How popular is the baby name Lincoln in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Lincoln.

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Popularity of the baby name Lincoln


Posts that mention the name Lincoln

Popular and unique baby names in Alberta (Canada), 2022

Flag of Alberta
Flag of Alberta

Alberta, one of Canada’s three prairie provinces, shares a border with British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, and the U.S. state of Montana.

Last year, Alberta welcomed 48,225 babies — over 24,000 boys and over 23,000 girls.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Olivia and Noah.

Here are Alberta’s top 50+ girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Olivia, 192 baby girls
  2. Sophia, 151
  3. Emma, 149
  4. Amelia, 133
  5. Harper, 125
  6. Charlotte, 117
  7. Ava, 115
  8. Isla, 101
  9. Lily, 100
  10. Chloe, 92
  11. Emily, 91 (tie)
  12. Isabella, 91 (tie)
  13. Abigail, 90
  14. Nora, 88
  15. Violet, 86
  16. Aria, 85
  17. Ivy, 83
  18. Mia, 82
  19. Hazel, 81 (tie)
  20. Zoey, 81 (tie)
  21. Ellie, 80 (3-way tie)
  22. Evelyn, 80 (3-way tie)
  23. Sophie, 80 (3-way tie)
  24. Ella, 79 (tie)
  25. Hannah, 79 (tie)
  26. Aurora, 75
  27. Willow, 74
  28. Eleanor, 73
  29. Scarlett, 72
  30. Elizabeth, 71 (tie)
  31. Mila, 71 (tie)
  32. Avery, 69
  33. Grace, 68
  34. Luna, 64
  35. Everly, 63
  36. Claire, 61 (tie)
  37. Maya, 61 (tie)
  38. Hailey, 60 (tie)
  39. Wren, 60 (tie)
  40. Alice, 58 (3-way tie)
  41. Isabelle, 58 (3-way tie)
  42. Madison, 58 (3-way tie)
  43. Emilia, 57 (3-way tie)
  44. Freya, 57 (3-way tie)
  45. Natalie, 57 (3-way tie)
  46. Ayla, 56
  47. Penelope, 53 (tie)
  48. Sadie, 53 (tie)
  49. Eliana, 51 (3-way tie)
  50. Nova, 51 (3-way tie)
  51. Quinn, 51 (3-way tie)

Boy Names

  1. Noah, 229 baby boys
  2. Liam, 176
  3. Theodore, 173
  4. Oliver, 172
  5. Jack, 159
  6. William, 146
  7. Benjamin, 138 (tie)
  8. James, 138 (tie)
  9. Henry, 136
  10. Lucas, 135
  11. Ethan, 130
  12. Jackson, 121
  13. Leo, 114
  14. Levi, 113
  15. Logan, 109 (tie)
  16. Wyatt, 109 (tie)
  17. Muhammad, 106
  18. Owen, 100
  19. Adam, 97
  20. Luke, 96
  21. Bennett, 94 (tie)
  22. Maverick, 94 (tie)
  23. Asher, 93
  24. Alexander, 92 (tie)
  25. Nathan, 92 (tie)
  26. Caleb, 91 (3-way tie)
  27. Daniel, 91 (3-way tie)
  28. Elijah, 91 (3-way tie)
  29. Thomas, 90
  30. Carter, 85 (tie)
  31. Theo, 85 (tie)
  32. Gabriel, 82
  33. Jacob, 80
  34. Lincoln, 79
  35. Aiden, 76 (tie)
  36. Hudson, 76 (tie)
  37. Grayson, 75 (tie)
  38. Walker, 75 (tie)
  39. Emmett, 73 (tie)
  40. Isaac, 73 (tie)
  41. Cooper, 70 (3-way tie)
  42. Luca, 70 (3-way tie)
  43. Samuel, 70 (3-way tie)
  44. Jasper, 69 (tie)
  45. Mason, 69 (tie)
  46. Arthur, 67 (3-way tie)
  47. David, 67 (3-way tie)
  48. Wesley, 67 (3-way tie)
  49. Nolan, 66 (tie)
  50. Parker, 66 (tie)

Nearly 13,000 names were registered in Alberta in 2022, and well over 8,000 of these names were given to a single baby. Here’s a selection of the baby names bestowed just once in the province last year:

