🇩🇪 Most Popular Baby Names in Germany (2025)
The German ranking comes from the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache in Wiesbaden, which reads birth registrations from every federal state and publishes each spring. With roughly 700,000 births a year, Germany has one of the largest naming pools in Europe. Parents here lean towards names that travel well. Emma, Mia, Noah and Elias work as easily in English or Italian as they do in German. Regional habits persist underneath the national figures, and Bavaria stays closer to tradition than Hamburg or Cologne.
Data source: Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache (GfDS) · Year: 2025 · 10 girl names, 10 boy names
Before you settle on a name, it helps to know what the register will accept.
Baby naming rules in Germany: the legal basis, the deadline and what a registrar may refuse.
2024 to 2025: What Moved
Set the two most recent rankings side by side and the movement is easy to read. Some names climbed, others slipped, and a few appeared or vanished outright.
Girls
Biggest climbers: Emma (#3 → #2, +1), Ella (#7 → #6, +1), Klara (#9 → #8, +1)
Biggest drops: Emilia (#2 → #3, -1), Mila (#8 → #9, -1)
New in the ranking: Hanna
Dropped out: Hannah
Boys
Biggest climbers: Theo (#7 → #3, +4), Emil (#8 → #5, +3), Elias (#9 → #7, +2)
Biggest drops: Luca (#4 → #9, -5), Henry (#6 → #10, -4), Leon (#3 → #6, -3), Paul (#5 → #8, -3)
New in the ranking: Leo
Dropped out: Louis
Steady Through 2021–2025
Sophia tops the girl's ranking in Germany, and has done so 3 years running.
8 girls' names appear in every year from 2021–2025 without a gap:
SophiaEmmaEmiliaMiaLinaEllaKlaraMila
Noah tops the boy's ranking in Germany, and has done so 5 years running.
7 boys' names appear in every year from 2021–2025 without a gap:
NoahMatteoEmilLeonEliasPaulLuca
What the National List Leaves Out: Berlin, 2023
Germany has no official naming statistic. The ranking above comes from the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache, which reads birth registrations and publishes ten names for each sex. Berlin publishes far more: every first name registered, borough by borough, as open data.
These are Berlin figures, not national ones, and they are from 2023 rather than the year shown in the ranking above. Read them as a second view, not as a correction.
Most registered first names in Berlin
Emilia 177Charlotte 160Mila 160Emma 157Mia 152Lina 137Ida 109Ella 109Olivia 102Sofia 102
Adam 216Noah 215Liam 180Leon 171Emil 153Elias 151Leo 132Levi 123Anton 122Louis 122
Several of them are missing from the national top ten entirely: Charlotte, Adam, Liam. A list of ten names cannot show what a city of this size is actually calling its children.
By borough
Tempelhof-Schöneberg (4299 first names registered)
Girls: Mila, Emilia, Mia · Boys: Adam, Noah, Leon
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf (3301 first names registered)
Girls: Charlotte, Emma, Emilia · Boys: Noah, Anton, Leon
Pankow (3147 first names registered)
Girls: Emilia, Emma, Mia · Boys: Leon, Emil, Liam
Mitte (3113 first names registered)
Girls: Lina, Emilia, Sophia · Boys: Adam, Noah, Ali
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg (2691 first names registered)
Girls: Emma, Emilia, Maria · Boys: Noah, Adam, Leon
Spandau (2032 first names registered)
Girls: Charlotte, Ava, Ayla · Boys: Liam, Noah, Emil
Neukölln (1705 first names registered)
Girls: Emilia, Medina, Lina · Boys: Noah, Adam, Amir
Lichtenberg (1313 first names registered)
Girls: Charlotte, Emilia, Lara · Boys: Adam, Liam, Noah
Treptow-Köpenick (544 first names registered)
Girls: Alma, Charlotte, Emily · Boys: Liam, Jonas, Leo
Steglitz-Zehlendorf (420 first names registered)
Girls: Mila, Charlotte, Ella · Boys: Luca, Noah, Adam
Marzahn-Hellersdorf (364 first names registered)
Girls: Emilia, Mia, Charlotte · Boys: Anton, Felix, Louis
Reinickendorf (197 first names registered)
Girls: Charlotte, Eva, Amira · Boys: Adam, Miran, Hamza
A birth is registered at the register office of the borough where it took place, not where the family lives, so boroughs with large maternity hospitals carry far more entries than their population would suggest. The counts are of first given names only. Data: BerlinOnline GmbH, based on data from the Berlin State Office for Citizens and Regulatory Affairs (LABO), daten.berlin.de, licensed CC BY 3.0 DE.
