For the second year in a row, Ġanni and Luċija were the two most popular baby names in Maltese with new parents last year.

Identità - previously known as Identity Malta - said on Tuesday that three years after the registry allowed for Maltese characters to be included in naming conventions, the two names have remained the most popular among those choosing to name their babies in Maltese. 

The names Matteo, Noah, Luca and Jack were the top four names for boys born in Malta. 

Meanwhile, baby girls in Malta were most likely to be named Emma, Valentina, Julia or Nina last year. 

After a change in the public registry’s IT system allowed Maltese fonts to once again be used for registered names in 2020, Ġanni was the name given to the first child to be registered with Maltese characters in his name. 

It also seems that there was not much movement in the most popular baby names between 2022 and 2023 as the names Luca, Noah and Matteo as well as Emma and Nina were still among the top five most popular name choices for babies born in Malta in 2022. 

Increase in babies registered 

Overall 4,204 were born and registered in Malta last year, marking an increase of 5.7%, or 226 babies, more than the year prior. 

Of these, 2,162 were registered as boys and 2,042 as girls. 

2023 also saw an increase in registered deaths over 2022, with an increase of 132 or 3.5% in the number of people who died in Malta. 

In total, there were 3,915 deaths last year, 1,943 of which were men and 1,972 who were women.

Identità also noted that the number of women who died last year increased by 136 people, while the number of men who died only increased by four people. 

The Public Registry recorded the registry of 2,036 marriages last year, down by 201 from the year prior. 

There were no civil unions registered last year while the number of registered cohabitations crawled up to 36, up from 31 in 2022.

In total, the public registry issued 68,987 birth, marriage and death certificates in 2023. 

Of these, 57% were processed online while the rest went through the registry’s processing office in Marsa.