In spite of moving with the times – and allowing all kinds of foreign names for babies born in Portugal – the names of 2025’s babies have remained very traditionally Portuguese.
Latest data from IRN (the registrars and notaries’ institute) show that ‘Maria’ is, for the 21st year running, the most chosen girls’ name – followed by Alice, Leonor, Matilde, Benedita, Aurora, Olívia, Carolina, Camila and Francisca.
Compared with last year, the names Margarida and Beatriz have dropped from their previous position within the Top 10 chosen girls’ names.
When it comes to boys, Francisco holds the top slot (as it has for the last seven years) – followed by Tomás and Duarte (in second and third places) and then Afonso, Vicente, João, Lourenço, Martim, Miguel and Gabriel.
Falling from the Top 10 this year has been the name Santiago.
Anyone whose babies were born pre-2017 will be amazed by the new list of approved names. It is vast and shows the extent to which Portugal has changed to embrace modern times.
By the end of November (when IRN came up with its ‘most popular babies names of 2025), roughly 87,000 babies had been born in 2025 – a slight increase on numbers born during the same period in 2024.
Source: SIC