👧 Most Popular Girl Names in Germany (2025)
#1SophiaGreek
Meaning: Wisdom / Weisheit
Sophia is a timeless Greek name meaning wisdom, carried by Byzantine empresses and saints, and one of the most popular girl's names globally.
Sophia ist ein zeitloser griechischer Name mit der Bedeutung Weisheit, der von byzantinischen Kaiserinnen und Heiligen getragen wurde und einer der beliebtesten Mädchennamen weltweit ist.
#2EmmaGermanic
Meaning: Whole, universal / Ganzheitlich, universell
Emma is a Germanic name that was popular among medieval queens and has remained a top choice across Europe and North America for over a century.
Emma ist ein germanischer Name, der bei mittelalterlichen Königinnen beliebt war und seit über einem Jahrhundert in ganz Europa und Nordamerika eine beliebte Wahl ist.
#3EmiliaLatin
Meaning: Rival, industrious / Rivale, fleißig
Emilia derives from the Latin Aemilia, the name of an ancient Roman family, and has been among the most popular girl's names in Austria and Germany for years.
Emilia leitet sich vom lateinischen Aemilia ab, dem Namen einer antiken römischen Familie, und gehört seit Jahren zu den beliebtesten Mädchennamen in Österreich und Deutschland.
#4MiaHebrewScandinavian
Meaning: Mine; wished-for child / Meins; Wunschkind
Mia began as a Scandinavian pet form of Maria and has become an international favourite, topping charts from Norway to the United States.
Mia begann als skandinavische Koseform von Maria und hat sich zu einem internationalen Favoriten entwickelt, der von Norwegen bis in die USA die Charts anführt.
#5LinaGreekArabic
Meaning: Bright, shining; tender / Hell, leuchtend; zart
Lina ist ein griechischer und arabischer Name mit der Bedeutung hell, leuchtend; zart.
#6EllaGermanic
Meaning: All, completely / Alles, völlig
Ella developed as a short form of Eleanor or Elisabeth and has surged in popularity across Europe and North America since the early 2000s.
Ella entwickelte sich als Kurzform von Eleanor oder Elisabeth und erfreut sich seit Anfang der 2000er Jahre in ganz Europa und Nordamerika wachsender Beliebtheit.
#7HannaHebrew
Meaning: Grace, favour / Gnade, Gunst
Hanna is the Scandinavian and German spelling of Hannah, meaning grace in Hebrew, and a steady top-ten name in Austria and Norway.
Hanna ist die skandinavische und deutsche Schreibweise von Hannah, was auf Hebräisch Gnade bedeutet, und ein fester Top-Ten-Name in Österreich und Norwegen.
#8KlaraLatin
Meaning: Clear, bright, famous / Klar, hell, berühmt
Klara is the German spelling of Clara, meaning bright and famous in Latin, and a classic name with strong roots in central Europe.
Klara ist die deutsche Schreibweise von Clara, was auf Lateinisch hell und berühmt bedeutet und ein klassischer Name mit starken Wurzeln in Mitteleuropa ist.
#9MilaSlavic
Meaning: Gracious, dear / Gnädig, mein Lieber
Mila began as a Slavic diminutive meaning gracious or dear and has spread widely across Europe and the Americas in recent decades.
