Top NZ Baby Names of 1988

Sarah (667) and Daniel (785) were New Zealand's most registered names in 1988. Below are the top 50 girls' and boys' names for the year. See the whole 1980s for context.

Top 50 girls' names

  1. 1Sarah667
  2. 2Emma495
  3. 3Jessica474
  4. 4Rebecca369
  5. 5Samantha366
  6. 6Nicole332
  7. 7Amanda302
  8. 8Rachel270
  9. 9Amy268
  10. 10Anna264
  11. 11Laura257
  12. 12Hannah251
  13. 13Lisa226
  14. 14Melissa223
  15. 15Kylie209
  16. 16Natasha202
  17. 17Stephanie196
  18. 18Danielle189
  19. 19Kate187
  20. 20Ashleigh184
  21. 21Stacey183
  22. 22Michelle174
  23. 23Elizabeth173
  24. 24Renee165
  25. 25Sophie160
  26. 26Kelly149
  27. 27Megan145
  28. 28Natalie144
  29. 29Nicola144
  30. 30Hayley143
  31. 31Chelsea139
  32. 32Jennifer133
  33. 33Chloe127
  34. 34Katie125
  35. 35Ashley123
  36. 36Holly121
  37. 37Jenna120
  38. 38Courtney119
  39. 39Jasmine119
  40. 40Charlotte118
  41. 41Lauren118
  42. 42Olivia118
  43. 43Victoria117
  44. 44Kimberley115
  45. 45Emily113
  46. 46Gemma111
  47. 47Katherine111
  48. 48Christina110
  49. 49Alexandra109
  50. 50Claire108

Top 50 boys' names

  1. 1Daniel785
  2. 2Michael744
  3. 3Matthew676
  4. 4James632
  5. 5Joshua590
  6. 6Andrew555
  7. 7Samuel542
  8. 8Christopher531
  9. 9Benjamin478
  10. 10David470
  11. 11Thomas409
  12. 12Nicholas380
  13. 13Adam326
  14. 14Jason318
  15. 15Timothy294
  16. 16Scott292
  17. 17Joseph282
  18. 18Richard280
  19. 19Robert280
  20. 20William277
  21. 21Mark271
  22. 22Ryan267
  23. 23Simon256
  24. 24Aaron253
  25. 25Jonathan229
  26. 26John225
  27. 27Hayden223
  28. 28Luke215
  29. 29Alexander203
  30. 30Peter195
  31. 31Nathan189
  32. 32Paul188
  33. 33Bradley182
  34. 34Shaun180
  35. 35Steven178
  36. 36Anthony175
  37. 37Cameron174
  38. 38Jesse172
  39. 39Shane169
  40. 40Hamish167
  41. 41Stephen155
  42. 42Jacob148
  43. 43Jeremy148
  44. 44Jamie136
  45. 45Mathew134
  46. 46Sean134
  47. 47Dylan127
  48. 48Jordan122
  49. 49Karl118
  50. 50Jared115

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.