca373
  6. 6Michelle367
  7. 7Rachel366
  8. 8Natasha321
  9. 9Amanda304
  10. 10Melanie287
  11. 11Joanne269
  12. 12Melissa252
  13. 13Tracey248
  14. 14Kylie239
  15. 15Tania233
  16. 16Karen228
  17. 17Anna222
  18. 18Emma212
  19. 19Elizabeth200
  20. 20Vanessa199
  21. 21Megan194
  22. 22Kelly190
  23. 23Catherine184
  24. 24Fiona182
  25. 25Julie173
  26. 26Katrina171
  27. 27Kim161
  28. 28Paula161
  29. 29Jennifer153
  30. 30Natalie153
  31. 31Donna152
  32. 32Rachael149
  33. 33Andrea146
  34. 34Deborah143
  35. 35Helen139
  36. 36Tracy138
  37. 37Nicole135
  38. 38Joanna133
  39. 39Susan133
  40. 40Louise131
  41. 41Stephanie123
  42. 42Belinda122
  43. 43Victoria121
  44. 44Amy119
  45. 45Kathryn119
  46. 46Christine117
  47. 47Kirsty117
  48. 48Maria111
  49. 49Jacqueline110
  50. 50Leanne110

Top 50 boys' names

  1. 1Michael801
  2. 2Daniel667
  3. 3Matthew615
  4. 4Andrew604
  5. 5David574
  6. 6Mark563
  7. 7Jason553
  8. 8Paul517
  9. 9James469
  10. 10Christopher460
  11. 11Richard438
  12. 12Simon396
  13. 13Scott382
  14. 14Aaron373
  15. 15Craig362
  16. 16Robert346
  17. 17John341
  18. 18Stephen333
  19. 19Nicholas321
  20. 20Shane321
  21. 21Steven301
  22. 22Nathan280
  23. 23Timothy271
  24. 24Justin259
  25. 25Peter249
  26. 26Benjamin233
  27. 27Jonathan224
  28. 28Anthony212
  29. 29Glen194
  30. 30Hamish185
  31. 31Gregory184
  32. 32Jeremy182
  33. 33William176
  34. 34Jamie174
  35. 35Brendon168
  36. 36Brent168
  37. 37Karl168
  38. 38Wayne165
  39. 39Joseph164
  40. 40Dean155
  41. 41Hayden153
  42. 42Nigel153
  43. 43Tony153
  44. 44Adam149
  45. 45Glenn148
  46. 46Phillip142
  47. 47Shaun141
  48. 48Mathew139
  49. 49Samuel139
  50. 50Carl132

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.