Data · Baby names
The Most Popular Boys' Names in Croatia Over the Last 10 Years
Which boys' names topped the charts in Croatia from 2015 to 2025? We break down the rankings, the trends, and how the top five names moved year by year — with data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics.
Updated July 8, 2026 · 6 min read
Choosing a name for your son is one of the first big decisions you make as a parent — and in Croatia, tradition, faith and a good ear for how a name sounds all play a part. But what do the actual numbers say?
We pulled together a decade of official data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS), covering 2015 to 2025, and looked at which boys' names Croatian parents chose most often, how the leaders shifted year by year, and which names quietly climbed or faded. Here's what a decade of Croatian boys' names looks like.
A decade of boys, by the numbers
Across the years we track, the ten most popular boys' names each year accounted for roughly 4,000–6,000 newborns annually. The overall trend mirrors Croatia's wider demographic picture: fewer children are being born, and the most popular names are spread a little more thinly than they were ten years ago.
That makes the names at the very top all the more remarkable — a handful of them have held their ground through the entire decade, even as the total number of births has drifted downward.
| Year | Births |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 5,114 |
| 2016 | 5,103 |
| 2017 | 5,679 |
| 2018 | 6,022 |
| 2019 | 4,821 |
| 2020 | 4,648 |
| 2021 | 4,723 |
| 2022 | 4,273 |
| 2023 | 3,960 |
| 2024 | 4,053 |
| 2025 | 4,121 |
The names that led the decade
Ranked by total births over the period, a clear group of front-runners emerges. One name in particular has been almost untouchable at the top, while the chase for second place has changed hands more than once.
The chart below tracks each leading name's rank position year by year — the higher the line, the more popular the name that year. Watch how steady the very top is, and how much more movement there is just below it.
- Luka
- David
- Jakov
- Ivan
- Petar
- Marko
| # | Name | Total births | Best rank | 2025 rank | Years in data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luka | 9,261 | #1 | #1 | 11 |
| 2 | David | 6,069 | #2 | #4 | 11 |
| 3 | Jakov | 5,740 | #2 | #2 | 11 |
| 4 | Ivan | 5,368 | #2 | #6 | 11 |
| 5 | Petar | 4,708 | #4 | #7 | 11 |
| 6 | Marko | 3,850 | #5 | #17 | 11 |
| 7 | Matej | 3,766 | #7 | #12 | 10 |
| 8 | Filip | 3,684 | #6 | #28 | 11 |
| 9 | Mateo | 3,372 | #4 | #10 | 9 |
| 10 | Josip | 3,255 | #10 | #15 | 10 |
| 11 | Roko | 3,255 | #5 | #8 | 9 |
| 12 | Leon | 3,254 | #9 | #16 | 10 |
The top five, name by name
Here are the five most popular boys' names of the decade, what they mean, and how each one moved over the years.
Meaning: Light; man from Lucania · Origin: Latin
From Latin, meaning 'light' or 'man from Lucania'. St. Luke the Evangelist is its patron; the name has surged to become one of Croatia's most popular in recent decades.
Meaning: Beloved · Origin: Hebrew
From Hebrew, meaning 'beloved'. King David is a central biblical figure; the name is popular across Croatia and the wider world.
Meaning: Holder of the heel; supplanter · Origin: Hebrew
The Croatian form of Jacob/James, from Hebrew. It honours the patriarch Jacob and the apostles named James; a traditional name enjoying renewed popularity.
Meaning: God is gracious · Origin: Hebrew
The Croatian form of John, from Hebrew 'God is gracious'. It has been the most common male name in Croatia for generations, honouring St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.
Meaning: Rock, stone · Origin: Greek
The Croatian form of Peter, from Greek 'rock'. St. Peter the Apostle is its patron; King Petar Krešimir IV was among the most powerful medieval Croatian rulers.
About the data
The figures here come from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (Državni zavod za statistiku), which publishes the most frequent newborn names each year. Our dataset covers 2015–2025 for Croatia and tracks the top names per year (470 name-year records in total).
A note on scope: because the source lists the most popular names each year (not every name ever given), the yearly totals here reflect the leading names rather than all births. Rankings are within boys' names for each year, and ties share a position. In Imenko, every one of these names comes with its full meaning, origin, name-day and popularity history.
