Maori names are noticeably absent from the top 100 baby names for 2014 with Anglo-Saxon and biblical names proving most popular.
Photo: Whakawhetū
The list released yesterday by Births, Deaths, and Marriages had names such as Oliver, Jack, Charlotte, and Olivia, taking out the top spots.
Over the past 10 years boys names such as Ashton, Sione, and Cooper have dipped in and out of the list but Maori boys names had yet to appear.
Girls faired slightly better with the name Manaia appearing four years ago at number 79 and Anahera reaching number 86 in 2009.
But none of these made the cut last year, whereas names such as Trinity, Freya and Nevaeh (which is heaven backwards) did.
About 20 percent of Maori women aged 15 and over had given birth to four or more children compared to only 12.2 percent of the European women, meaning there was even more reason for Maori names to be chosen.
But this was not the case.
Fifteen percent of the population (598,602) identified as Maori in the 2013 Census.
Top Ten 2014 Top 10 Girls' Names (2013 place in brackets):
- Charlotte (1)
- Olivia (5)
- Isla (6)
- Emily (2)
- Sophie (4)
- Amelia (7)
- Ella (10)
- Harper (19)
- Sophia (16)
- Ruby (3)
Top 10 Boys' Names (2013 place in brackets):
- Oliver (1)
- Jack (2)
- James (3)
- Mason (5)
- Liam (6)
- William (4)
- Noah (9)
- Lucas (8)
- Benjamin (14)
- Jacob (13)
