Top NZ Baby Names of 1985

Sarah (657) and Daniel (755) were New Zealand's most registered names in 1985. Below are the top 50 girls' and boys' names for the year. See the whole 1980s for context.

Top 50 girls' names

  1. 1Sarah657
  2. 2Jessica449
  3. 3Rebecca382
  4. 4Amanda315
  5. 5Emma313
  6. 6Amy297
  7. 7Melissa296
  8. 8Rachel295
  9. 9Lisa277
  10. 10Anna240
  11. 11Nicola240
  12. 12Jenna232
  13. 13Laura227
  14. 14Kelly224
  15. 15Michelle219
  16. 16Kylie214
  17. 17Kate199
  18. 18Hayley197
  19. 19Renee190
  20. 20Jennifer186
  21. 21Gemma184
  22. 22Natalie181
  23. 23Elizabeth175
  24. 24Hannah170
  25. 25Stacey164
  26. 26Natasha163
  27. 27Stephanie163
  28. 28Angela146
  29. 29Samantha145
  30. 30Megan142
  31. 31Claire136
  32. 32Nicole136
  33. 33Holly135
  34. 34Lauren128
  35. 35Katie120
  36. 36Rachael115
  37. 37Katherine114
  38. 38Catherine113
  39. 39Tracey113
  40. 40Victoria113
  41. 41Danielle112
  42. 42Erin111
  43. 43Aimee109
  44. 44Charlotte106
  45. 45Julia105
  46. 46Vanessa105
  47. 47Emily104
  48. 48Kirsty97
  49. 49Melanie96
  50. 50Shannon94

Top 50 boys' names

  1. 1Daniel755
  2. 2Michael742
  3. 3James658
  4. 4Matthew639
  5. 5Christopher558
  6. 6David522
  7. 7Andrew496
  8. 8Benjamin472
  9. 9Joshua431
  10. 10Nicholas414
  11. 11Samuel410
  12. 12Mark354
  13. 13Richard337
  14. 14Adam323
  15. 15Jason319
  16. 16Robert311
  17. 17Thomas306
  18. 18John295
  19. 19Scott281
  20. 20Timothy281
  21. 21William273
  22. 22Joseph259
  23. 23Paul249
  24. 24Jonathan248
  25. 25Aaron238
  26. 26Luke238
  27. 27Simon222
  28. 28Ryan221
  29. 29Hayden210
  30. 30Nathan210
  31. 31Steven199
  32. 32Shane184
  33. 33Jeremy182
  34. 34Anthony177
  35. 35Jamie174
  36. 36Peter172
  37. 37Cameron157
  38. 38Mathew157
  39. 39Stephen154
  40. 40Craig144
  41. 41Jared139
  42. 42Bradley132
  43. 43Shaun127
  44. 44Hamish124
  45. 45Phillip122
  46. 46Karl121
  47. 47Blair109
  48. 48Dylan103
  49. 49Joel103
  50. 50Kyle102

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.