Every year, the Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB) releases an overview of the names that parents give their new-born children.

In 2015, the most popular names given to babies were Liam and Emma. In 2016, 88.494 boys and 84.286 girls were born in the Netherlands. Here’s a rundown of the most popular names.

The most popular names in the Netherlands

For girls, the name Anna was given a total of 665 times, just one above Emma, Tess and Sophie, which were given to 664 girls.

For boys, Daan (Dan in English) was given to 681 babies. In 2015, the name Daan only made it to fifth place. Following on in second and third place, were Noah with 679 and Sem (Sam in English) with 663.

The trouble with spelling

The name Sara was also quite popular but because of the variations in spelling, it made it lower down the list. For example, you can write the name Sara, Sarah or Zara.

In 2016,  it was given to 1.046 girls. Similarly, with boys, the name Luke can be spelled Luc or Luuk. It was given to 804 boys. 

Regional choices

Depending on the region, the popularity of names changed. In Groningen for example, the names Jesse and Sophie were most popular, whilst in Limburg, most named their children Finn or Emma.

The most unique names of last year, only given once, were Baas for a boy, and Farahilde for a girl. 

Top 10 girl's names

Here is a list of names for girls that were most popular in 2016:
1. Anna
2. Emma
3. Tess
4. Sophie
5. Julia
6. Zoë
7. Evi
8. Mila
9. Sara
10. Eva

Top 10 boy's names

Here is a list of names for boys that were most popular in 2016:
1. Daan
2. Noah
3. Sem
4. Lucas
5. Jesse
6. Finn
7. Milan
8. Max
9. Levi
10. Luuk