Hawke's Bay's Sikh community at a parade in 2017. Photo / Paul Taylor
Hawke's Bay's Sikh community at a parade in 2017. Photo / Paul Taylor
Hawke's Bay's multi-cultural and diverse community is reflected in the region's most common surnames of the year.
According to data provided by Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs, the most common family name for babies born in 2020 was Singh.
As well as being Hawke's Bay's most common surname, Singh was also crowned New Zealand's most frequent name given to newborns, followed by Smith, Kaur, Patel and Williams.
Office of Ethnic Communities executive director Anusha Guler said the list is an indication of New Zealand's thriving diversity.
"This is good news, as diversity in our communities helps make New Zealand a more culturally rich, innovative and connected place," he said.
Lucky Singh (left) and Jaspreet Singh performing at the Diwali festival in 2018. Photo / File
Captain of Hawke's Bay Sher-e-Punjab Cricket Club Lucky Singh said the surname is more frequent than most as it is adopted by those within the Sikh community.
"We have our family name – mine is Names – but Singh is my religious name," he said.
Singh said the surname is especially common in Hawke's Bay due to a history of Sikhs working within the farming industry.
"It's because of the amount of orchards here," he said. "A lot of Singhs come from a farming background and are orchard workers, so are attracted to farming areas."
A total of 398 babies inherited the surname Singh across New Zealand in 2020, while Smith, Kaur, Patel and Williams saw 319, 274, 204 and 198 respectively.
Brown (194), Wilson (179), Taylor (152), Thompson (148) and Anderson (143) rounded out the top 10 nationwide.
Department of Internal Affairs registrar-general Jeff Montgomery said the emergence of names such as Singh reflected both immigration and religious affiliation trends.
"Most new citizens come from the United Kingdom and India, with a significant number from Sikh backgrounds where Singh is the chosen family name for boys and Kaur for girls," he said.
Montgomery said parents are also being more creative with first names.
"There were more than 18,000 different first names for the 58,000 babies registered last year through SmartStart," he said.
"Some parents are also getting creative with family names and choosing to hyphenate names or create completely new names."
The data released by the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages showed more than 26,549 individual family names were registered for the more than 58,000 babies born last year.
Singh is also the most common family name in Auckland and Bay of Plenty, while Smith took the top spot Canterbury, Otago, West Coast and Southland.
