Mass immigration from India has made Singh the most common baby name in New Zealand, and in the Australian state of Victoria.
The New Zealand government announced on Thursday that the two most common family names given to newborns in 2024 were Singh and Kaur, followed by Smith, the top name a decade ago.
In the country’s North Island another Indian name, Patel, took third spot, while in the South Island Kaur was more popular than Singh, and Smith was the third-most common.
In 2024 there were 680 Singhs born in New Zealand, 630 Kaurs, and 300 Smiths.
Singh is also the most common baby surname in Victoria, which has Australia’s largest Indian population. At the time of the 2021 Census there were 272,250 Indians living in Australia’s most second populous state, making up 4.2% of the state’s population.
Data obtained by The Herald Sun this week shows that in 2023 there were 516 babies born with the surname Singh, followed by 368 Nguyens, 366 Kaurs, 341 Smiths, 207 named Ali, and 198 Patels.
Demographer Mark McCrindle said he expected the surname Ali to rise up the rankings due to Islam being the fastest growing religion in Australia, but Simon Kuestenmacher, also a demographer, said he expected Indian surnames to continue to grow in popularity as they were becoming the largest immigrant group.
New Zealand’s Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden celebrated the dominance of foreign names in the baby surname rankings, saying: “New Zealand is a diverse country – and it’s great to see that reflected in our family name data for 2024.”
But public policy professional William McGimpsey said the results were a case of national “suicide via immigration”.
“We have nothing at all to show for it except a housing crisis, infrastructure deficit, overstretched public services and declining GDP per capita,” he wrote on X.
“It’s complete bipartisan policy failure.”
The New Zealand surname data comes after the 2023 Census showed New Zealand is now just 55.9% European, down from 82.4% in 1996, putting New Zealanders of European descent on track to be an absolute minority by the time of the next survey in 2028.
Header image: New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon panders to Indian immigrants by painting a red dot on his forehead at a Diwali event last year (Facebook).