Unique Girl NamesUnique Boy Names
Acâhkosak, Buffalo-Omeasoo, Cloudlyn, Dixita, Equinox, Febechi, Goncharov, Humanitas, Izcalli, Jenniferjeet, Kanak, Letley, Midnightsky, Mikwan, Nîpin, O’Telly, Philia, Pridhi, Qana, Rooi, Sîsîkwan, Tessandra, Undina, Virianzel, Waylynn, Xiantal, Yseult, ZeebellaAudacieux, Bramber, Chrisser, Dutch, Etoile-Soleil, Frontier, Gavroche, Hendricks, Innis, Jinmu, Kikotawân, Lazael, Mîhkokwan, Mihkwaskâw, Navi, Okihcihtâw, Okîsikow, Piyesiwak, Quezon, Rocker, Spruce, Trudeau, Uazuva, Vlix, Walt, Xildian, Yelta, Ziggs

Some possible explanations and/or influences for a few of the above:

  • Acâhkosak means “stars” in Cree.
  • Audacieux means “audacious, bold” in French.
  • Etoile-Soleil means “star-sun” in French.
  • Gavroche is a young character from the Victor Hugo novel Les Misérables (1862).
  • Humanitas is a Latin word meaning “human nature” and “humaneness” (among other things).
  • Izcalli, the last month of the Aztec calendar, means “stone house” in Nahuatl.
  • Kikotawân is based on the Cree word kotawân, meaning “campfire.”
  • Mîhkokwan means “red feather” in Cree.
  • Mihkwaskâw means “red sky” or “red clouds at sunset” in Cree.
  • Mikwan means “feather” in Cree.
  • Nîpin means “summer” in Cree.
  • Okihcihtâw means “warrior” in Cree.
  • Okîsikow means “angel” in Cree.
  • Piyesiwak means “thunder” in Cree.
  • Pridhi is based on a Sanskrit word meaning “circumference” and “halo” (among other things).
  • Quezon is both a province and a city in the Philippines.
  • Sîsîkwan means “rattle” in Cree.
  • Trudeau is the surname of Justin Trudeau, Canada’s current prime minister.

Finally, here’s a link to Alberta’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Alberta’s top baby names – Alberta.ca, Top baby names of 2022 revealed – Alberta.ca, Online Cree Dictionary, Wiktionary

Image: Adapted from Flag of Alberta (public domain)

Popular baby names in Canada, 2021

Flag of Canada
Flag of Canada

Canada might be the second-largest country in terms of area, but it isn’t very large in terms of population. In fact, it’s one of the least densely populated places in the world.

In 2021, Canada (excluding Yukon) welcomed over 367,684 babies. By comparison, the U.S. state of Texas recorded 373,340 births the same year.

What were the most popular names among Canada’s 2021 babies?

Well…we don’t know for sure. Because Canada doesn’t release baby name rankings that cover the entire country.

map of Canada

I’d love to give you the next-best thing — sets of regional Canadian rankings representing Canada’s ten provinces and three territories — but, as of right now, two of the provinces and all three territories have not released rankings for 2021. (Yukon hasn’t even reported an official number of births yet.)

So I’ll give you the third-best thing: Eight sets of provincial Canadian rankings, all gathered into a single post, followed by a guess about the country’s top five names per gender.

Here are the rankings, ordered by total number of births per region (highest to lowest):

Ontario

In 2021, Ontario welcomed 141,766 babies. Here are Ontario’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, Ont.Boy Names, Ont.
1. Olivia
2. Emma
3. Charlotte
4. Amelia
5. Ava
6. Sophia
7. Isla
8. Evelyn
9. Mia
10. Ella		1. Noah
2. Liam
3. Oliver
4. Jack
5. Benjamin
6. Theodore
7. Lucas
8. William
9. Ethan
10. Leo

In 2020, the top names in Ontario were also Olivia and Noah.

Quebec

In 2021, Quebec welcomed 83,335 babies. Here are Quebec’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, Que.Boy Names, Que.
1. Emma, 521 baby girls
2. Olivia, 519
3. Alice, 508
4. Florence, 498
5. Charlie, 488
6. Livia, 473
7. Charlotte, 465
8. Léa, 462
9. Romy, 357
10. Zoe, 344		1. Noah, 717 baby boys
2. William, 709
3. Thomas, 645
4. Léo, 622
5. Liam, 618
6. Jacob, 529
7. Nathan, 519
8. Arthur, 508
9. Édouard, 499
10. Félix, 484

(Here’s more on Quebec’s top names of 2021.)

In 2020, the top names in Quebec were Olivia and Liam.

