The Top 100 Baby Names in New Zealand 2009

The list of top 100 New Zealand baby names for 2009 has been released! No surprises as to the top baby names though for girls and boys. Sophie was the top name for baby girls (no change from 2008) while once again Jack was the top name for baby boys for the fifth year in a row!

Some of the more uncommon names such as Zion and Chase appeared as 89th and 90th most popular names for baby boys respectively, while in the top 100 popular baby girls' names, some interesting names that feature include Nevaeh, Peyton, Piper, Lola, Anahera, Manaia, and Aria!

Surprisingly, Callum (which is close enough to my name!) was the 78th most popular name for baby boys in 2009, compared to 70th in 2004, 69th in 2005, 53rd in 2006, 76th in 2007 and 89th in 2008.

If I was to compare my name's popularity with my brothers Hamish and Angus (close enough to Aonghas!), the trend in the past five years would look something like this:
Anyway the full Top 100 Baby Names for Boys and Girls in New Zealand 2009 are as follows:

	Boys	Girls
1	Jack	Sophie
2	Oliver	Ruby
3	James	Olivia
4	Joshua	Isabella
5	William	Ella
6	Samuel	Emily
7	Liam	Charlotte
8	Benjamin	Lily
9	Daniel	Emma
10	Thomas	Amelia
11	Lucas	Chloe
12	Riley	Grace
13	Ryan	Zoe
14	Ethan	Paige
15	Jacob	Ava
16	Noah	Lucy
17	Hunter	Jessica
18	Max	Isla
19	Alexander	Hannah
20	Jayden	Madison
21	Connor	Samantha
22	Matthew	Georgia
23	Cooper	Sienna
24	Tyler	Mia
25	Blake	Holly
26	Isaac	Sophia
27	Dylan	Bella
28	Lachlan	Brooke
29	Luke	Maia
30	Logan	Maddison
31	Caleb	Jasmine
32	Joseph	Eva
33	Charlie	Molly
34	Xavier	Elizabeth
35	George	Hayley
36	Levi	Sarah
37	Jackson	Amber
38	Nathan	Kate
39	Michael	Caitlin
40	Oscar	Isabelle
41	Harry	Tayla
42	Harrison	Jade
43	Toby	Abigail
44	Alex	Amy
45	Jake	Kayla
46	Jesse	Taylor
47	Cameron	Keira
48	Leo	Zara
49	Ashton	Stella
50	Finn	Eden
51	Jordan	Anna
52	Luca	Summer
53	Jamie	Nevaeh
54	Mason	Addison
55	Cody	Alice
56	Sam	Imogen
57	John	Katie
58	Elijah	Peyton
59	Seth	Alyssa
60	David	Aaliyah
61	Henry	Rose
62	Aidan	Leah
63	Zachary	Matilda
64	Kingston	Isabel
65	Joel	Poppy
66	Angus	Millie
67	Flynn	Mackenzie
68	Carter	Phoebe
69	Charles	Alexis
70	Lincoln	Lilly
71	Sebastian	Mikayla
72	Hamish	Scarlett
73	Aiden	Savannah
74	Nicholas	Sofia
75	Reuben	Riley
76	Phoenix	Hazel
77	Adam	Bailey
78	Callum	Brooklyn
79	Quinn	Abby
80	Ben	Daisy
81	Gabriel	Lauren
82	Hayden	Tessa
83	Felix	Rebecca
84	Tyson	Alexandra
85	Mitchell	Ashley
86	Ryder	Anahera
87	Cole	Manaia
88	Christian	Katelyn
89	Zion	Piper
90	Chase	Lola
91	Edward	Madeline
92	Andrew	Faith
93	Roman	Annabelle
94	Troy	Violet
95	Austin	Aria
96	Tristan	Maria
97	Christopher	Natalie
98	Louis	Madeleine
99	Brooklyn	Ariana
100	Hugo	Ayla

To see more (including lists for the past five years), click here.

Who Will Earn the Most They Graduate?

