Top NZ Baby Names of 1987

Sarah (724) and Michael (788) were New Zealand's most registered names in 1987. Below are the top 50 girls' and boys' names for the year. See the whole 1980s for context.

Top 50 girls' names

  1. 1Sarah724
  2. 2Jessica490
  3. 3Emma372
  4. 4Amanda340
  5. 5Nicole322
  6. 6Amy301
  7. 7Rebecca300
  8. 8Samantha265
  9. 9Melissa264
  10. 10Anna262
  11. 11Lisa261
  12. 12Rachel241
  13. 13Hannah223
  14. 14Michelle215
  15. 15Laura213
  16. 16Stacey211
  17. 17Kate199
  18. 18Natasha191
  19. 19Stephanie191
  20. 20Elizabeth177
  21. 21Renee175
  22. 22Nicola173
  23. 23Kelly170
  24. 24Kylie163
  25. 25Jenna154
  26. 26Danielle149
  27. 27Jennifer142
  28. 28Gemma141
  29. 29Hayley141
  30. 30Victoria141
  31. 31Ashleigh136
  32. 32Megan134
  33. 33Claire131
  34. 34Natalie130
  35. 35Ashley126
  36. 36Charlotte123
  37. 37Emily123
  38. 38Angela118
  39. 39Olivia118
  40. 40Sophie118
  41. 41Holly117
  42. 42Katie112
  43. 43Kimberley112
  44. 44Kayla108
  45. 45Courtney107
  46. 46Catherine103
  47. 47Erin100
  48. 48Lucy99
  49. 49Lauren97
  50. 50Aimee96

Top 50 boys' names

  1. 1Michael788
  2. 2Daniel779
  3. 3Matthew722
  4. 4James639
  5. 5Christopher586
  6. 6Andrew536
  7. 7Samuel505
  8. 8Joshua503
  9. 9David500
  10. 10Benjamin458
  11. 11Nicholas450
  12. 12Thomas401
  13. 13Adam328
  14. 14Timothy328
  15. 15Jason323
  16. 16Scott293
  17. 17Richard289
  18. 18Mark281
  19. 19William278
  20. 20John267
  21. 21Ryan261
  22. 22Robert260
  23. 23Simon254
  24. 24Luke249
  25. 25Paul235
  26. 26Aaron223
  27. 27Joseph216
  28. 28Jonathan214
  29. 29Peter212
  30. 30Steven209
  31. 31Hayden208
  32. 32Jeremy199
  33. 33Shane184
  34. 34Nathan182
  35. 35Alexander174
  36. 36Hamish173
  37. 37Cameron169
  38. 38Anthony160
  39. 39Bradley158
  40. 40Jamie158
  41. 41Shaun154
  42. 42Stephen154
  43. 43Jordan144
  44. 44Phillip136
  45. 45Craig129
  46. 46Dylan123
  47. 47Jacob123
  48. 48Kieran122
  49. 49Mathew117
  50. 50Kyle112

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.