Moses
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The story
Moses's roots and its Hong Kong life belong in the same story, but they are not the same thing. Moses is the English biblical form of Hebrew Moshe. Exodus connects it with being drawn from water, while scholars have also proposed an Egyptian route, so the deeper origin remains debated. Actor Moses Chan shows how naturally the biblical English name lives in Hong Kong. That use does not make the name etymologically Cantonese. It shows how a Hong Kong family may carry a character-based Chinese name and an English or international name for school, work, or life across languages. The US curve is one of this set's few clear risers, strengthening in the 2000s through the 2020s. A public bearer can make a name feel familiar without proving why any family chose it, so the cultural example and the chart should not be confused. Moses can therefore carry scripture, a disputed ancient etymology, modern American revival, and Hong Kong English use without any one layer erasing the others.
How popular is Moses around the world?
In the United States, 3,485 babies were named Moses between 2020 and 2025. In New Zealand, 11 boys named Moses were registered in 2025.
Moses is on the official records of the United States, New Zealand, Canada, Scotland, South Australia, England and Wales, Austria, Mexico City, Spain and Brazil.
United States
1 in 6,300
In the United States, 3,485 babies were named Moses between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Moses peaked in the 2020s. In US birth records Moses has stayed between 2,106 and 5,789 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
New Zealand
1 in 5,200
In New Zealand, 11 boys named Moses were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Canada
1 in 8,500
In Canada, 43 boys named Moses were born in 2024, the 641st most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Scotland
1 in 9,200
In Scotland, 5 boys named Moses were registered in 2024, the 535th most common name among boys that year.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
South Australia
1 in 9,2002017
In South Australia, 2 boys were registered as Moses in 2017.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
England and Wales
1 in 9,900
In England and Wales, 59 boys named Moses were born in 2025, the 627th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Austria
1 in 38,000
In Austria, 2 boys named Moses were born in 2025, ranked 1,241st among boys that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Mexico City City
1 in 120,000
In Mexico City, there was 1 registration of Moses in 2022.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Spain
1 in 350,000
In Spain, 128 residents are named Moses, ranked 6,791st among men, with a mean age of 39.2 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Brazil
1 in 500,000
At the 2022 census, 347 people in Brazil were named Moses, ranked 17,228th, with a median age of 36.
Among people named Moses living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1970s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 24 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Ireland
last on record 2015
Moses is not on the 2025 record for Ireland, where names under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Poland
last on record 2017
Moses is not on the 2025 record for Poland, where names given fewer than 2 times in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Not on the record in Argentina and Puerto Rico: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
Keep exploring
Cantonese and Hong Kong baby names · Familiar but never popular
The Moses deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Moses truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Moses fits with your family’s names and surname.
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