So, last week our governemnt released the top 50 names used for newborn babies last year. Much of the list remains the same as the 2020 one, but there are eight newcomers: three boys’ names and five girls’ names!
The new boys’ names are Franko, Vid (this one hurts a bit as I could totally envision myself using it in the future) and Lovre (variant of Lovro used primarily in Dalmatia, itself a variant of Lawrence). The new girls’ names are Maris, Luna, Aria (I think was helped not only by GoT but by the fact there is a Croatian actress with this name who has been active these past few years), Mara (this one was quite common some 100 years ago so it is nice to see it make a comeback!) and Roza.
Croats have generally been favoring shorter names and diminutives for the past twenty years. Boys are most often given Biblical and saints’ names, with lots of variants and short forms used as well. Girls are more often given international names which work in Croatian (like myself), but there are Biblical names as well.
Below is the full list for those who are interested::
Boys
- Luka
- David (DAH-vid)
- Jakov (YAH-kov)
- Ivan (EE-vahn)
- Roko
- Petar
- Mateo
- Niko
- Matej (MAH-tay)
- Fran (FRAHN)
- Josip (YO-sip)
- Noa
- Mihael (MEE-ha-el)
- Borna
- Toma
- Filip
- Leon (LEH-ohn)
- Karlo
- Marko
- Lovro
- Jan (YAHN)
- Ivano (EE-vahn-oh)
- Vito
- Šimun (SHE-moon, variant of Simon)
- Teo (TEH-oh)
- Lukas
- Ante (AHN-teh, diminutive of Anthony)
- Nikola (NIK-oh-lah)
- Gabriel (GAH-bree-el)
- Leo (LEH-oh)
- Viktor
- Bruno
- Marin (MAH-rin)
- Tin (diminutive of Augustin, Valentin & Martin)
- Dominik
- Oliver
- Adrian (AH-dree-ahn)
- Patrik
- Noel
- Toni
- Rafael
- Liam
- Andrej
- Erik
- Antonio
- Franko (FRAHN-koh)
- Emanuel
- Lovre
- Maro
- Vid (VEED)
Girls
- Mia
- Lucija (LOO-tsee-yah)
- Nika (NEE-kah, feminine form of Nikola, which is a masculine name here)
- Rita
- Ema
- Mila
- Marta
- Sara
- Ana
- Dora
- Eva (EH-va)
- Elena (as an Elena, this one also hurts)
- Lana
- Petra
- Iva (EE-vah)
- Klara (KLAA-rah)
- Lara
- Marija (MAH-ree-yah)
- Lea (LEH-ah)
- Hana (HAHN-uh)
- Ena
- Franka
- Tena (TEHN-uh, Croatian diminutive of Theresa)
- Leona (LEOHN-uh)
- Laura (LAH-oo-rah)
- Emili
- Maša (Croatian spelling of Masha)
- Una
- Vita
- Lena (LEHN-uh)
- Nikol (like Nicole)
- Magdalena
- Sofia
- Karla
- Tara
- Tia
- Katja
- Lota
- Tea (TEH-uh)
- Nora
- Maris
- Bruna
- Aria
- Luna
- Helena
- Sofija
- Mara
- Lorena
- Iris (EE-ris)
- Roza
Are there any names on this list you’d consider using? Any you’re surprised to see based on how (un)popular they are where you live?
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I like [name_m]Bruno[/name_m], [name_m]Rafael[/name_m], [name_m]Antonio[/name_m], [name_m]Teo[/name_m], [name_f]Koko[/name_f] and [name_m]Vid[/name_m]! [name_f]Mila[/name_f], [name_f]Elena[/name_f], [name_f]Klara[/name_f], [name_f]Tena[/name_f], [name_f]Maris[/name_f], [name_f]Mara[/name_f] and [name_f]Roza[/name_f] are lovely!!
It’s interesting to me that the girls list feels fairly international but the boys names aren’t so familiar to me! Thank you for sharing!