Mila begann als slawische Verkleinerungsform mit der Bedeutung „gnädig“ oder „lieb“ und hat sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten in ganz Europa und Amerika weit verbreitet.
#10LiaHebrewGreek
Meaning: Weary; bringer of good news / Müde; Überbringer guter Nachrichten
Lia ist ein hebräischer und griechischer Name mit der Bedeutung „müde“; Überbringer guter Nachrichten.
👦 Most Popular Boy Names in Germany (2025)
#1NoahHebrew
Meaning: Rest, comfort / Ruhe, Trost
Noah is a Hebrew name meaning rest or comfort, famous as the biblical patriarch who built the ark, and the most popular boy's name across much of Europe.
Noah ist ein hebräischer Name, der Ruhe oder Trost bedeutet. Er ist berühmt als biblischer Patriarch, der die Arche baute, und in weiten Teilen Europas der beliebteste Jungenname.
#2MatteoHebrewItalian
Meaning: Gift of God / Geschenk Gottes
Matteo is the Italian form of Matthew, meaning gift of God in Hebrew, and has been the most popular boy's name in Austria for multiple years.
#3TheoGreek
Meaning: Gift of God / Geschenk Gottes
Theo is a short form of Theodore, from the Greek theos meaning god and doron meaning gift. It is now given as a full name across most of Europe.
Theo ist eine Kurzform von Theodore, abgeleitet vom griechischen Wort „theos“ für Gott und doron für „Geschenk“. Mittlerweile wird es in den meisten Teilen Europas als vollständiger Name angegeben.
#4LeoLatin
Meaning: Lion / Löwe
Leo is the Latin word for lion and the name of thirteen popes, making it both a timeless classic and a modern favourite across Europe.
Leo ist das lateinische Wort für Löwe und der Name von dreizehn Päpsten, was es sowohl zu einem zeitlosen Klassiker als auch zu einem modernen Favoriten in ganz Europa macht.
#5EmilLatin
Meaning: Rival, eager / Rivale, eifrig
Emil comes from the Roman family name Aemilius, from aemulus meaning rival or eager. Astrid Lindgren's Emil of Lönneberga fixed it in Scandinavian childhood reading.
Emil kommt vom römischen Familiennamen Aemilius, von aemulus, was Rivale oder Eifer bedeutet. Astrid Lindgrens Emil von Lönneberga hat es in der skandinavischen Kindheitslektüre behoben.
#6LeonGreekLatin
Meaning: Lion / Löwe
Leon is the Greek form of Leo, meaning lion, and has been rising steadily across Germany, Austria and the Netherlands since the 1990s.
#7EliasHebrew
Meaning: My God is Yahweh / Mein Gott ist Jahwe
Elias is the Greek and Latin form of the Hebrew Elijah, meaning my God is Yahweh, and is a top name across Austria, Scandinavia and the Netherlands.
Elias ist die griechische und lateinische Form des hebräischen Elijah, was bedeutet, dass mein Gott Jahwe ist, und ist in Österreich, Skandinavien und den Niederlanden ein beliebter Name.
#8PaulLatin
Meaning: Small, humble / Klein, bescheiden
Paul is derived from the Roman family name Paulus, meaning small or humble, and was the name of the apostle who shaped early Christianity.
Paulus leitet sich vom römischen Familiennamen Paulus ab, was klein oder bescheiden bedeutet, und war der Name des Apostels, der das frühe Christentum prägte.
#9LucaLatinItalian
Meaning: Bringer of light / Lichtbringer
Luca is the Italian form of Luke, meaning bringer of light in Greek, and is among the most popular boy's names in Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
#10HenryGermanic
Meaning: Home ruler / Heimatherrscher
Henry is the English form of the Germanic Heimirich, meaning home ruler, and has been borne by eight kings of England.
Henry ist die englische Form des germanischen Heimirich, was Heimatherrscher bedeutet, und wurde von acht englischen Königen getragen.
Data: Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache (GfDS). Rankings reflect official birth registrations for 2025. Retrieved automatically each week from the statistics office.
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