Dutch baby names significantly shorter than 50 years ago; Noah and Noor most popular
Dutch parents are choosing markedly shorter baby names than they did a half-century ago, with boys' names shrinking twice as fast as girls' names and becoming more uniform across the country, according to new research from YourSurprise.
In 2025, Noah was the most popular boys' name nationwide, followed by Liam and Luca. Among girls, Noor topped the list, ahead of Olivia and Nora.
The average length of names in the national top 10 for boys dropped from 6.5 letters to 4.0 letters over the past 50 years, a 38% decline. For girls, the average fell from 5.9 letters to about 4.6 letters, a decrease of roughly 22%.
Boys' names lost an average of 2.5 letters, compared with 1.3 to 1.6 letters for girls' names. The choice of boys' names has also grown more uniform nationally. The number of unique boys' names appearing in the top 10 lists across the 12 provinces fell from 39 in 2020 to 31 in 2025. Girls' names remained far more varied, with the count of unique names changing only slightly, from 35 to 34.
Nora spread rapidly, appearing in just five provincial top 10 lists in 2020 but in all 12 by 2025. Noah has been the No. 1 boys' name in both Limburg and Zuid-Holland for six straight years from 2020 through 2025 — the only provinces with such an unbroken streak at the top.
Friesland maintains the most distinctive top 10 in the country. Over the past six years, its lists featured eight boys' names such as Hidde, Jelte and Fedde, and seven girls' names such as Silke, Fenna and Mare. None of these 15 names has ever appeared in another province's top 10. Friesland shared only one of its 10 boys' names with Zuid-Holland — the province with the most common names — marking the lowest overlap nationwide.
Zeeland holds stronger to older and Biblical traditions. Half of its 2025 top 10 boys' names — Noah, Johannes, Jan, Levi and Luuk — have ancient or Biblical roots, appearing alongside modern choices such as Guus, Finn, Luca and Noud. Among girls, only Anna and Johanna represent older generations, standing next to modern names such as Emma, Julia, Olivia and Hailey.
Fifty years ago, Johannes was the most popular boys' name nationally and Maria the most popular girls' name. Both continue to appear regularly in Zeeland's top 10 in recent years, while appearing in no other province's top 10.
A comparison of 2020 and 2025 national trends shows clear risers and fallers.
Rising names included Luca, Zayn, Tobias and Oliver for boys, and Luna, Mia, Sofia, Maeve and Hailey for girls. Names that disappeared from every provincial top 10 included Bram, Julian, Max, Hugo and Thijs for boys, and Eva, Fleur, Liv, Maria and Lynn for girls.
In Zuid-Holland, names with Slavic roots such as Milan and Mila appear alongside traditional Dutch names like Noah, Liam, Noor and Emma. Names with Arabic roots — Zayn, Adam and, in recent years, Mohammed — also feature in the top 10, reflecting growing diversity in the country's larger cities.
The findings come from an analysis of national and provincial top 10 lists collected between 2020 and 2025 by SVB.nl.
