Daria, Anastasia, Maxim, and Nikita are the most popular names for newborns in Vitebsk

January 20, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. The rating of the most popular names for children born in 2009 has been compiled in Vitebsk, the Civil Registry Office of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee informed a BELTA correspondent. Daria became the undisputed leader among female names. More than 60 parents chose this name for their newborn daughters. Anastasia, Polina, Maria, and Elizaveta were also among the most popular. The top five "hottest" male names included Maxim, Nikita, Ivan, Artem, and Kirill. Meanwhile, the lists of the rarest names turned out to be more extensive. For example, only one girl each received the names Lolita, Miroslava, Zlata, Liya, Lyubov, Marta, Lidiya, Amelia, Ariadna, Stefania, Elsa, Maya, Lana, Maryana, Serafima, Lyudmila, Alevtina, Alika, Anelina, Dinara, Nelly, Vitolina, Fatima, Bozhena, Anita, Oksana, Liana, Galina in 2009. Boys who received the names Marcel, Max, Eduard, Erik, Arsen, Zakhar, Ostap, Klim, Vlas, Ales, Yan, Vlalen, Gordey, Prokhor, Dionysius, Sevastian, Makаr, Damir, Rostislav, Valentin, Veniamin, Yaromir, Eldar, Valery, Rustam, Akim, Mark, Klementy, and Arkady were also unique. The Western tradition of giving children double names does not find a particular response in the hearts of Belarusians. Only four young Vitebsk residents received such names in 2009: Arina Diana, Arseniy Ales, Abdul Hamid, Michael Joseph. Moreover, the latter two babies were born in international marriages. "This trend is also associated with the low awareness of citizens about the possibility of giving a child a double name and situations where parents cannot agree on how to name their child," the Civil Registry Office believes. Among the positive trends of last year, specialists noted an increase in the birth rate in families that already have children. Thus, every 19th newborn resident of Vitebsk became the third or more child for their parents. More than 90 families in the regional center can boast of such pleasant statistics. In total, from January to November 2009, 11,560 children were born in the Vitebsk region, or 102.9% compared to the same period last year. In the regional center, 3,558 children were born in eleven months (102.6%). The highest birth rate was recorded in the Liozno, Verkhnedvinsk, and Shumilino districts, according to the Committee for Labor, Employment, and Social Protection of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee. -0-