Staff Reporter
The Free State’s most popular baby names of 2020 have been revealed.
According to a Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) report on live births released on Friday, Lethabo emerged as the most common first name for boys in the province with 525 registered last year, while Amohelang topped the girls’ list at 363.
The top 10 first names for boys in the Free State include Amohelang in second place with 400, followed by Katleho with 355, Letlotlo 328, Kamohelo 271, Bokang 269, Lesedi 268, Omolemo 266, Bokamoso 253 and Atlehang 248.
For girls in the province, Amohelang is followed by Omphile with 309, Rethabile 299, Lesedi 294, Lethabo 290, Relebohile 283, Naledi 280, Oratilwe 279, Bonolo 254 and Omolemo 250.
For middle names, the most popular choices registered in 2020 were Junior for males with 995 and Precious for females with 483.
At 1 212, Mokoena was the most common surname for both sexes of babies born and registered in the Free State last year, followed by Mofokeng in second place with 10 96 and Motaung in third with 477.
According to Stats SA, Melokuhle was the most popular first name for both males and females across South Africa, while Lethabo and Lubanzi were the second and third most common for males.
For females, Amahle and Enzokuhle were the second and third leading forenames in 2020.
For middle names, the most popular choices for females were Precious, Princess and Angel.
Among males, Junior, Blessing and Gift were the top three popular middle names.
This order for middle names has remained the same since 2017.
For both sexes, Dlamini was the most common baby surname in the country in 2020, closely followed by Ndlovu and then Nkosi.
“It is worth noting that as in previous years, nine of the surnames were from Nguni clans, namely isiZulu, isiXhosa, isiNdebele and siSwati,” Stats SA says in the report.
“Mokoena which featured as the sixth most popular surname was the only non-Nguni surname.”