The most common names in Switzerland Maria Müller: "I often have the wrong mail in my fan"
On Thursday morning, the Federal Statistical Office published a list of the most common first names and surnames in Switzerland. blue News spoke to Maria Müller about her name.
Every year, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) publishes an overview of the most popular first names in Switzerland - for both men and women.
In 2023, the frontrunners were Maria and Daniel. And the ranking will not change in 2024 either.
Which surnames are the most common in Switzerland?
Not only first names, but also surnames are analyzed by the Bfs. In 2023, Müller topped the ranking, followed by Meier and Schmid. Despite this top position, however, only around 53,000 people bear the name Müller - this corresponds to just 0.6 percent of the permanent resident population in Switzerland.
Müller, Meier and Schmid will also occupy the top three positions in 2024.
According to the Bfs, the variety of names in this country is enormous, with over half a million different surnames in total, although different spellings are counted separately.
"I often have the wrong mail in my fan"
But what is it actually like to have the most common surname and the most common first name in Switzerland? "It has the advantage that I never have to spell my name anywhere," Maria Müller tells blue News.
There would only be name confusion with her surname, as there are many people with the surname Müller. "I often have the wrong post in my fan at work," continues the 60-year-old teacher from the Zurich Unterland region.
"I don't know many first namesakes and the combination of both - Maria and Müller - makes me somehow unique, I think," says Müller.
These are the most popular baby names
Last year, 78,256 babies were born in Switzerland. Here, too, the most popular first name was analyzed - and here, too, the top three ranks remain unchanged.
For boys, it is Noah, followed by Liam and Matteo. Emma took first place in the girls' category, followed by Mia and Sofia.
The boy's name Noah, which was already at the top of the popularity list in 2010, 2011, from 2013 to 2017 and again from 2021 to 2023, was able to secure the top position again in 2024.
Among girls' names, Emma once again took first place, displacing Mia. Emma was already the most popular girls' name in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2022.