Alberta

In 2021, Alberta welcomed 49,779 babies. Here are Alberta’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, Alb.Boy Names, Alb.
1. Olivia, 210 baby girls
2. Charlotte, 166
3. Ava, 165
4. Emma, 164
5. Amelia, 161
6. Sophia, 137
7. Isla, 135
8. Abigail, 120 (tie)
9. Chloe, 120 (tie)
10. Evelyn, 119		1. Noah, 274 baby boys
2. Jack, 220
3. Oliver, 208
4. Liam, 198
5. Theodore, 191
6. William, 174
7. Ethan, 162
8. Levi, 148
9. Benjamin, 147 (tie)
10. Henry, 147 (tie)

(Here’s more on Alberta’s top names of 2021.)

In 2020, the top names in Alberta were also Olivia and Noah.

British Columbia

In 2021, British Columbia welcomed 43,999 babies. Here are B.C.’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, B.C.Boy Names, B.C.
1. Olivia, 238 baby girls
2. Emma, 205
3. Charlotte, 182
4. Ava, 161
5. Isla, 157
6. Amelia, 151
7. Sophia, 143
8. Chloe, 127
9. Mia, 126 (tie)
10. Mila, 126 (tie)		1. Liam, 229 baby boys
2. Noah, 223
3. Jack, 201
4. Theodore, 191
5. Benjamin, 183
6. Oliver, 181
7. Owen, 159
8. Leo, 150
9. Ethan, 146
10. Logan, 142

In 2020, the top names in B.C. were also Olivia and Liam.

Manitoba

In 2021, Manitoba welcomed 14,552 babies. Manitoba’s top baby names of 2021, however, haven’t been released yet.

In 2020, the top two names in Manitoba were Olivia and Liam.

Saskatchewan

In 2021, Saskatchewan welcomed 14,509 babies. Here are Saskatchewan’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, Sask.Boy Names, Sask.
1. Olivia, 57 baby girls
2. Sophia, 47
3. Emma, 43
4. Willow, 41
5. Ava, 39
6. Isla, 34
7. Abigail, 32
8. Amelia/Charlotte/Ellie/Harper/Hazel/Lily/Scarlett, 31 each (7-way tie)		1. Noah, 65 baby boys
2. Liam, 61
3. Theodore, 59
4. Oliver, 58
5. William, 53
6. Hudson, 50 (3-way tie)
7. Levi, 50 (3-way tie)
8. Lincoln, 50 (3-way tie)
9. Grayson, 41 (tie)
10. Jackson, 41 (tie)

In 2020, the top two names in Saskatchewan were Olivia and Liam.

Nova Scotia

In 2021, Nova Scotia welcomed 7,021 babies. Here are N.S.’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, N.S.Boy Names, N.S.
1. Olivia, 56 baby girls
2. Ava, 41
3. Ellie, 37
4. Isla, 35
5. Amelia, 33 (tie)
6. Ivy, 33 (tie)
7. Evelyn, 31 (tie)
8. Violet, 31 (tie)
9. Charlotte, 29 (tie)
10. Harper, 29 (tie)		1. Jack, 52 baby boys
2. Noah, 49
3. Oliver, 47
4. Owen, 46
5. Levi, 45
6. Benjamin, 41 (3-way tie)
7. Henry, 41 (3-way tie)
8. William, 41 (3-way tie)
9. Lucas, 39
10. Liam, 38

In 2020, the top two names in N.S. were Olivia and Oliver.

New Brunswick

In 2021, New Brunswick welcomed 6,353 babies. Here are N.B.’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, N.B.Boy Names, N.B.
1. Charlotte
2. Olivia
3. Sophia
4. Ellie
5. Paisley
6. Sophie
7. Willow
8. Isla
9. Emma
10. Ella		1. Liam
2. William
3. Oliver
4. Benjamin
5. Noah
6. Owen
7. Levi
8. Thomas
9. Jackson
10. Henry

In 2020, the top two names in N.B. were Olivia and Liam.

Newfoundland and Labrador

In 2021, Newfoundland and Labrador welcomed 3,833 babies. N.L.’s top baby names of 2021, however, haven’t been released yet.

In 2020, the top two names in N.L. were Amelia and Jaxson.

