Popular baby names in Canada, 2021 (official)

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

1. Olivia, 2,032 baby girls
2. Emma, 1,715
3. Charlotte, 1,579
4. Amelia, 1,308
5. Ava, 1,105 (tie)
6. Sophia, 1,105 (tie)
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
21. Sophie, 709
22. Maya, 702
23. Aria, 680
24. Eva, 677
25. Emily, 673
26. Hannah, 670
27. Clara, 659
28. Isabella, 643
29. Elizabeth, 636
30. Florence, 612
31. Rose, 604
32. Ivy, 596
33. Avery, 594
34. Harper, 592
35. Luna, 585
36. Violet, 580
37. Scarlett, 568
38. Hazel, 549
39. Zoey, 548
40. Livia, 546
41. Victoria, 540
42. Lea, 528
43. Grace, 527
44. Julia, 522
45. Willow, 501
46. Eleanor, 499
47. Madison, 493
48. Anna, 478 (tie)
49. Layla, 478 (tie)
50. Rosalie, 474

Boy Names

1. Noah, 2,393 baby boys
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
21. Levi, 905
22. Gabriel, 903
23. Theo, 877
24. Arthur, 847
25. Charles, 844
26. Samuel, 801
27. Hudson, 761
28. Alexander, 742
29. Mason, 711
30. Jayden, 706
31. Luca, 691
32. Daniel, 689
33. Lincoln, 682
34. Isaac, 668
35. Caleb, 661
36. Nolan, 652
37. Elijah, 651
38. Elliot, 631
39. Louis, 626
40. Aiden, 623
41. Maverick, 610
42. Wyatt, 576
43. Carter, 570
44. Ryan, 568
45. Grayson, 558
46. Raphael, 539
47. Eli, 536
48. Muhammad, 531
49. Jaxon, 526
50. 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 by Ali Kazal from Unsplash