Top Choice For Baby Names

Benjamín Remains Top Choice For Chilean Baby Names - Santiago Times

Benjamín continues to be the top choice for baby names in Chile, with 7,289 babies receiving the name in 2009, outshining its feminine counterpart, Martina.

Benjamín has been the top choice for seven consecutive years, reaching a peak of 9,039 in 2005. Overall, more than 57,000 Benjamínes have been born in Chile during the past seven years.

Top male baby names overall in the 2009 were: Benjamín (7,289); Vicente (5,391); Martín (5,246); Matías (5,045); and Joaquín (3,458).

As for girls, Martina took the top spot in baby naming: 5,297 newborns were so named in 2009, falling short from its 2008 lead of 5,616. Since 2003, more than 27,000 baby girls have been named Martina.

Last year, top female names were Martina (5,297); Sofía (5,043); Valentina (3,658); Antonia (4,636); and Antonella (3,336).

Parents, however, cannot get enough of foreign names, leading to a few new popular choices among newborns.

Emily had the highest position on the charts, with 570, although the named ranked 40 overall for baby girl names.

Other foreign-sounding names such as Alexandra, Mayra, Denisse, Sophia, Elizabeth, Dafne, Thiare, Anahis, Ashley and Katherine follow closely behind on the top 100 Chilean baby names chart for 2009.

Alexander held the position for most common foreign name for a baby boy, with 630 birth last year.

Other common foreign names for baby boys that year were Kevin, Thomas, Cristopher, Dylan, Jean, Johan, Jonathan and Dilan.

The influence of Anglo-Saxon baby names is not only present in Chile.

According to an article from Mexican-news source millenio.com, more parents in that country are selecting "complicated" names.

The article mentions that on average each month, out of over 100 names registered in Mexico, 30 babies are given "complicated" names.

The most common of these names are Jonatan, Jennifer, Bryan and Sherlyn.

It becomes even more complicated when parents decide how to spell the names, many choosing names with double n's, or y's or double f's.

But other countries are still sticking to the more common Hispanic names.

Benjamín has also reigned as top baby name for the past three years in Spain, Spanish newspaper La Voz De Galicia reported. In 2009 alone, 718 baby boys were given the name Benjamín, according to data taken from the Córdoba Municipality of Civil Registry.

SOURCES: EL MERCURIO, LA VOZ DE GALICIA, MILENIO.COM