The national statistics agency (INEGI) keeps track of the most popular names for babies in Mexico – and the least popular ones.
Sofía has topped the list for some time as the most popular name in the country for girls. There are some 6,552 girls registered with that name across the nation, according to the most recent data from 2021.
Following in the girl’s category are the names María José, Regina, Camila and Valeria. To round out the top ten are Ximena, María Fernanda, Victoria and Renata.
For boys, Santiago is parents’ favorite. There are almost 10,000 boys registered with this name.
After Santiago, Mateo is the most popular boy’s name with 8,209 kids bearing it. Following are Leonardo, Matías, Emiliano, Daniel, Gael, Miguel Ángel and Diego.
As for the least popular names, Ainhoa is the least preferred by parents. Only 173 girls in Mexico bear the name. Other names on the verge of disappearing are Ambar, Samadhi, Georgina and Ailyn.
The least popular name for boys is Jesús Armando with 227 registered. Lian, Jeremías and Alan Tadeo are also near the bottom.
The INEGI data shows that there were 1.9 million births registered in 2021, of which 49% were girls and 51% were boys.
Data shows that in the last 10 years, the birth rate in Mexico has decreased: in 2012, INEGI reported 2.5 million births. By 2021, that figure came down to 1.9 million. However, births in that year increased compared to 2020, when only 1.6 million babies were born.
With reports from Cuéntame INEGI
