Is it because of Leon Goretzka? Or this historical drama that hit cinema screens in November – Napo-Leon? One does not know. What we do know, however, is that Munich officially has a new, most popular first name for its children: Leon!
Munich parents gave their newborn boys this name a total of 107 times last year. In doing so, they pushed Maximilian off his throne, on which he resided unchallenged for a proud quarter of a century, reports the Munich Statistical Office on the short message service X, which used to have a different name. However, Leon’s victory is extremely close: there were a total of 105 new Maximilians in Munich last year, just two fewer than Leon’s. A baby head to baby head race, so to speak. Paul follows a little behind in third place with 89 entries.
And with the girls? The top 3 remains the same as last year: The winner is Emilia, 89 newborn girls were named that last year. Emma is in second place (71 entries) and Mia follows closely behind (70).
First names are like the internet – they take a while to catch on. Although Maximilian has greeted you from the top of the newborn table for half an eternity, it is far from being the most common male first name in the city. At least not yet. Not even Leon or Paul, Thomas or Andreas, no: most men in Munich are called: Michael.
According to city statistics, there were a total of 13,510 Michaels in the city on December 31, 2022 (more recent figures are not yet available), which translates to 17.2 Michaels per 1,000 males. These may be late effects of Michael Schumacher or Michael Ballack. Or maybe Michael Jackson, who is still particularly revered in Munich today with his memorial in front of the Bavarian Court? In any case, Maximilian, who also has a monument in the city with the Maxmonument, only has 9.9 representatives per 1,000 Munich residents – 8th place on the list of the most common men’s names.
And Emilia, the winner of the newborn girls? You won’t find it in the top 10 most common female first names in the city. Emilia can’t even be found in the top 50. Instead, Maria is at the top, and there are 12,120 of them in Munich. Anna, Julia, Monika follow… Renate is in 18th place, Ursula is stable in 23rd place, Ingeborg still makes it to 44th place. But no Emilia in sight.