Top baby names revealed‚ but where are the baby daddies?

When almost two thirds of babies’ births were registered in South Africa last year‚ the names of the fathers were missing.

This is according to Stats SA's live births report for 2016‚ released in Pretoria‚ on Thursday.

Of the 969‚415 births registered‚ the names of the fathers were missing on 62%.

StatsSA said: “This finding is consistent to that of the previous years‚ which means information about the age of the natural fathers remain relatively unknown.”

Most mothers were 20 to 29 years old.

Junior was the most popular baby name for boys born in South Africa for the third year in a row‚ followed by Blessing and Gift.

Precious was the most popular girl’s name for the second year‚ displacing Iminathi which was the most popular choice in 2014. The next two most popular names for girls registered in 2016 were Princess and Amahle.

Three of the most popular first names - Blessing‚ Melokuhle and Amogelang - appeared on both the male and female top ten list‚ Stats SA noted. It added: “In general‚ the popular baby forenames for males and females reflect positive hopes for the child‚ express beliefs and are inspired by positive connotations of both love and acceptance.”

Dlamini was the most common surname amongst babies born and registered in all three years – 2016‚ 2015 and 2014.

The next most common surnames were Nkosi and Ndlovu.

Overall‚ the number of births registered was a 10‚6% decrease from the births registered in 2015.

Most babies were registered in Gauteng (235‚218)‚ KwaZulu-Natal (198‚628) and Limpopo (122‚890).

March and September were the busiest months with 9% and 8‚6% of births.

Most common boys and girls names as well as surnames according to province in 2016 were:

Western Cape: Junior – Mia - Jacobs

Eastern Cape: Kungawo – Iminathi – Williams

Northern Cape: Junior – Grace - Van Wyk

Free State: Junior – Precious – Mokoena

KwaZulu-Natal: Bandile – Luthando – Dlamini

NorthWest: Junior – Amogelang – Molefe

Gauteng: Junior – Precious – Mokoena

Mpumalanga: Blessing – Princess – Nkosi

Limpopo: Junior – Precious - Baloyi