Australian Names: Aussie Favorites

The Sydney spelling most popular for girls: it's in the Top 50 on the female side. Cool for a girl, still nerdy for a guy.

With its cool -X ending, Jax is an update on the classic nickname Jack, likely inspired by the rise of Jackson. It garnered attention in the US thanks to the game, Mortal Kombat II back in the '90s, and was pushed up the charts when it was used in the show Sons of Anarchy, in which Jackson "Jax" Teller is the central character.

Popular pop name, inspired by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. It was at its height in Australia in the 1970s and early 80s; often cited as a Noongar name meaning "boomerang".

Enough parents have found naturalist Charles Darwin, the father of the theory of evolution, a worthy hero to keep Darwin relatively consistently in the Top 1000 (it dropped off in 2021 but is back in 2022)—though some might just like its trendy two-syllable sound. It has a lovely meaning too—"dear friend."

Taj is a cool-sounding name reflecting the magnificence of the seventeenth-century Indian Taj Mahal, chosen by Aerosmith's Steven Tyler for his son.

Pippi may be cute but isn't very practical. In addition to being forever Pippi Longstocking, there is that variant pee-pee spelling to consider. Try Pippa instead.

Anike is an attractive name with ties to several cultures, both African and Scandinavian. The African pronunciation emphasizes the second syllable while the Nordic one emphasizes the first. While there will be inevitable confusion over pronunciation, either form is "correct".

Half-way between Logan and Rowan, Lowan could be an interesting pick for parents looking for an off-the-beaten-track nature name.

In the Noongar language of Western Australia, Bindi means butterfly. Bindi is usually seen as a girls' name, as seen in Bindi Irwin, daughter of the late Steve Irwin.

When actress Rachel Griffiths chose this highly unusual name for her son, many assumed it was a bizarre invention. But a noted Australian poet (Griffiths is an Aussie) is known by this name.

A true maverick of a girls' name — even more so with this spelling, the least common between Indie, Indy, and Indi.

Voss is a German name, that is seen in Norway and Australia (in the former it is associated with a region, in the latter it is associated with the protagonist of Patrick White's novel by the same name). Voss is an interesting alternative to Fox.

This cute as a button name stems from the Goonayandi word for the sun and can be used as a unisex name.

Elouera has potential for people looking for unusual versions of popular "Elle" names like Ellen, Eleanor and Ella. This Aboriginal Australian place name is filled with the mellifluous sounds that are in style at the moment

Pronounced like Jay, this short name is popular in South Asia and makes for a great English-South Asian crossover choice, used regularly in the UK and Australia. It can also be an alternate spelling of the English name Jay, either short for a J name or deriving from the name of the bird.

Rosella can be seen as a nature name (a rosella is the name of a variety of beautiful Australian cockatoos and an Australian flower) or a diminutive version of Rose.

The Narellan is the name of a river in New South Wales. From this name comes this quasi-French girls' name, which is quite common in Australia.

Araluen is a beautiful Aboriginal Australian place name, used in several sites, always connected to the dainty water lily.

This is a Scottish pet form of John, the equivalent of Jack in England. Has long been used as a generic name for a Scotsman, here it's a generic name for a--well--jock.

Australian opera singer Nellie Melba—self-named for her hometown of Melbourne—inspired this now-dated name more associated today with a peach dessert and dietetic toast.