Hello Tokyo-Rose, my name's Zipporah

Some New Zealanders are making interesting choices when naming their children. File photo / Greg Bowker

The break away from the traditional has shed light on some parents' interesting choices of names for their children.

Try Capri, Dvorah, Tokyo-Rose and Zipporah for girls. And how about Linkin, Cailean and Dashiell for boys?

Meanwhile, the name Catherine has slipped out of sight as one of New Zealand's most popular names for newborn girls.

Retired Tauranga schoolteacher Eleanor Burkin has compiled a list of the most popular children's names based on New Zealand Herald birth notices for more than 20 years.

Her latest findings, which also are her last, show traditional and biblical names remain popular with most parents. But "Catherine", which with James has been in every list since Mrs Burkin began keeping her records, is nowhere to be seen.

In no particular order, Amelia, Emily, Olivia, Ruby, Lily, Sophie, Charlotte, Kate, Isabella, Isobelle and Lucy were the most-widely chosen names for girls.

Jack, which has topped the Department of Internal Affairs' list of most popular boys names for the past four years, is on Mrs Burkin's list, with Benjamin, William, Oliver, James, Max, Alexander, Joshua, Jacob, Liam, Samuel and Thomas.

Unusual names for girls include Capri (an Italian island), Dvorah (the Hebrew form of Deborah), Pele (after the legendary Brazilian soccer player) and Zipporah ("bird" in Hebrew).

Unusual boys names include Cailean ("whelp" in Gaelic), Vito (Italian and Spanish form of Vitus), Jacan, Linkin, Reef and Rexton.

The Internal Affairs list shows the three most popular names for girls in 2008 were Sophie, Olivia and Ella.

For boys, Jack was followed by James and William.

* Eleanor Burkin's list

Girls

Amelia
Emily
Olivia
Ruby
Lily
Sophie
Charlotte
Kate
Isabella
Isobelle

Boys

Jack
Benjamin
William
Oliver
James
Max
Alexander
Joshua
Jacob
Liam