Every year, Stats SA publish the Recorded Live Births report for the previous year. Yesterday they released the 2016 list of most popular baby names in South Africa.
Junior and Precious again made the number 1 slots for boys and girls respectively, and the Dlaminis again recorded the most births last year.
We also have a breakdown of the top boys name, girls name and surname per province, with names that didn't make it to the national list but came out tops in their province, like Kungawo in Eastern Cape and Mia in the Western Cape, for instance.
Top boys names in South Africa 2016:
1. Junior (1)
2. Blessing (2)
3. Gift (3)
4. Bandile (4)
5. Prince (5)
6. Melokuhle (7)
7. Siyabonga (6)
8. Lethabo (8)
9. Amogelang
10. Lubanzi
The first 8 boys names remain unchanged, with a small internal shuffle, but Junior beats the others by a big margin: 10 869 baby boys were named Junior, compared to 6 130 little boys being blessed with the name Blessing. Amogelang and Lubanzi are new in the top 10 this year.
The number in brackets indicates the position of the name on the 2015 top South African baby names list.
Top girls names in South Africa 2016
1. Precious (1)
2. Princess (2)
3. Amahle (4)
4. Luthando
5. Thandolwethu (6)
6. Blessing (8)
7. Angel (3)
8. Siphesihle
9. Melokuhle (7)
10. Amogelang
There's a bit more movement among the girls names, with Luthando, Siphesihle and Amogelang all entering the list.
Top most registered surnames of babies in South Africa 2016:
1. Dlamini (1)
2. Nkosi (2)
3. Ndlovu (3)
4. Khumalo (4)
5. Sithole (5)
6. Mokoena (6)
7. Mkhize (7)
8. Ngcobo (9)
9. Gumede
10. Mthembu (8)
This list nearly completely unchanged, except for Gumede entering at number 9, and last year's Mahlangu falling out.
The top boy name, girl name and surname per province:
Gauteng
Junior
Precious
Mokoena
Western Cape
Junior
Mia
Jacobs
Eastern Cape
Kungawo
Iminathi
Williams
Northern Cape
Junior
Grace
Van Wyk
KwaZulu-Natal
Bandile
Luthando
Dlamini
Free State
Junior
Precious
Mokoena
North West
Junior
Amogelang
Molefe
Mpumalanga
Blessing
Princess
Nkosi
Limpopo
Junior
Precious
Baloyi
