Canadian parents can finally let go of those baby name books.
Statistics Canada has introduced a searchable baby name database, allowing expectant parents to browse names for their newest addition to the family, as well as compare how each name stacks up in terms of popularity.
The Baby Names Observatory not only lists the top 20 most popular names for each sex over the course of any given year, but shows how popularity for each name has waxed and waned over time.
Statistics Canada demographer Claudine Provencher said the agency developed the site after receiving many requests from the public.
“We mainly did that to serve the purpose of providing another tool for the public to search for their future newborn’s names. It’s just a fun product to provide for Canadians,” Provencher told The Canadian Press.
For many years, individual provinces and territories have tracked baby name data, resulting in wildly popular articles each time the most-used monikers list is shared with the public.
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But now, we’re getting a coast-to-coast snapshot of trends in baby naming.
In 2021, the latest timeframe available, Canada recorded 367,684 births and approximately 90 per cent of those are captured in the new tool.
Of those born in 2021, there were 6,427 different names used — a number that’s increasing over time.
“People try to find a unique first name. So we’ll have lots of names (spelled) differently, just to be unique. And also probably because of the multicultural (population) that is increasing in Canada,” Provencher said.
One piece of data that’s been omitted from the database, however, is ultra-rare names. The agency has chosen to leave out any names that were used fewer than five times per year.
According to Statistics Canada, the top 20 girl baby names in 2021 were:
- Olivia, 2,032
- Emma, 1,715
- Charlotte, 1,579
- Amelia, 1,308
- Ava, 1,105
- Sophia, 1,105
- Chloe, 1,088
- Mia, 1,017
- Mila, 936
- Isla, 922
- Alice, 879
- Sofia, 878
- Lily, 810
- Zoe, 784
- Ella, 781
- Evelyn, 779
- Charlie, 777
- Ellie, 727
- Abigail, 716
- Nora, 715
And the top 20 boy baby names were:
- Noah, 2,393
- Liam, 1,967
- William, 1,684
- Leo, 1,559
- Benjamin, 1,433
- Theodore, 1,425
- Jack, 1,365
- Thomas, 1,318
- Logan, 1,314
- Oliver, 1,310
- Jacob, 1,293
- Lucas, 1,241
- James, 1,221
- Nathan, 1,199
- Ethan, 1,145
- Jackson, 1,065
- Owen, 987
- Adam, 978
- Henry, 957
- Felix, 918
— with files from The Canadian Press
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