First names and family names, birthdays, 1 January 2023
Diversity of first and family names is increasing
Residents of Slovenia have more than 61,000 different first names. 70% of them are unique and only 26 (18 male and 8 female) appear 10,000 times or more. The most common are Franc and Marija, but they are losing their lead.
Most names are unique
At the beginning of 2023, residents of Slovenia had 61,040 first names (695 more than the year before). If these names were distributed evenly among the residents of Slovenia, every name would appear 35 times. In fact, 70% of all names are unique (i.e. they appear only once) and only 26 names (18 male and 8 female) appear 10,000 times or more.
In the last ten years, the names Jožefa (in 2023: 31st place) and Barbara (11th place) have disappeared from the list of top ten female names, and the names Eva and Andreja have entered it. The names Marjan and Peter have dropped out of the top ten list of male names, and have been replaced by the names Luka and Matej.
Aging Franc and Marija
The most common female name is still Marija (46,298) followed by Ana (23,021). The number of women with these names has decreased by 17,788 and 4,657 respectively in the last ten years. Thus, more than a quarter of Marijas are over 80 years old. The most common male name is still Franc (19,793), although the number of people with this name has decreased by 7,616 over the past ten years. Like Marijas, Francs are getting older on average; only 5% of Francs and 5% of Marijas are under 50 years old.
Among the 100 most common female names, Mia (9.4 years) and Zoja (10.1 years) are the youngest on average, while Lan (10.4 years) and Maj (11.9 years) are the youngest among the male names. On the other hand, among the 100 most common female names, the oldest on average are Frančiška (78 years old) and Štefanija (77.3 years old), and among men, Jožef (71 years old) and Franc (69.3 years old).
In the distribution of the ten most common first names, there is a significant difference between the sexes, as among female names, Marija and Ana stand out in terms of number, while no name stands out noticeably among male names.
If we compare these ten names by period of birth, we notice that they are getting shorter. The most common names of residents born before 1941 are noticeably longer on average for both women (6.7 letters) and men (5.4 letters) than for those born in the last 12 years (3.8 letters for women and 3.9 letters in men). It is also evident that in the 2001–2010 period the most common female names became shorter than the most common male names.
More than half of all first names are combined from two or more names. The most common such female name is Ana Marija (1,043), and male name Žan Luka (155).
The number of family names is increasing mainly because of combinations of two or more
The number of different family names has grown from 130,000 to 135,000 since last year. The most common are Novak (10,719) and Horvat (9,255). Fewer than five residents of Slovenia identify with 78% of family names and 60% of all family names appear only once. These family names are mostly composed (a combination of two family names), mostly held by married women, and also to a lesser extent by children born to unmarried parents. Although people with composed family names represent less than 4% of the population of Slovenia, these family names make up as much as half of all family names.
Updated interactive application
In the Interactive Names and Birthdays application you will be able to find many other interesting data on the first names and family names, as well as the data on birthdays of the Slovenian residents. The database is updated with the data on the population stock as of 1 January 2023. At the same time, the time series of data on first names and family names are published in the SiStat Database.
At the beginning of 2023, residents of Slovenia had 61,040 first names (695 more than the year before). If these names were distributed evenly among the residents of Slovenia, every name would appear 35 times. In fact, 70% of all names are unique (i.e. they appear only once) and only 26 names (18 male and 8 female) appear 10,000 times or more.
In the last ten years, the names Jožefa (in 2023: 31st place) and Barbara (11th place) have disappeared from the list of top ten female names, and the names Eva and Andreja have entered it. The names Marjan and Peter have dropped out of the top ten list of male names, and have been replaced by the names Luka and Matej.
Aging Franc and Marija
The most common female name is still Marija (46,298) followed by Ana (23,021). The number of women with these names has decreased by 17,788 and 4,657 respectively in the last ten years. Thus, more than a quarter of Marijas are over 80 years old. The most common male name is still Franc (19,793), although the number of people with this name has decreased by 7,616 over the past ten years. Like Marijas, Francs are getting older on average; only 5% of Francs and 5% of Marijas are under 50 years old.
Among the 100 most common female names, Mia (9.4 years) and Zoja (10.1 years) are the youngest on average, while Lan (10.4 years) and Maj (11.9 years) are the youngest among the male names. On the other hand, among the 100 most common female names, the oldest on average are Frančiška (78 years old) and Štefanija (77.3 years old), and among men, Jožef (71 years old) and Franc (69.3 years old).
In the distribution of the ten most common first names, there is a significant difference between the sexes, as among female names, Marija and Ana stand out in terms of number, while no name stands out noticeably among male names.
If we compare these ten names by period of birth, we notice that they are getting shorter. The most common names of residents born before 1941 are noticeably longer on average for both women (6.7 letters) and men (5.4 letters) than for those born in the last 12 years (3.8 letters for women and 3.9 letters in men). It is also evident that in the 2001–2010 period the most common female names became shorter than the most common male names.
More than half of all first names are combined from two or more names. The most common such female name is Ana Marija (1,043), and male name Žan Luka (155).
The number of family names is increasing mainly because of combinations of two or more
The number of different family names has grown from 130,000 to 135,000 since last year. The most common are Novak (10,719) and Horvat (9,255). Fewer than five residents of Slovenia identify with 78% of family names and 60% of all family names appear only once. These family names are mostly composed (a combination of two family names), mostly held by married women, and also to a lesser extent by children born to unmarried parents. Although people with composed family names represent less than 4% of the population of Slovenia, these family names make up as much as half of all family names.
Updated interactive application
In the Interactive Names and Birthdays application you will be able to find many other interesting data on the first names and family names, as well as the data on birthdays of the Slovenian residents. The database is updated with the data on the population stock as of 1 January 2023. At the same time, the time series of data on first names and family names are published in the SiStat Database.
The most common names, Slovenia, 1 January 2023
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When making use of the data and information of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, always add: "Source: SURS". More: Copyright.