Prince Edward Island

In 2021, Prince Edward Island welcomed 1,447 babies. Here are P.E.I.’s top baby names of 2021:

Girl Names, P.E.I.Boy Names, P.E.I.
1. Alice, 9 baby girls
2. Scarlett, 8
3. Grace, 6 (3-way tie)
4. Isla, 6 (3-way tie)
5. Ivy, 6 (3-way tie)
6. Amelia/Anna/Annie/Ava/Charlotte/Ella/Ellie/Everly/Isabella/Lexi/Lucy/Maeve/Olivia/Sophia/Sophie/Willow, 5 each (16-way tie)		1. Oliver, 13 baby boys
2. Jack, 11 (tie)
3. Theo, 11 (tie)
4. Liam, 9
5. Austin, 8 (5-way tie)
6. Ezra, 8 (5-way tie)
7. Jackson, 8 (5-way tie)
8. Leo, 8 (5-way tie)
9. Noah, 8 (5-way tie)
10. Benjamin/Emmett/Ethan/Lucas/Theodore, 7 each (5-way tie)

In 2020, the top two names in P.E.I. were Nora/Charlotte (tie) and Hudson.

Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon

In 2021, N.W.T. and Nunavut welcomed 628 babies and 462 babies, respectively. (Yukon likely welcomed a few hundred babies as well.)

None of the territories have released baby name rankings for 2021.

Canada

Using the data we have from the first, second, third, fourth, and sixth most populous provinces — which, together, welcomed over 90% of the country’s 2021 babies — we can make a guess about Canada’s top baby names overall:

Possible Top Girl NamesPossible Top Boy Names
1. Olivia
2. Emma
3. Charlotte
4. Amelia
5. Ava		1. Noah
2. Liam
3. Benjamin
4. Oliver
5. Jack

I’m only moderately confident about these guesses, primarily because the most populous province, Ontario, didn’t include raw numbers with its rankings.

I placed Benjamin higher than both Oliver and Jack because it was the only one of the three to reach the top 50 in Quebec, Canada’s second-most-populous province. (Benjamin even ranked slightly higher than Olivier, the French form of Oliver, in Quebec.)

If Manitoba, Newfoundland, or any of the territories release 2021 rankings in the coming months, I’ll come back and revise this post.

What are your thoughts on Canada’s top baby names of 2021?

Update, May 20, 2023: A couple of weeks ago, just before of the release of the 2022 U.S. baby name data, Statistics Canada published — for the first time ever! — official rankings for the entire country of Canada:

Official Top Girl NamesOfficial Top Boy 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		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

My guess about the girls’ top five was a lot better than my guess about the boys’ top five. :)

Here are links to the news release, the visualization tool, and the downloadable data table.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Canada (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Canada location map 2 by MapGrid under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Popular and unique baby names in Iowa, 2020

Flag of Iowa
Flag of Iowa

I’m a little late on this one, considering that we looked at the 2021 state-by-state baby name data last week, but better late than never. :)

According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, the most popular baby names in the state in 2020 were Olivia and Oliver.

Here are Iowa’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2020:

Girl Names

  1. Olivia, 171 baby girls
  2. Charlotte, 141
  3. Evelyn, 137
  4. Emma, 119
  5. Ava, 116
  6. Amelia, 115
  7. Harper, 113
  8. Sophia, 106
  9. Hazel, 101
  10. Eleanor, 96

Boy Names

  1. Oliver, 208 baby boys
  2. Liam, 183
  3. Theodore, 169
  4. Henry, 163
  5. William, 156
  6. Noah, 127
  7. Owen, 126
  8. Wyatt, 119
  9. Jack, 117
  10. Maverick, 112

In the girls’ top 10, Sophia, Hazel, and Eleanor replaced Avery, Nora, and Violet.

In the boys’ top 10, Theodore and Wyatt replaced Lincoln and Jackson. (Notably, Theodore jumped from 12th in 2019 up to 3rd in 2020.)

Over 3,500 girl names and nearly 2,800 boy names were bestowed just once in Iowa in 2020. The state says that unique names are trendy — in fact, “some Iowa counties…regularly reach 100% uniqueness, meaning there are no babies given the same name in a single year.”