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I really love:
[name_u]Niko[/name_u], [name_m]Viktor[/name_m], [name_u]Marin[/name_u], [name_u]Adrian[/name_u]
[name_f]Lucija[/name_f], [name_f]Eva[/name_f], [name_f]Marta[/name_f]
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Love and usable for where I am:
Luka, Roko, Niko, Marko, Teo, Rafael, Antonio, Nika, Sofia, Katja
Love and not as usable:
Ante, Marin (this would be more girl name in US but I love it for a boy!!,) Tin (so cute- maybe would just tolerate the mispronounciation), Tea
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I love [name_f]Vita[/name_f] and [name_u]Jan[/name_u]!
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@Greyblue yes, it is definitely more common to give boys more traditional/Croatian name and give girls more international names which are short and vowel-heavy. [name_m]Even[/name_m] my parents did the same thing!
@alessia810 thanks for sharing, I also love [name_f]Lucija[/name_f]!
@MissyTee29 I also really like [name_m]Roko[/name_m] and [name_f]Katja[/name_f]!
@AntoniaMarie thanks for sharing, I also love [name_f]Vita[/name_f]!
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It’s so interesting how name trends vary country to country - names like [name_f]Laura[/name_f], [name_f]Katja[/name_f], [name_m]Marko[/name_m], [name_u]Toni[/name_u], [name_u]Niko[/name_u] and [name_f]Sara[/name_f] are familiar in Finland too but more common on people in their 30s/40s, and they’d be quite unexpected and exciting on a baby! Are they enduring classics or recently popular again?
At the same time though, [name_u]Luka[/name_u], [name_m]Lukas[/name_m], [name_u]Leo[/name_u] and [name_f]Sofia[/name_f] are all equally well loved. They really seem to be rising stars just about everywhere. (Which I’m torn about because I love [name_m]Lukas[/name_m] but can’t decide if I care about how popular it is…)
[name_f]My[/name_f] favourites are [name_f]Bruna[/name_f], [name_f]Franka[/name_f], [name_f]Sofija[/name_f] (way more distinctive than Sofia!), Ante, [name_m]Viktor[/name_m], [name_m]Franko[/name_m], and [name_m]Petar[/name_m]. On the whole I’m definitely more drawn to the boy names.
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I really like [name_u]Luka[/name_u], [name_u]David[/name_u], [name_m]Matej[/name_m] (love!!), [name_m]Mihael[/name_m], [name_u]Jan[/name_u], [name_u]Leo[/name_u], [name_m]Bruno[/name_m], [name_m]Andrej[/name_m], and [name_m]Antonio[/name_m] from the boys list, and [name_f]Mia[/name_f], [name_f]Lucija[/name_f], [name_f]Marta[/name_f], [name_f]Sara[/name_f], [name_f]Petra[/name_f], [name_f]Leona[/name_f], [name_f]Laura[/name_f], [name_f]Lena[/name_f], [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f], [name_f]Sofia[/name_f], [name_f]Nora[/name_f], [name_f]Helena[/name_f], [name_f]Mara[/name_f], and [name_f]Lorena[/name_f] from the girls list!
[name_f]Marta[/name_f], [name_f]Helena[/name_f], or [name_f]Lorena[/name_f] would be the ones I’d be most likely to use. I really love [name_f]Mia[/name_f] and [name_f]Leona[/name_f] too but they sound a lot like my own name, so I think it would get too confusing. And I like [name_f]Sara[/name_f] a lot but with my top name being [name_f]Sadie[/name_f] I don’t think I could use both.
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@Luminen [name_m]Marko[/name_m] is a classic through and through. I know 90-year old men and 2 year-olds named [name_m]Marko[/name_m]. The rest have been in steady use for at least the past twenty years (because I have peers with all of these names), although I think the “rarest” of the ones you mentioned is [name_f]Katja[/name_f] - had no idea she was this popular until I saw the list! So, what would you say: is a name that’s been in steady use for twenty years a classic or just very enduring? 
I also love [name_f]Bruna[/name_f], she’s such a darling! I have a really soft spot for [name_m]Viktor[/name_m] too!
@EagleEyes [name_f]Marta[/name_f], [name_f]Helena[/name_f] and [name_f]Lorena[/name_f] are all such beautiful names! Also [name_f]Sadie[/name_f] is gorgeous, you’ve got good taste!
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I could see myself using [name_u]Jan[/name_u], [name_f]Klara[/name_f], and [name_f]Helena[/name_f].