The vast country of Canada is located in North America and shares the world’s longest international land border with its neighbor to the south, the United States.
Last year, Canada (excluding Yukon) welcomed 351,679 babies — 48.6% of which were girls, 51.4% of which were boys.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Olivia and Noah.
Here are Canada’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:
Girl names
- Olivia, 1,804 baby girls
- Emma, 1,550
- Charlotte, 1,475
- Amelia, 1,193
- Sophia, 1,079
- Chloe, 1,057
- Mia, 946
- Ava, 923
- Lily, 861
- Mila, 847
- Alice, 786
- Isla, 769
- Sofia, 763
- Evelyn, 751
- Abigail, 715
- Sophie, 712
- Nora, 708
- Charlie, 700
- Ellie, 680
- Zoe, 661
- Maya, 658
- Isabella, 656
- Ella, 634
- Clara, 618
- Elizabeth, 617
- Aria, 610
- Violet, 599
- Rose, 593
- Eva, 578
- Hannah, 577
- Emily, 575 (tie)
- Luna, 575 (tie)
- Ivy, 562
- Harper, 560
- Florence, 557
- Scarlett, 519
- Victoria, 514
- Hazel, 513
- Julia, 492
- Avery, 490
- Madison, 488
- Zoey, 474
- Eleanor, 467
- Grace, 448 (tie)
- Livia, 448 (tie)
- Emilia, 447
- Layla, 437
- Aurora, 435
- Lea, 434
- Willow, 430
Boy names
- Noah, 2,198 baby boys
- Liam, 1,902
- William, 1,516
- Leo, 1,447
- Theodore, 1,423
- Oliver, 1,273
- Benjamin, 1,217
- Thomas, 1,205
- Lucas, 1,187
- Jack, 1,186
- James, 1,141
- Jacob, 1,105
- Nathan, 1,047
- Logan, 1,044
- Ethan, 1,040
- Adam, 977
- Theo, 932
- Jackson, 907
- Owen, 891
- Henry, 870
- Levi, 831
- Arthur, 807
- Felix, 806
- Gabriel, 777
- Samuel, 753
- Charles, 749
- Luca, 719
- Hudson, 663
- Nolan, 651
- Alexander, 647
- Daniel, 644
- Mason, 622
- Caleb, 613
- Louis, 604
- Jayden, 595 (tie)
- Muhammad, 595 (tie)
- Elijah, 593
- Aiden, 584
- Maverick, 581
- Isaac, 579
- Ryan, 538
- Wyatt, 521
- Carter, 520
- Luke, 516
- Elliot, 499 (tie)
- Lincoln, 499 (tie)
- Eli, 496
- Grayson, 495
- Edouard, 492
- Mateo, 489
Among the fastest-rising baby names of 2022 were the girl names Millie, Wren, and Lily and the boy names Robin, Walker, and Muhammad.
What about the names at the other end of the spectrum? Here’s a selection of the baby names that were given to just 5 babies each in Canada last year:
| Rare girl names | Rare boy names |
| Aberdeen, Becca, Charis, Dorcas, Everlyn, Farida, Guntas, Hadeel, Iremide, Jolianne, Khawla, Lumina, Mavi, Nichelle, Opale, Perrie, Rhya, Sylia, Tavisha, Uma, Verna, Wilder, Yoadan, Zaynah | Alborz, Brandt, Cornelius, Dryden, Espen, Fabrice, Gurjot, Hades, Indy, Jesper, Kuzey, Lorne, Mederic, Nima, Onkar, Poseidon, Rorik, Solal, Theeran, Udayvir, Viansh, Wesson, Yvan, Zeno |
The names used even less frequently — between one and four times — “accounted for 86% of all baby names in 2022.”
Finally, here are Canada’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
Sources: First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators – Statistics Canada, Canada’s most popular baby names in 2022 – Statistics Canada, Births, 2022 – Statistics Canada, Canada – Wikipedia
Image: Adapted from Flag of Canada (public domain)
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I wonder which names are the most Canadian? That is, which have the greatest popularity differentials between Canada and the US?
At a glance, Lily, Charlie, Rose, and Edouard all reflect the French Canadian population. Lily, Rose, and Lily-Rose are all more popular in Quebec and Canada at large than in the U.S.
@Rachel – That is an excellent question. I’m going to work on that and see what I come up with…
@Andrea – Good observation!
(Here are Quebec’s 2022 rankings in case anyone wants to check them out.)