Here’s a selection of Iowa’s unique baby names from 2020:

Unique Girl NamesUnique Boy Names
Alula, Brindle, Clorrenty, Dilnaaz, Ellaydrea, Fidelity, Glariel, Hepperli, Imariana, Jacklington, Kissimee, Lalotai, Malofo, Nellatreen, Offranel, Peninnah, Qianna, Rufusline, Sunrae, Tenebris, Ugbaad, Vatsana, Winji, Xyphora, Yliemani, ZenleyAeio, Bazzi, Colique, Drummer, Ezzeldeen, Faltaous, Groseille, Htoo, Invictus, J-Heart, Kalikimaka, Luxender, Mlondani, Noakley, Owendan, Prexy, Qorvyn, Ramazani, Smoltz, Tuxley, Unison, Vaxston, Wirachai, Yolotli, Zantoro

Thoughts on some of the above…

  • Kissimee – close to Kissimmee, the name of both a city and a river in Florida.
  • Tenebris – a form of the Latin word tenebra, meaning “darkness, shadow, gloom.”
  • Groseille – French for “redcurrant.”
  • Htoo – Burmese for “gold.” (Almost 10,000 refugees from Myanmar live in Iowa.)
  • Kalikimaka – Hawaiian for “Christmas.”
  • Vaxston – given the fact that Covid-19 dominated the headlines in 2020, I can’t help but wonder if this one wasn’t influenced by the word vaccine. (A baby in the Philippines was named “Vaccine” in 2020, incidentally.)
  • Yolotli – Nahuatl for “heart.”

Finally, in 2019, the top two names in Iowa were Charlotte and Oliver.

Sources: Top Baby Names – Iowa Public Health Tracking Portal, Baby Names Uniqueness – Iowa Public Health Tracking Portal

Image: Adapted from Flag of Iowa (public domain)

Name quotes #105: Barra, Shirley, Tangela

double quotation mark

From an article about how Storm Barra (which hit the UK and Ireland in December of 2021) came to be named after BBC Northern Ireland weatherman Barra Best:

‘What happened was the head of Irish weather service Met Eireann called me in August and asked me where my name was from and I thought it was a bit strange, I didn’t know why she was asking,’ [Barra Best] told the BBC’s Evening Extra programme.

‘It comes from the south-west of Ireland from Finbarr, St Finbarr in Co Cork and it’s derived from that.’

He continued: ‘She said oh that’s fine, that’s fine. I asked why did you want to know and she said oh you’ll find out in about a month.

‘Of course the email came out and the list of names were announced and she had decided to put my name in there.’

From an article about the increasing popularity of Maori baby names in New Zealand, published in The Guardian (found via Clare’s tweet):

Damaris Coulter of Ngati Kahu descent and Dale Dice of Ngati Hine, Te Aupouri and Nga Puhi [descent] […] [gave] their one-year-old daughter Hinekorako just one name, as was usual pre-colonisation.

Hinekorako’s name came to Dice as he was navigating a waka, a large traditional Maori sailing vessel, from Rarotonga in the Cook Islands back to Aotearoa. “It was coming up to midnight. We came into a little storm. The temperature had dropped … there was thunder … Once we got through the storm we all turned around and just behind us there was this massive white rainbow … It was a lunar rainbow.”

“I told our navigator about it and he goes’ “oh yeah, that’s a tohu (sign), that’s Hinekorako’.” In myth, Hinekorako is also a taniwha (a water spirit), who lives between the spirit and living worlds. Dice wrote the name in his diary and decided that night, were he to ever have a daughter, she would be named Hinekorako.

(According to Encyclopedia Mythica, Hine-korako is “the personification of the lunar bow or halo.”)

From a 1989 Los Angeles Times article called “Names in the News“:

Mark Calcavecchia, who won the British open last month, withdrew from the PGA Championship, which starts Thursday in suburban Chicago, because his wife gave birth to their first child — a seven-pound, six-ounce daughter named Britney Jo.

[To clarify: The baby, born two weeks after the British Open, was named Britney to commemorate the victory.]

From a 2016 article about Pokémon baby names:

I cross-referenced the Social Security Administration’s annual baby name records with all 151 original pocket monsters back through 1995, the year the Pokémon franchise was created. Five species of Pokémon have proven to be appealing baby names for U.S. parents: Tangela, Abra, Paras, Onix, and Eevee.

From a 2013 article about names in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

“The Name Game” was a hit for Shirley Ellis in 1965. You know the song: “Shirley-Shirley-bo-burly, banana-fana-fo-furly, fee-fie-foe-murly … Shirley!” She bragged that “there isn’t any name that you can’t rhyme.” While entertaining soldiers in Vietnam, however, she discovered she couldn’t rhyme “Rich” or “Chuck.”

[The other names featured in the original version of the novelty song were Lincoln, Arnold, Tony, Billy, Marsha, and Nick.]