Most Common Names by Population
Nearly every "most popular names" list counts babies born in one year. These lists are different: they count people alive today. A national register says how many living people carry each first name, which is a far better answer to the question most people actually have — how many people share my name?
🇫🇮 Most common names in Finland
16,733 names covering 5,397,435 people · Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV)
🇮🇸 Most common names in Iceland
200 names covering 203,200 people · Statistics Iceland (Hagstofa Islands)
Why "people alive today" and not "births this year"?
They answer different questions, and mixing them up produces badly wrong numbers. A birth count tells you what parents are choosing right now. A population count tells you what a country is actually full of — the accumulated result of a century of naming. A name can top one list and be nowhere near the other: in Finland, Juha is the most common man's name among living citizens, while Eino leads among newborns. Both facts are true; neither is a substitute for the other.
Every figure on these pages is a headcount of living people taken from an official national register. We never present it as a birth count, and we never estimate: if a register does not publish a name, it does not appear here.
Frequently asked questions
How many people have my name?
For countries with a public population register — currently Finland and Iceland — we show the exact number of living people recorded with each first name. Search your name on our "What does my name mean?" page and the figure appears alongside the meaning.
Why are only a few countries listed?
Most countries publish only annual birth statistics, not a count of living people by first name. Only a handful of national statistics agencies release a full given-name register. We list every one we have data for, and add more as they become available.
Is this the same as a name's popularity ranking?
No. A popularity ranking is normally based on one year of births. These lists rank by how many living people carry the name, so older names that were fashionable decades ago rank far higher here than they do in any birth-year chart.