The Report What do students earn after their tertiary education by David Scott was published way back in September 2009 (and you can find the full report and everything I've typed/ripped off here), but I only discovered it after reading about it in the newspaper (how slack of me). Anyway, I thought I'd have a read through the full report, and these are the key points with regards to how different degrees compare:

- People who completed their degree earned 29 per cent more than those who didn't complete their degree
- Compared to bachelor's degree students who studied humanities, graduates in medical studies could be expected to earn 2.59 times more than them after three years of graduating, with those studying veterinary studies expecting to earn 1.61 times more, law 1.47 times more, electrical engineering 1.44 times more, pharmacy 1.43 times more, accountancy 1.42 times more, computer science 1.36 times more, and nursing 1.26 times more. Those studying science subjects would earn between 1.22 and 1.30 times more (although biology would earn you only 1.12 times more), while those with teaching degrees would earn 1.27 times more after one year of graduating, and 1.16 times more after three years.
- Toursim, performing arts, visual arts, graphic and design arts degrees earned between 10 and 20 per cent less than those with humanities degrees
- Degrees in communications and media studies earned 11 per cent more than those with humanities degrees.
- Therefore, qualifications in engineering, information technology, architecture and building and health earned the most.
- Earnings of people with degrees in science or management and commerce were in the middle tier
- Degrees in society and culture, creative arts, food, hospitality and personal services earned the least.
- Degrees in teaching and education were high earners to begin with, but fell to around the middle level after three years.

You can check out the median incomes for certain degrees/fields in the table below:

Field (broad and narrow)	Number	One year post-study	Three years post-study	Earnings increase
		Median $ Proportion of national median	Median $ Proportion of national median	$ %
Sciences	260	32,900 1.23	42,200 1.47	9,300 28%
Mathematics	40	34,900 1.30	45,600 1.58	10,700 31%
Chemical sci	30	31,400 1.17	42,800 1.49	11,400 36%
Earth sci	40	31,400 1.17	44,800 1.56	13,400 43%
Biological sci	100	31,100 1.16	39,400 1.37	8,300 27%
Other sciences	80	36,400 1.36	45,500 1.58	9,100 25%
Information technology	430	33,900 1.26	46,000 1.60	12,100 36%
Computer science	200	35,000 1.31	47,600 1.65	12,600 36%
Information systems	300	33,600 1.25	45,200 1.57	11,600 35%
Engineering	120	37,200 1.39	47,800 1.66	10,600 28%
Geomatic eng	30	39,000 1.46	50,500 1.75	11,500 29%
Electrical eng	50	36,000 1.34	50,600 1.76	14,600 41%
Architecture & building	110	32,600 1.22	39,600 1.38	7,000 21%
Architecture	110	32,300 1.21	39,600 1.38	7,300 23%
Agriculture	40	31,400 1.17	39,900 1.39	8,500 27%
Health	580	38,100 1.42	47,000 1.63	8,900 23%
Medical	110	75,200 2.81	91,000 3.16	15,800 21%
Nursing	180	35,500 1.32	44,300 1.54	8,800 25%
Pharmacy	70	35,900 1.34	50,300 1.75	14,400 40%
Veterinary	30	47,900 1.79	56,600 1.97	8,700 18%
Radiography	30	45,000 1.68	47,500 1.65	2,500 6%
Rehabilitation	110	34,700 1.29	41,900 1.45	7,200 21%
Other health	40	27,400 1.02	35,100 1.22	7,700 28%
Education	550	35,700 1.33	40,800 1.42	5,100 14%
Teacher education	510	35,900 1.34	40,800 1.42	4,900 14%
Education studies	170	31,800 1.19	40,600 1.41	8,800 28%
Management & commerce	930	33,700 1.26	43,900 1.52	10,200 30%
Accountancy	150	36,400 1.36	49,800 1.73	13,400 37%
Business & management	470	33,500 1.25	43,600 1.51	10,100 30%
Sales & marketing	380	32,500 1.21	42,000 1.46	9,500 29%
Tourism	60	28,400 1.06	31,400 1.09	3,000 11%
Banking & finance	100	35,400 1.32	45,600 1.58	10,200 29%
Society & culture	770	30,800 1.15	40,100 1.39	9,300 30%
Pol sci & policy studies	50	31,500 1.18	40,800 1.42	9,300 30%
Human society	170	28,200 1.05	35,100 1.22	6,900 24%
Human welfare	30	34,200 1.28	35,600 1.24	1,400 4%
Behavioural	120	30,300 1.13	40,400 1.40	10,100 33%
Law	100	37,600 1.40	51,600 1.79	14,000 37%
Language & literature	140	28,500 1.06	37,000 1.28	8,500 30%
Philosophy & religion	40	27,500 1.03	37,300 1.30	9,800 36%
Economics	100	36,200 1.35	48,100 1.67	11,900 33%
Sport & recreation	50	24,700 0.92	33,800 1.17	9,100 37%
Other society & culture	100	27,900 1.04	37,100 1.29	9,200 33%
Creative arts	580	26,300 0.98	34,500 1.20	8,200 31%
Performing arts	70	16,000 0.60	25,400 0.88	9,400 59%
Visual arts & crafts	130	21,000 0.78	29,100 1.01	8,100 39%
Graphic & design	210	25,500 0.95	34,400 1.19	8,900 35%
Comms & media	190	31,000 1.16	39,000 1.35	8,000 26%
All completers	3,720	33,000 1.23	41,300 1.43	8,300 25%
National median		26,800 1.00	28,800 1.00	2,000 8%

