In June of 2023, the population of Canada finally reached 40 million.
Included in that count were roughly half of the 351,477* babies born in Canada last year.
And what were the most popular names among those newborns? Olivia and Noah, yet again.
Here are Canada’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:
Girl names
- Olivia, 1,650 baby girls
- Emma, 1,416
- Charlotte, 1,412
- Amelia, 1,102
- Sophia, 1,051
- Mia, 924
- Chloe, 920
- Mila, 915
- Sofia, 887
- Alice, 793
- Ava, 772
- Lily, 766
- Isla, 759
- Ellie, 700
- Evelyn, 698
- Zoe, 697
- Nora, 681
- Sophie, 675
- Maya, 667
- Charlie, 647
- Violet, 626
- Aria, 613
- Florence, 611 (tie)
- Isabella, 611 (tie)
- Abigail, 608
- Ella, 599
- Emily, 588
- Hannah, 578 (tie)
- Hazel, 578 (tie)
- Elizabeth, 571
- Clara, 562
- Rose, 540
- Ivy, 533 (tie)
- Luna, 533 (tie)
- Eva, 527
- Eleanor, 503
- Harper, 487
- Aurora, 475
- Avery, 468
- Maeve, 462
- Victoria, 461
- Scarlett, 449
- Grace, 447
- Emilia, 440
- Layla, 432 (tie)
- Zoey, 432 (tie)
- Elena, 423
- Sarah, 419
- Livia, 416
- Julia, 415
Boy names
- Noah, 2,162 baby boys
- Liam, 1,813
- Theodore, 1,484
- Leo, 1,416
- William, 1,341
- Oliver, 1,245
- Lucas, 1,184
- Thomas, 1,154
- Benjamin, 1,134
- Jack, 1,132
- James, 1,122
- Jacob, 1,086
- Ethan, 1,012
- Nathan, 1,009
- Adam, 969
- Henry, 943
- Theo, 900
- Logan, 891
- Owen, 852
- Arthur, 818
- Levi, 816
- Jackson, 767
- Luca, 753
- Gabriel, 710
- Felix, 683
- Hudson 659
- Charles, 657
- Maverick, 649
- Daniel, 635
- Louis, 623
- Muhammad, 619
- Samuel, 614
- Elijah, 596
- Alexander, 588
- Caleb, 578
- Mason, 566
- Nolan, 552
- Isaac, 545
- Jayden, 531
- Aiden, 514
- Ryan, 512
- Edouard, 502
- Mateo, 496
- Miles, 490
- Michael, 485
- Luke, 481
- David, 477
- Matteo, 474
- Bennett, 469 (tie)
- Elliot, 469 (tie)
(The #1 names were the same in Alberta, but not in Quebec.)
Among Canada’s fastest-rising baby names were the girl names Sofia, Lainey, and Maeve and the boy names Zorawar, Myles, and Henry.
And 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 |
Audelie, Brie, Celestia, Dasha, Evaluna, Fawn, Gretchen, Harseerat, Icelynn, Jaylah, Kismet, Leony, Melona, Nimar, Ozalee, Philomene, Richelle, Scotia, Twila, Vedika, Walker, Yi, Zirwa | Aeson, Banner, Chesky, Deedar, Eloic, Fitzroy, Gohan, Huck, Ilay, Jibrael, Kebron, Lemmy, Masten, Noble, Omid, Poyraz, Rantegh, Scottie, Tao, Veeran, Willard, Yichen, Zuhair |
Finally, here are Canada’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
*Total excludes babies born in Yukon.
Sources: First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators – Statistics Canada, Canada’s population reaches 40 million – Statistics Canada, The Daily – Births and stillbirths, 2023 – Statistics Canada
Image: Adapted from Flag of Canada (public domain)