Spain overwhelmingly chooses Lucía and Hugo. These are the most popular baby names in 2020, according to data published by Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE) on Thursday.
Lucía has been the most common name among newborn girls since 2003. It took top spot from María. Hugo overtook Alejandro in 2012 to become the most popular boys’ name. Click here for the overview of the top 100 names given to boys and girls.
Second place fluctuates
Among the boys’ names, the top three has shifted and Mateo is now in second place. Mateo overtakes Martín and Lucas, who were in second and third place respectively for several years. Among the girls’ names, the second and third places in 2020 are unchanged from 2019: Sofia and Martina.
Top 10 girls
The ten most chosen names for girls last year are: Lucía (3,432 girls), followed by Sofía (3,190), Martina (3,042), María (2,839), Julia (2,436), Paula (2,201), Valeria (2,167), Emma (2,119), Daniela (2,015) and Carla (1,831).
Valeria has moved from ninth to seventh place, Carla from fourteenth to tenth place. The name Emma became less popular and dropped from seventh to eighth place. Daniela also lost popularity and went from eighth to ninth place.
Top 10 boys
The top ten boys’ names in 2020 was as follows: Hugo (3,313 babies), Matthew (3,248), Martin (3,144), Luke (3,024), Leo (2,823), Daniel (2,592), Alexander (2,525), Manuel (2,411), Paul (2,400) and Alvaro (2,070). Mateo rose from fourth to second place, Manuel from ninth to eighth. Martín was chosen less often and dropped from second to third place, Lucas also took a step back from third to fourth place and Pablo went from eighth to ninth place.
Regional differences for baby names
There are some differences between the sub-communities: Sofía beats Lucía in Asturias and Galicia; Mateo beats Hugo in Madrid, Aragon or Castilla-La Mancha. The traditional Manuel still triumphs in Andalucia and Extremadura. The Basque Country opts for Ane and Markel, while Catalonia prefers Julia and Marc.
Traditional names
These names are also gaining ground with the next generation. The top positions are still occupied by traditional names, such as Mari Carmen, María and Carmen for the women and Antonio, Manuel and José for the men.
Click here to see the development of the most common boys’ and girls’ names since 2002, the first year in which the website INE kept track of this statistic.
