Published 7 February 2024 at 09.48
Domestic. New names are at the top for both girls and boys when the Swedish Tax Agency for the first time presents the most common nicknames for newborns. Among girls, Elsa tops just before Vera and among boys it is Noah who takes first place ahead of Hugo.
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It is the first year that the Swedish Tax Agency publishes lists of the most popular names for newborns. In previous years, Statistics Norway, Statistics Sweden, has published the data.
For girls, it is very even at the top where Elsa was the most common name in 2023 with 588 girls named, just ahead of Vera which 587 girls were named. Astrid, which was the most popular name for girls in 2022, has dropped a full eight places to ninth place.
After several years of being in the absolute top, Noah has now reached first place with 655 named boys. William, who held the top spot for the past few years, continues to be popular, but drops to third place. Hugo climbs two places and is now the second most popular name with 622 named boys.
Examples of names that were previously included but are now outside the top 100 lists are Felicia, which fell from place 95 to 128, and John, which fell from place 85 to 104.
An application for a first name must done within three months of the child's birth, which means that the 2023 data on the most popular names for newborns will not be complete until later this spring.
In the Swedish Tax Agency's statistics portal, you can search for the most popular names in municipalities and county, so you can research what the most popular names are where you live. There you can also see how the popularity of names has changed over time.
The Tax Agency reports names per unique spelling, unlike Statistics Norway, which combines names with similar spellings into one name. Therefore, statistics may differ between authorities.
Most popular boy names in 2023:
1. Noah
2. Hugo
3. William
4. Liam
5. Nils
Most popular girl names in 2023:
1. Elsa
2. Vera
3. Alma
4. Selma
5. Alice