• Over the four-year period from 2012 to 2015, the most common names for baby boys in the Philippines were Biblical in origin. They include Daniel, Joshua, James, John, and Mark.

• The name Gabriel became popular in 2014 and 2015.

• In 2015, Nathaniel and Francis entered the top five common names for baby boys. The popularity of the name Nathaniel could be attributed to the hit primetime TV series “Nathaniel” that debuted on ABS-CBN in April 2015 and recorded an all-time high national TV rating of 42% for its final episode in September that year.

The popularity of the name Francis could be attributed to Pope Francis’ week-long visit to the Philippines in January 2015.

Table 1. Top five most common names of male babies in the Philippines from 2012 to 2015

Rank	2012	2013	2014	2015
1	Daniel	Joshua	Gabriel	Nathaniel
2	Joshua	Daniel	Joshua	Gabriel
3	James	James	James	James
4	John Mark	Christian	Daniel	Francis
5	Christian	John Mark	Jacob	Joshua

Source: ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group
Source of basic data: birth certificates, Philippine Statistics Authority