Here are the most distinctively Canadian first names by decade, according to Canadian website The 10 and 3:
- 2010s: Zainab and Linden
- 2000s: Gurleen and Callum
- 1990s: Simran and Mathieu
- 1980s: Chantelle and Darcy
- 1970s: Josee and Stephane
- 1960s: Giuseppina and Luc
- 1950s: Heather and Giuseppe
- 1940s: Heather and Lorne
- 1930s: Isobel and Lorne
- 1920s: Gwendoline and Lorne
Did you know that Canada’s love of “Lorne” comes from the Marquess of Lorne, the British nobleman who served as Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883? To see more explanations, and also more names per decade, check out the source article.
The name I’m most curious about is Josée from the 1970s. It had a “Canadian factor” of 634.6 — larger than any other name in the study — but also had no explanation, and I can’t figure out the influence. Does anyone have a guess?
Source: Gord, Sheila, Graham and Beverley? The Most Distinctively Canadian Names Are Not What You’d Expect
Image: Adapted from Sunrise at Maligne lake 2 by Sergey Pesterev under CC BY-SA 4.0.