Which names were the trendiest among baby boys in Canada last year?
Below you’ll find Canada’s fastest-rising and highest-debuting boy names of 2022.
Just keep in mind that we can’t directly compare rises and debuts in the Canadian data to rises and debuts in the U.S. data, because Canada releases a lot less data than the U.S. does. (For more details, see the post on Canada’s rising girl names.)
Rises (absolute)
Here are the boy names that saw the biggest increases in usage in terms of absolute change (numbers of babies) from 2021 to 2022:
- Robin, rose from 129 to 220 baby boys (+91)
- Walker, 238 to 300 (+62)
- Muhammad, 535 to 595 (+60)
- Casey, 153 to 206 (+53)
- Leon, 294 to 347 (+53)
I’m so intrigued by Robin! Anyone know why it got such a boost last year?
Rises (relative)
Here are the boy names that saw the biggest increases in usage in terms of relative change (percentages of babies) from 2021 to 2022:
- Mattheo, rose from 5 to 18 baby boys (260%)
- Shepherd, 9 to 28 (211%)
- Affan, 7 to 21 (200%)
- Ghaith, 5 to 15 (200%)
- Abdallah, 7 to 20 (1.86%)
Debuts
Finally, here are the boy names that debuted most impressively in Canada’s baby name data in 2022:
- Rabaab, 14 baby boys
- Navaan, 13
- Zoraver, 11
- Bir, 10
- Kabiel, 10
- Kabiel was tied with Kyland and Valor, both of which were also given to 10 babies.
Other boy-name debuts included Dutton (9), Halston (8), Astro (7), Rip (6), and Laker (5).
Dutton and Rip were no doubt influenced by the TV series Yellowstone, which follows the wealthy, ranch-owning Dutton family of Montana. The foreman of the Duttons’ ranch is named Rip Wheeler. Both Dutton and Rip have been on the rise in the U.S. recently as well.
And if you’re curious about the decreases, Canada’s fastest-falling boy names in terms of absolute change were Logan, Benjamin, and Noah, and in terms of relative change were Bauer, Larry, and Eamon.
Sources: First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators (Number) – Statistics Canada, Baby Names Observatory – Statistics Canada
Image: Adapted from Turkey-2036 by Dennis Jarvis under CC BY-SA 2.0.
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I am so pleased about Robin rising for boys, but I don’t know what caused it. The first human male Robin I ever knew was Canadian; he would have been born sometime between 1971 and 1973, I think. It’s one of my favorite names, especially for guys. I hope the name is in for a big 21st century jump in the States soon, too.
The first male Robin I ever met, several decades ago, was Canadian as well — I think from Vancouver. His name caught me off guard because one of my classmates at school (in Massachusetts) had been a female Robin, so I grew up thinking it was a girl name.
When the name Robin inevitably becomes trendy again in the U.S. (perhaps in the 2040s, if the great-grandparent/100-year rule holds true…?) I wonder what the usage will be — primarily female again? Primarily male this time? Or perhaps by that point our thinking around gender and names will have changed enough that Robin will be used about equally for boys and girls.