Hugo and Lucia are top choice for Spanish infants

According to a study by the National Institute of Statistics, INE Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, which was updated on May 19 of this year, 2015 saw Hugo and Lucia top the Spanish tables of the most popular male and female baby names respectively.

These names have been leading the polls in popularity for quite some time; Lucia has been topping the chart since it overtook the popular customary girl’s name, Maria in 2003, and Hugo has been in an analogous position since 2012, when it knocked Daniel off first place in 2012.

Following Lucia in the girl’s names chart were Maria, Martina, Paula, Daniela and Sofia, with Valeria, Carla and Alba in the last four places. The boys chart was similarly populated with traditional Spanish boy’s names; Daniel in second place, followed by Pablo, Alejandro, Alvaro, Adrian, David and Martin, Mario and Diego in the last three places.

The 2015 chart saw a subtle modernisation of Spanish baby names; traditionally Spanish names are often extracted from religious Catholic text. In comparison, the most common female names in 2014 for individuals aged 49 on average, was Maria Carmen and Josefa, and for males: Antonio, Francisco and Juan.

Unusual names are still uncommon in Spain, with common sense and cultural traditions preserving the social uniformity of names; a baby called Jose Bowie, born in January 2016, and named in honour of the late musical icon, made national news.

However, there are some that prefer an untraditional approach to bestowing a name on their offspring.

According to INE statistics, some Spanish residents have opted to name their children in honour of their contemporary heroes; there are 54 Mileys and 317 Justins living on the Iberian Peninsula, named after pop stars Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber; 101 individuals are named Neymar after Barcelona’s Brazilian football player, Neymar da Silva Santos, and Game of Thrones fans will be delighted to hear that 124 Aryas and 23 Daenerys, two of the shows biggest female stars, have been recorded on the national registry.