This year, Bielefeld based his calculations on 183,396 registered births from 512 authorities across Germany – roughly 26 percent of the total number of children born over the whole year.

It's not a definitive ranking – as the one released by the Society for the German Language a few months into the following year is based on the complete data.

But it's a snapshot of at least some parents' thinking as the year draws to a close.

And it's a very familiar roster, with Mia ending Emma's brief reign as number-one name for girls to regain the top spot she had previously held for five years.

Meanwhile, Ben continues to defend his five-year title as champion boys' name.

“Little changes from year to year,” Bielefeld said on Wednesday.

But he's anticipating that some new monikers could get a boost thanks to the cultural event of the year – the new Star Wars movie.

“I'm excited to see where the name Finn gets to,” Bielefeld said, referring to British star John Boyega's character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Finn has already reached place five in the 2015 table – although Bielefeld himself hopes more parents will plump for naming their little boys after bad-guy Kylo, especially since ''y' is trendy with young parents”.

Meanwhile, Germans might be revealing a special love for Shakira with the rapid rise of Milan, now at place 35 in Bielefeld's chart.

The singer named her own son Milan in 2013 and it has been growing in popularity ever since.

Mila, meanwhile, hit tenth place for girls this year.

And the biggest upset of the year came in Bavaria, where regional statistics showed that Maximilian lost his traditional top spot among boys to Lucas/Lukas.

But the prize for the most unique name – perhaps inspired by the opening of the Grimm museum this year – goes to little “Gretchen Schneewittchen” (Gretchen Snow White).