What’s in a name? Depends on who you’re asking. But Olivia is certainly proving to be a popular name of late.
On Friday, the province released its annual list of most popular baby names for 2021. According to the Ministry of Health, the list includes every given name that was chosen five or more times between Jan. 1 and Dec. 15.
And, for a third consecutive year, Olivia was the most popular name for babies born in British Columbia. Next were Noah, Jack, Emma, Benjamin, Theodore, Oliver and Charlotte.
Stats from the ministry show that Olivia was chosen 214 times this year. Rounding out the top baby names for 2021 were Liam (209), Noah (205), Emma (181), Jack (181), Benjamin (168), Theodore (168), Charlotte (165), Oliver (165) and Ava (146).
The province says full data of baby names selected this year won’t be available until spring 2022.
This year, between Jan. 1 and Dec. 15, 40,333 babies were born in B.C. — slightly fewer than the 42,413 babies that were born in 2020.
For 2020, the top 10 names were Olivia (239), Liam (223), Oliver (215), Noah (206), Lucas (193), Emma (184), Benjamin (174), Theodore (174), Ethan (170) and Charlotte (161).
Olivia was also the top name in 2019, having been selected 265 times. Rounding out the top 10 that year were Oliver (233), Liam (217), Lucas (216), Ethan (207), Noah (202), William (192) Benjamin (181), Charlotte (176) and Theodore (171).
In 2018, Liam (283) was tops, followed by Olivia (247), Lucas (225), Emma (223), Oliver (211), Benjamin (200), Logan (184), Ethan (183), Noah (182) and William (182).
For more about the top baby names in B.C., visit this website.