02. 09. 10. - 15:00

Lukas and Sarah top baby name charts

Lukas was the most popular name for boys born in Austria for a 14th year in a row last year, according to a study.

Federal statistics agency Statistik Austria said today (Thurs) 2.7 per cent of boys born last year were given the name, followed by Tobias (2.4 per cent) and Maximilian ( 2.2 per cent) among male newborns. Julian had dropped from third to 10th year on year, it added.

Sarah (2.7 per cent) – second-most popular in 2008 – topped the 2009 girls’ name ranking, followed by Anna (2.7 per cent) and Leonie (2.4 per cent).

Statistik Austria explained it had surveyed the names of the 65,312 Austrian citizen babies – 33,463 boys, 31,849 girls – of the overall 76,344 babies born last year.

Eurostat announced last month that Austria had had the second-lowest birth rate in the European Union (EU) as there had been just 9.1 births per 1,000 inhabitants in 2009.

Only neighbouring Germany had had a lower rate (7.9), the European Commission’s (EC) statistics agency said, adding that Ireland had had the highest birth rate among the EU-27 (16.8).