So as you can see, we don't do too badly in pharmacy. There is a greater increase in pay over the three years compared to those in other fields though.

There is a whole lot more analysis on those with different levels of qualifications and how they do in the report, so if you're interested you should definitely have a read!

Happy New Year 2010!

HAPPY NEW YEAR (and decade) EVERYONE!!

Wow 2009 is finally over, the first decade of the 21st century has passed and 2010 is just beginning!

May you all have a successful, prosperous, joyful, happy....2010! May it bring you everything you want and more!

Looks like I owe a few people some money for bets I've lost. I bet $10 that my friend Jessica would get a Facebook account by the end of the year but she managed to resist! Noo!!!

Anyway here is a review of my New Years' resolutions and how I went:

1. Find a girlfriend (let's make it fourth year in a row!)

FAIL

2. Make at least one/two new close friends (better if they're female!)

Yes - Along with my existing close friends, I've also become a lot closer to Scholastica and Natalie, my two friends from pharmacy 

2. Join the university gym and finally get abs and become buff!

FAIL - I ended up not getting around to joining the gym, and being in Grafton all the time made it difficult for me to find time. Therefore, I still don't have great abs and I'm definitely not buff! 

3. To spend less on food

Big FAIL - I spent a whole lot more on food this year! Especially different shops like Subway and the bakery! 

4. To get a change of hairstyle and get rid of my pimples

Change of hairstyle - FAIL, it's still the same!

Get rid of my pimples - Semi-success

5. To sort out my computer files, buy a hard drive and back up all the stuff (oh and reformat my laptop)

Sort out computer files - semi-success, I've started sorting out all my files from the last 6+ years, but still working on it these holidays. 

Buy a hard drive/back up everything - FAIL

Reformat my laptop - Partial fail: I reformatted it with Windows Vista earlier in the year, but now I've really got to reformat it with Windows 7!

6. To get a part-time job in the holidays (bonus if it's pharmacy-related)

FAIL - Still haven't found any part-time job at all! At least I've still got my music teaching job though!

7. To memorise the Korean alphabet and learn a few words and phrases, as well as speaking more Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese)

FAIL - I haven't memorised the Korean alphabet, and I haven't been speaking much Chinese this year :(

8. To sleep earlier (preferably before midnight)

FAIL - I'm still sleeping after midnight at ~1am

9. To keep in touch with friends, find the time to catch up and hang out with them

I've definitely kept in touch with my high school friends regularly, so I guess you could call it a success!

10. To do more regular music practice and prepare for a music theory exam, whichever grade I can manage

Music practice increased during the Christmas holidays for my church's Christmas concert, but I'm still no way near prepared to sit another music theory exam

That gives a total score of 

Fulfilled New Years' Resolutions: 2.5, Failed New Years' Resolutions: 7.5

- = Calum's 2010 New Years' Resolutions = -

1. Find a girlfriend (fifth year in a row! Maybe last year at uni will be lucky one!)

2. Make two more close friends 

3. Stay at uni longer to study harder, pass all papers and graduate!

4. Join the gym and don't look like such a twig but become buff and get some abs!

5. Buy a new cellphone

6. Get a part-time job, preferably pharmacy-related

7. Save enough money to be able to pay off all debts

8. Come up with a 20-year life plan on where I want to be and how I'll get there

9. Keep practising my existing musical instruments regularly and perform at least three times in 2010, as well as learn one more instrument (maybe flute or clarinet)

10. Take up Chinese (Mandarin) classes

11. Spend less money on food, or else buy cheap food!

12. Get involved with another club at university besides the Dessert Club

13. BE NICE TO DAISY! (and all those other girls I've been mean to!)

14. Do more driving so I can sit my full license or become closer to sitting it

15. Take at least one photo/video a day!
16. Stop making bets with people (late addition)