Advertisement

What are the most popular baby names among foreigners in Switzerland?'

The Local
The Local - [email protected]
What are the most popular baby names among foreigners in Switzerland?'
What's in a name? Very often, national origins. Photo by AFP

A new survey by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) shows that many immigrants in Switzerland favour traditional national names for their children.

Advertisement

On Tuesday, The Local published an article about the most popular baby names in Switzerland in 2019.

Liam for boys and Mia for girls have emerged as winners.

Now let’s look specifically at what names members of the country’s foreign community gave their offspring born in Switzerland in 2019.

READ MORE: Revealed: Switzerland’s most popular baby names 

Italian

Italian parents favoured Maria, Anna, Francesca, Angela and Rosa for girls, and Giuseppe, Antonio, Francesco, Giovanni and Salvatore for boys.

German

For girls Julia, Claudia, Sabine, Anna and Susanne. For boys, the favourites were Michael, Thomas, Andreas, Christian and Alexander.

Advertisement

French

Marie, Sophie, Nathalie, Isabelle and Julie were top for girls. And Nicolas, Alexandre, Julien, Pierre and Philippe for the boys.

Portuguese

Girls: Maria, Ana, Sandra, Carla and Paula. Boys : José, Carlos, Manuel, Paulo,
Antonio, Pedro.

Photo by AFP

 

Spanish 

Maria, Ana, Laura, Carmen, Cristina for baby girls. José, Juan, Jose, Manuel, and Francisco for boys.

Kosovars

Most common names for girls were Fatime, Shqipe, Merita, Vlora and Valentina. For the boys, Arben, Bekim, Valon, Blerim, Leon and Burim were in the top five.

Macedonians

Fatime, Emine, Sara, Medina and Merita for girls, and Bekim, Muhamed, Fatmir, Arben and Amir for boys.

Serbs

Favourite girls' names were Jelena, Marija, Snezana, Dragana, and Ivana. For boys, it was Aleksandar, Dragan, Nikola, Zoran, and Dejan.

Turks

Fatime, Ayse, Hastice, Elif, Zeynep were the top picks for baby girls. Mehmet, Ali, Mustafa, Ahmet and Hasan were the favourites for the boys.

Can you name your baby what you want?

Actually, not always. It's important to keep in mind that the cantonal registry offices, where new births must be announced, don't have to accept very unusual names.

Several years ago, for instance, a Zurich court ruled that parents can’t name their infant daughter ‘J’.

In another case, a couple in the canton of Bern were ordered to change the name of their newborn son because their choice – Jessico – was considered too feminine. 

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also