Canada has released national baby name rankings, everyone!
After years of making due with rankings for individual Canadian provinces and territories, we now have data that covers the entire country.
Ironically, Canada announced its new baby name rankings just a few of months after I attempted (out of frustration) to use the regional lists to make an educated guess about Canada’s top 5 overall. How funny.
So let’s not put it off any longer — here are Canada’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:
Girl Names
- Olivia, 2,032 baby girls
- Emma, 1,715
- Charlotte, 1,579
- Amelia, 1,308
- Ava, 1,105 (tie)
- Sophia, 1,105 (tie)
- 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
- Sophie, 709
- Maya, 702
- Aria, 680
- Eva, 677
- Emily, 673
- Hannah, 670
- Clara, 659
- Isabella, 643
- Elizabeth, 636
- Florence, 612
- Rose, 604
- Ivy, 596
- Avery, 594
- Harper, 592
- Luna, 585
- Violet, 580
- Scarlett, 568
- Hazel, 549
- Zoey, 548
- Livia, 546
- Victoria, 540
- Lea, 528
- Grace, 527
- Julia, 522
- Willow, 501
- Eleanor, 499
- Madison, 493
- Anna, 478 (tie)
- Layla, 478 (tie)
- Rosalie, 474
Boy Names
- Noah, 2,393 baby boys
- 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
- Levi, 905
- Gabriel, 903
- Theo, 877
- Arthur, 847
- Charles, 844
- Samuel, 801
- Hudson, 761
- Alexander, 742
- Mason, 711
- Jayden, 706
- Luca, 691
- Daniel, 689
- Lincoln, 682
- Isaac, 668
- Caleb, 661
- Nolan, 652
- Elijah, 651
- Elliot, 631
- Louis, 626
- Aiden, 623
- Maverick, 610
- Wyatt, 576
- Carter, 570
- Ryan, 568
- Grayson, 558
- Raphael, 539
- Eli, 536
- Muhammad, 531
- Jaxon, 526
- Bennett, 525
The girls’ top 100 included Everly (55th), Romy (tied for 65th), Paisley (86th), and Lennon (tied for 94th).
The boys’ top 100 included Asher (54th), Emile (60th), Arnaud (tied for 89th), and Alexis (94th).
One name, Charlie, reached the top 100 for both genders. It ranked 17th for girls and 71st (tied with Matteo) for boys.
So where can you see these long-awaited Canadian baby name rankings for yourself?
Over at Statistics Canada. They’ve published rankings going back to 1991, and — just like the U.S. SSA — they’ve included all names given to at least five babies, of one gender or the other, per year.
Though we regularly see rare indigenous-language names (such as Anangokaa, Timmiak, and Waseskwan) being used in Alberta and Quebec, the only one used often enough in the last three decades to reach that 5-baby threshold nationally was Lucassie, an Inuktitut name given to exactly 5 baby boys in 2007.
(Lucassie is based on the biblical name Luke. Other “Inuktitutized” Christian names include Issacie, Joanasie/Joanassee, Josephie, Markoosie, Pauloosie/Paulassie, Peterosee, Simeonie, and Thomasee. A female example is Elisapie/Elisapee.)
Finally, here are the U.S. rankings for 2021, in case you’d like to compare neighbor to neighbor.
Sources:
- First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators – Statistics Canada
- Markoosie Patsauq – The Canadian Encyclopedia
Image: Adapted from Flag of Canada (public domain)
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