The Belgian statistics office, Statbel, has released a list of the most common names in Belgium for 2023. While Maria remained in the top spot for women, Marc overtook Jean as the most common name among men in Belgium.
The number of men in Belgium named Jean dropped from 63,736 in 2022 to 61,456 this year, while Marc rose to first place with 62,023 men claiming the name. Meanwhile, Maria retained its place as the most common female name with 108,358 Maria's in the country – making it by far the most common name in Belgium overall.
The top ten women's names in Belgium remained largely unchanged, with the only exception being that Anna replaced Isabelle at number 10. Among the men, there were slightly more variations in the numbers.
The top seven most common male names are now becoming less popular. The last three, however, are seeing an increase in frequency, with 777 more men named Mohammed than in 2022, 230 more named David and 18 more men named Thomas than last year.
Most common surnames
The most common surname in Belgium in 2023 is Peeters (30,716), followed by Janssens (28,115) and Maes (24,392).
However, surnames vary greatly between the different regions. Due to the larger population in Flanders compared to the other regions, the most common surname in the region disproportionately influences the overall Belgian figure.
There are 27,459 people in Flanders with the surname Peeters. In contrast, the most common Brussels surname is Diallo and in Wallonia, it is Dubois.
Ukrainian surnames have made an appearance in the 10,000 most frequent surnames in Belgium with 210 Shevchenko and 181 Bondarenko.
Related News
- July is the most popular month for weddings in Belgium
- Belgian population grows despite ageing demographic
Most common baby names
The most common name given to baby girls born in 2022 was Olivia – for the fourth year in a row. Noah also remained the most common name given to baby boys.
Girls names that saw the biggest increases in 2022 were Alma (+118%), Romée (+114%) and Alba (+64%).
The names that saw the largest decreases were Camille, Lou, Alix, Marie and Chloé.
For baby boys born in 2022, Noah was the most common name, followed by Arthur and Liam. Other names that gained popularity were Charles (+40%), Naël (+34%) and Jayden (+34%).
The names that saw the largest decreases were Oscar, Lou, Jules, Léon and Basile.
