According to data released recently by Retraite Québec, the most popular baby names in Quebec in 2016 were Emma and William.
Here are the province’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2016:
Girl Names
1. Emma, 632 baby girls
2. Lea, 514
3. Olivia, 507
4. Alice, 489
5. Florence, 470
6. Zoe, 416
7. Rosalie, 406
8. Charlotte, 400
9. Charlie, 387
10. Beatrice, 378
Boy Names
1. William, 791 baby boys
2. Thomas, 697
3. Liam, 654
4. Nathan, 614
5. Felix, 603
6. Jacob, 597
7. Noah, 590
8. Logan, 580
9. Alexis, 532
10. Gabriel, 530
In the girls’ top 10, Charlie returns and replaces Chloe (now 11th). In the boys’ top 10, Gabriel replaces Samuel (now 14th). Here are the 2015 rankings, if you’d like to compare.
Some of the baby names used just once last year include:
- Girls: Aucelia, Augia, Denasada, Eulogia, Flechere, Haydence, Juridielle, Luotta, Mavericka, Nermine, Omica, Saranella, Sydra, Tuleen, Waapikun, Zealy, Zoralie
- Boys: Bienvenu, Brinx, Clouthier, Danevick, Dyberry, Endrick, Holiday, Knochlan, Luzolo, Naulaq, Ozroy, Rockwell, Syphax, Tchaz, Tunu, Vinicius, Zabian
A CBC News article about how Quebec’s baby names are evolving to reflect the province’s changing values mentioned several name trends observed from the 1980s to today:
- Compound names (Anne-Marie, Jean-François) are falling out of style.
- Once-taboo English names (Elliot, Mia) are seeing new acceptance.
- Similarly, French names are flipping languages (Anne to Anna, Guillaume to William).
- Names are also flipping gender (Ariel, Noa).
- Pop culture is influencing names (Shania, Logan).
- Unique names are on the rise.
Speaking of unique names, sociologist Laurence Charton of the INRS (Institut national de la recherche scientifique) suggested that the rise of unique names starting in the early 1980s was fueled in part by a 1981 change in Quebec’s Civil Code that loosened restrictions on babies’ surnames.
This claim makes me wish the article had included data from the ’60s and ’70s. I don’t doubt that parents felt liberated by the law change, but I do suspect that unique names were already on the rise by 1981.
For more sets of rankings, check out the name rankings category.
Source: Retraite Québec – List of Baby Names
According to the States of Jersey Child Health System, the most popular baby names on the island of Jersey (the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel) from 2014 to 2016 were Emily and Oliver.