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Canada’s top baby names are now in one searchable online database

No more fussing through the pages of a baby name book. Canada has its own online baby name database now. Getty Images

Canadian parents can finally let go of those baby name books.

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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.

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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:

  1. Olivia, 2,032
  2. Emma, 1,715
  3. Charlotte, 1,579
  4. Amelia, 1,308
  5. Ava, 1,105
  6. Sophia, 1,105
  7. Chloe, 1,088
  8. Mia, 1,017
  9. Mila, 936
  10. Isla, 922
  11. Alice, 879
  12. Sofia, 878
  13. Lily, 810
  14. Zoe, 784
  15. Ella, 781
  16. Evelyn, 779
  17. Charlie, 777
  18. Ellie, 727
  19. Abigail, 716
  20. Nora, 715

And the top 20 boy baby names were:

  1. Noah, 2,393
  2. Liam, 1,967
  3. William, 1,684
  4. Leo, 1,559
  5. Benjamin, 1,433
  6. Theodore, 1,425
  7. Jack, 1,365
  8. Thomas, 1,318
  9. Logan, 1,314
  10. Oliver, 1,310
  11. Jacob, 1,293
  12. Lucas, 1,241
  13. James, 1,221
  14. Nathan, 1,199
  15. Ethan, 1,145
  16. Jackson, 1,065
  17. Owen, 987
  18. Adam, 978
  19. Henry, 957
  20. Felix, 918

— with files from The Canadian Press

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