Argentinian Girl Names: the full guide

So you are looking for beautiful Argentinian girl names.

Strictly speaking, the term “Argentinian girl names” is somewhat of a misnomer because most popular girl names in Argentina do not have Argentinian origins. Rather, they have Spanish or Italian origins. It is therefore more accurate to talk about “girl names used in Argentina”.

The historical explanation is that Argentina was an overseas territory of the Spanish Empire from approximately 1516 to 1810. Before that, in the pre-Columbian era, the region now known as Argentina was inhabited by several indigenous groups who were later, to a large extent, displaced or killed by the Spanish conquerors and their descendants over the years.

From 1880, the governing elites of Argentina encouraged European immigration through several constitutional policies. The goal was to establish European settlements in the rural areas that once were the native lands of Argentine Amerindians.

In addition to this, from 1880 to 1924, there was a great European immigration wave to Argentina due to an economic crisis in Europe in the 1870s, and later, World War I (between 1914 and 1918).

Although there were immigrants from many different countries in Europe (and even the Near East), Italians were the most numerous —to the point that more than half of the total population of Argentina had some degree of Italian ancestry as of 2011.

The second largest group of immigrants were Spaniards (31.5% between 1857 and 1940). As a result, the Argentine culture —including our cuisine, customs, dialects, and the names that we choose for our children— is strongly influenced by Spanish and Italian culture.

Popular girl names in Argentina

As it happens in other countries, the popularity of a given girl's name in Argentina can vary over the years.

According to official data by Argentina’s National Population Registry of the Ministry of Interior, the 10 most popular girl names in the 1920s were:

Other double-barrelled names that you can find in Argentina are:

• Ana María
• María Rosa
• María Laura (lah-oo-ruh, feminine form for Laurus, Latin for “bay laurel plant”)
• María del Carmen (“our lady of Carmel”)
• María Julia (hoo-lee-ah, the feminine form of the Roman family name Julius, derived from Roman god of sky, Jupiter)
• María Teresa (teh-reh-suh, a name of Greek origin meaning “late summer”)
• María Emilia (eh-mee-lee-ah, Latin/Spanish/Italian form of Emily, meaning “strength”)
• María Eugenia (eh-oo-heh-nee-ah, from Greek eugenes, meaning “well-born”)
• María de los Ángeles (ahn-he-lehs, meaning “angels”. María de los Ángeles can be translated as “Mary of the Angels”)

But most of these traditional names (double-barrelled or not) have lost popularity as the years went by.

Many of them are currently what you would call “old lady names”, so they are rare amongst girls who were born in recent years in Argentina. For example, by 2015, the name “María” had a popularity of only 0,1% in newborns.

According to the official records, the most popular names in 2015 were Isabella, Francesca, Delfina, Martina, Valentina, Emilia, Emma, Catalina, Sofía, and Olivia.

Unsurprisingly, the top 3 most popular names in Argentina in 2015 were of Italian origin (Isabella, Francesca, and Delfina). Valentina, Emilia, Olivia, and Martina are of Latin origin but they are used in Italy.

Here is the pronunciation and meaning of the top 10 most popular Argentinian names:

Other names that appear in records from 2019 encompassing only the capital city of Buenos Aires include Jazmín (hahs-meen), Victoria (veek-taw-ree-ah), and Mía (m-ee-ah).

Jazmín is the Spanish version of Jasmine, a name of Persian origin that means “gift from God” but it is also associated to a plant with a fragrant flower. Victoria is the feminine version of Victor and it means “victory” (Victoria is actually the goddess of victory in Roman mythology). Mía is most likely derived from the Italian word “mia” and the Spanish word “mía” (both meaning “mine”).

Oddly enough, “María” was also present in this top 10 list of most popular girl names in the city of Buenos Aires in 2019. One year earlier, the name “Alma” (ahl-mah, meaning “soul” in Spanish) was slightly more popular than “María”.

Other girl names that are relatively common in Argentina are the following:

Some Argentinian parents also like color-related names for girls, such as Azul (ah-zoohl, meaning “blue” in Spanish), Celeste (seh-lehs-teh, meaning “light blue” in Spanish), Violeta (bee-oh-leh-tuh, meaning “violet”), or Blanca (blahn-kah, which is “white” in its feminine form).

Other relatively popular girl names that you can find in Argentina and do not directly have a Latin origin are:

Rare Argentinian girl names

Rare names in Argentina are a relatively new phenomenon as the country’s naming law only changed in 2015. Before that year, the 1969 naming law prohibited names that were “extravagant, ridiculous, contrary to Argentine customs or ideology, or that could cause confusion about a person's sex”.

Even though many popular names were of Italian origin, most “foreign names” were also prohibited, unless they could be adapted into a “Spanish version” (both in pronunciation and spelling).

There was a list of approved names built by the government and parents of newborns had to stick to it at the time of registering the new baby’s identity. There is still a list of approved names in Argentina, but it is much larger than in 1969 and it includes all kinds of names.

The new naming law also allows parents to ask the authorities for approval of a rare name that is not on the list (without needing to go to court, as it happened in the past).

The 2015 naming law still forbids “extravagant names” but there is a new definition for what is an extravagant name. It is no longer a rare, unusual name but a name that is ridiculous, offensive, or humiliating for the person who owns it. And it does no longer matter if it is considered “foreign” or not.

This enabled the evolution of rare girl names in Argentina. Therefore, we have unique Argentinian girl names from a variety of origins and cultures, somewhat reflecting Argentina’s multiethnic background.

Here are some of them:

Girl names used in Argentina have a variety of origins, with Italian and Spanish names being among the most common. This article on girl names in Argentina has a companion article that covers boy names used in Argentina.