Australian baby name statistics start as a by-product of birth registration, not a separate survey. When a birth is registered with a state or territory registry, the given name is recorded in the official register. Each jurisdiction that publishes name data then extracts the most common names and releases them as public datasets or web pages. This article traces that path for Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, using the agencies’ own publications, so you can see which organisation holds the source record and which publishes the summary.
Who records the birth and the name?
The primary source is the birth registration handled by the relevant state or territory authority.
- In Victoria, Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria (BDM Victoria) manages birth registrations and also publishes popular name lists (bdm.vic.gov.au).
- In New South Wales, the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages supplies the underlying name data that appears on the state open data portal (data.nsw.gov.au).
- In South Australia, the Attorney-General’s Department is the publisher of the Popular Baby Names dataset, servicing the state government (data.sa.gov.au).
Practical interpretation: The name you give your child becomes part of an administrative record. The published statistics are later derived from those records; no separate naming census is conducted for the datasets described here.
How registration records become public name summaries
Each jurisdiction follows its own publication routine.
Victoria
BDM Victoria publishes the 100 most popular Victorian baby names per calendar year from 2008 onward. The page lists years 2025 down to 2008 and was updated on 7 January 2026 (bdm.vic.gov.au). The public output is the top 100 names each year.
New South Wales
The NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages provides an annual list of the most popular baby names in NSW based on the names registered in the previous calendar year. Those annual lists from 1952 to 2025 have been combined into a single CSV available through Data.NSW. The dataset is accurate as of 26 March 2026 and was last updated on 25 March 2026 (data.nsw.gov.au).
South Australia
The Attorney-General’s Department publishes a list of male and female baby names in South Australia from 1944 to 2024. The annual data for baby names is published January/February each year (data.sa.gov.au). The 2025 top 100 male and female resources are provided as XLSX/CSV files.
Facts to note: The coverage windows differ (Vic 2008+, NSW 1952–2025, SA 1944–2024). If you need a longer history for Victoria or a later SA update beyond 2024, check the source directly.
Where the public datasets are hosted
| Jurisdiction | Publishing organisation | Public source | Coverage | Update note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria | BDM Victoria | bdm.vic.gov.au/popular-baby-names-victoria | 2008–2025 (top 100) | Updated 7 Jan 2026 |
| NSW | NSW Registry of BDM via Data.NSW | data.nsw.gov.au (CSV) | 1952–2025 combined | Data accurate 26 Mar 2026 |
| SA | Attorney-General’s Department via data.sa.gov.au | data.sa.gov.au/dataset/popular-baby-names | 1944–2024 (2025 top 100 also listed) | Annual Jan/Feb release |
This table is built only from the stated official pages.
Accessing non-public registry data
The public pages show aggregated popular names, not full birth entries. Victoria’s BDM site includes an “Apply for registry data” service under Research and data services (bdm.vic.gov.au). If you require record-level data for genealogy or research, you must use that official channel and meet its conditions; this article does not advise on eligibility.
Questions to verify before using the statistics
- Does your state or territory publish baby name stats? We have confirmed only Vic, NSW and SA from the sources cited here; other jurisdictions may have separate processes you should verify.
- What ranking basis is used? NSW uses previous calendar year registrations; Victoria uses calendar year; SA publishes annual data Jan/Feb.
- Are the figures final? Datasets carry “as of” dates; later births may shift rankings.
- Can you reuse the data? NSW and SA datasets are licensed Creative Commons Attribution; check each portal’s licence before redistribution.
Concrete next steps
- Identify the state of birth you care about.
- Open the relevant official page from the table above.
- Note the “last updated” or “accurate as of” date before citing numbers.
- Download the CSV/XLSX if you need the raw top-100 list for analysis.
- For non-aggregated records, contact the registry’s data application service.
General information boundary
This article is general information about how public baby name statistics are produced from registry data in selected Australian jurisdictions. It is not legal advice, nor an official statement from any government agency, and does not cover all states and territories. Verify current details on the linked official sources before relying on them.