Luca and Sara lead the way in baby names
Luca was the most popular boy's name in Switzerland in 2007, ranking high in all four national language regions, with Sara or Sarah the favourite for girls.
This year 416 Swiss baby Lucas and 445 baby Sara(h)s will be taking their first steps.
Lena and Tim topped the list of most popular baby names in German-speaking Switzerland in 2007, while Nathan and Emma were the favourites in French-speaking regions.
According to the latest “first name hit parade” released by the Federal Statistics Office, Sara and Nina were next in line after Lena, while Noah and Luca were not far behind Tim.
In Italian-speaking Ticino, the leading names for bambini were Alessandro and Sara. The figures are based on data provided by the official register offices in the 26 cantons.
There are fewer Samuels and Annas keeping the neighbours awake this year. Samuel, the top name in French-speaking families in 2006, has returned to tenth place. Anna, previously the leading girl’s name for the Swiss-German regions, is now in ninth position.
Last year the births of 36,310 girls and 38,184 boys were recorded in Switzerland, launching 74,494 sets of parents on the search for the perfect name.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.