The most popular baby names in Cantabria for boys and girls (and their meaning)

The INE (National Institute of Statistics) has announced the names that parents have chosen the most for their newborn babies in Spain in 2021. And in addition, it has specified, by autonomous communities, which names have been the most chosen.

Thus, we continue with our list of the most popular baby names according to the autonomous community; This time, we talk about the most popular names in Cantabria for boys and girls, also detailing their meaning.

Most popular boy names in Cantabria

The names for boys most chosen by parents for their babies are, in order of popularity:

1. Mateo : means “gift of God”. It is also popular in the Catalan form, Mateu.
2. Martin : comes from the Latin form Martis, which means “Mars” or “consecrated to the god Mars”
3. Hugo : of Germanic origin, it means “intelligent”, “lucid”, “insightful”.
4. Leo : Leo’s name comes from “lion”, the name of Latin origin whose meaning is lion. This name symbolizes the fierceness of the animal , power and justice.
5. Lucas : Latin name meaning “he who stands out for his brilliance”, “he who was born at dawn”.
6. Marco : is a variant of Marcos. It comes from Latin and means “Hammer” and is related to the god Mars.
7. Pablo : of Latin origin, means “small, humble”.
8. Mario : of Hebrew origin. Masculine variant of Mary, the chosen one, the one loved by God.
9. Daniel : Name of Hebrew origin meaning “God is my judge.” In most English countries, this name is interpreted as Dannis, but the etymology is the same.
10. Alexander : means “protector or winner of men”.

Mateo, the name most given to Cantabrian babies

If we compare these names with the most popular names for boys at the national level, in general we see that the majority coincide. Although Mateo’s name does not coincide with the most popular in national statistics – it is the third nationally.

On the contrary, the names of Marco and Mario , who occupy the eighth and tenth places of the most placed babies in Cantabria, are not in the national top 10, occupying the 20th and 12th places respectively.

Most popular girl names in Cantabria

The names for girls most chosen by parents for their daughters are, in order of popularity:

1. Lucia : of Latin origin, it comes from the term “lux”, which means “light. It is closely related to Catholicism , since there are two characters called Lucia: “Saint Lucia martyr” and “Sister Lucia dos Santos”. In addition, Saint Lucia She is the patron saint of the blind .
2. Sofia : this feminine name comes from the Greek (Σoφíα), and means “the one who has wisdom”.
3. Martina : of Latin origin, it comes from “mars”, which means “consecrated to Mars, god of war”.
4. Vega : of Christian religious origin, due to the Marian invocation of the Virgen de la Vega, venerated in many towns in Spain.
5. Valeria : of Latin origin and its meaning is “healthy and courageous”.
6. Alba : of Latin origin, and means “Aurora”, “Dawn”, “white and shining”, “she who was born with the first light of dawn”.
7. Paula : Latin origin “Paulus” and variant of Paola. It means “The minor”, “The small one” or “That one of small size”.
8. Emma : comes from the original term “ermin” , and means “strong woman”, “great”, “great” , “powerful”, “strong”, “immense”.
9. Julia : of Latin origin “Iulus”/”Iulia”, name with which the members of the Roman Julia family were identified. It means “consecrated to Jupiter”.
10. Mine : its origin is Hebrew ; sometimes we find it with a tilde and others without it. Little do they know, but it is the diminutive of María, Amelia, Emilia or Amalia. It means “the chosen one” or “the one loved by God”.

Lucía, Sofía and Martina, the preferred names for Cantabrian girls

As we can see, the most popular name given to newborns in Cantabria is Lucía , followed by Sofía and Martina, who coincide with the most popular at the national level. Valeria, other of the most popular names in this community, are also in the top 5 of the most placed in the entire Spanish territory.

Although most of the names appear as a trend in the rest of Spain, there are some like Vega and Alba that are not in the ranking of the 10 most chosen names at the national level.