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Girl names on the rise in Canada, 2023

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Which names were the trendiest among baby girls born in Canada last year?

Below you’ll find Canada’s fastest-rising and highest-debuting girl names of 2023.

Rises (absolute)

Here are the girl names that saw the biggest increases in usage in terms of absolute change (number of babies) from 2022 to 2023:

  1. Sofia, rose from 763 to 887 baby girls (+124)
  2. Lainey, 77 to 189 (+112)
  3. Maeve, 368 to 462 (+94)
  4. Margot, 230 to 319 (+89)
  5. Rehmat, 151 to 237 (+86)

Lainey was influenced by Lainey Wilson, a Louisiana-born country singer who has also made appearances on the popular TV series Yellowstone. (In the U.S., Lainey was one of the fastest-rising girl names of 2023.)

Rises (relative)

Here are the girl names that saw the biggest increases in usage in terms of relative change (percentage of babies) from 2022 to 2023:

  1. Anant, rose from 5 to 39 baby girls (680% increase)
  2. Tiaraoluwa, 5 to 20 (300%)
  3. Mehnoor, 5 to 19 (280%)
  4. Hasrat, 12 to 43 (258%)
  5. Bibi, 5 to 17 (240%) [tie]
  6. Japnaaz, 5 to 17 (240%) [tie]

Debuts

Finally, here are the girl names that debuted most impressively in Canada’s baby name data in 2023:

  1. Barkat, 46 baby girls
  2. Aizal, 18
  3. Elaria, 16
  4. Adab, 13 [tie]
  5. Rhaenyra, 13 [tie]

I’m not sure why nearly four dozen Canadian girls were named Barkat (Hindi for “prosperity”) last year. The Indian movie Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga (2023) featured a fictional location called Al-Barkat, but I doubt this is the explanation. (In the U.S., Barkat also debuted in 2023 — but with 10 babies as opposed to 46.)

Rhaenyra was inspired by the character Rhaenyra Targaryen from TV series House of the Dragon. (In the U.S., Rhaenyra debuted in 2022 and rose significantly in 2023.)

Other girl-name debuts in the Canadian data included Idalia (9), Lagertha (7), Lilibet (6), Azzurra (5), Lilac (5), and Purity (5).

Do you have thoughts/theories about any of the names above?

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.

Popular baby names in Canada, 2023

Flag of Canada
Flag of Canada

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

  1. Olivia, 1,650 baby girls
  2. Emma, 1,416
  3. Charlotte, 1,412
  4. Amelia, 1,102
  5. Sophia, 1,051
  6. Mia, 924
  7. Chloe, 920
  8. Mila, 915
  9. Sofia, 887
  10. Alice, 793
  11. Ava, 772
  12. Lily, 766
  13. Isla, 759
  14. Ellie, 700
  15. Evelyn, 698
  16. Zoe, 697
  17. Nora, 681
  18. Sophie, 675
  19. Maya, 667
  20. Charlie, 647
  21. Violet, 626
  22. Aria, 613
  23. Florence, 611 (tie)
  24. Isabella, 611 (tie)
  25. Abigail, 608
  26. Ella, 599
  27. Emily, 588
  28. Hannah, 578 (tie)
  29. Hazel, 578 (tie)
  30. Elizabeth, 571
  31. Clara, 562
  32. Rose, 540
  33. Ivy, 533 (tie)
  34. Luna, 533 (tie)
  35. Eva, 527
  36. Eleanor, 503
  37. Harper, 487
  38. Aurora, 475
  39. Avery, 468
  40. Maeve, 462
  41. Victoria, 461
  42. Scarlett, 449
  43. Grace, 447
  44. Emilia, 440
  45. Layla, 432 (tie)
  46. Zoey, 432 (tie)
  47. Elena, 423
  48. Sarah, 419
  49. Livia, 416
  50. Julia, 415

Boy names

  1. Noah, 2,162 baby boys
  2. Liam, 1,813
  3. Theodore, 1,484
  4. Leo, 1,416
  5. William, 1,341
  6. Oliver, 1,245
  7. Lucas, 1,184
  8. Thomas, 1,154
  9. Benjamin, 1,134
  10. Jack, 1,132
  11. James, 1,122
  12. Jacob, 1,086
  13. Ethan, 1,012
  14. Nathan, 1,009
  15. Adam, 969
  16. Henry, 943
  17. Theo, 900
  18. Logan, 891
  19. Owen, 852
  20. Arthur, 818
  21. Levi, 816
  22. Jackson, 767
  23. Luca, 753
  24. Gabriel, 710
  25. Felix, 683
  26. Hudson 659
  27. Charles, 657
  28. Maverick, 649
  29. Daniel, 635
  30. Louis, 623
  31. Muhammad, 619
  32. Samuel, 614
  33. Elijah, 596
  34. Alexander, 588
  35. Caleb, 578
  36. Mason, 566
  37. Nolan, 552
  38. Isaac, 545
  39. Jayden, 531
  40. Aiden, 514
  41. Ryan, 512
  42. Edouard, 502
  43. Mateo, 496
  44. Miles, 490
  45. Michael, 485
  46. Luke, 481
  47. David, 477
  48. Matteo, 474
  49. Bennett, 469 (tie)
  50. 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 namesRare boy names
Audelie, Brie, Celestia, Dasha, Evaluna, Fawn, Gretchen, Harseerat, Icelynn, Jaylah, Kismet, Leony, Melona, Nimar, Ozalee, Philomene, Richelle, Scotia, Twila, Vedika, Walker, Yi, ZirwaAeson, 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)

Timeline progress

Hi everyone! Here’s a quick update on the baby name timeline project, which I started last October.

More than a third of the years on the timeline have been transferred to individual pages that feature (along with the names from the original timeline) several sets of rankings:

  • Top 5 names overall (male & female)
  • Top 5 absolute increases (male & female)
  • Top 5 relative increases (male & female)
  • Top 5 debuts (male & female)

Among the years I’ve converted so far are all of the 1880s, all of the 1890s, and all of the 1950s.

At this rate, I’ll need another couple of years (at least!) to finish upgrading the timeline. But it’ll be worth it, because the second version is going to be a lot more useful and interesting than the first. :)

What gave the baby name Dayana a boost in 2008?

Dayana Mendoza, Miss Universe 2008
Dayana Mendoza

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Dayana reached peak usage in 2008:

  • 2010: 624 baby girls named Dayana [rank: 484th]
  • 2009: 760 baby girls named Dayana [rank: 421st]
  • 2008: 777 baby girls named Dayana [rank: 412th]
  • 2007: 576 baby girls named Dayana [rank: 541st]
  • 2006: 529 baby girls named Dayana [rank: 557th]

More than 25% of the 2008 babies named Dayana were born in California, and more than 14% were born in Texas.

What gave the name a boost that year?

Venezuelan beauty queen Dayana (pronounced dah-YAH-nah) Mendoza, who won the title of Miss Universe in Nha Trang, Vietnam, in July of 2008.

Dayana Mendoza, Miss Universe 2008
Dayana Mendoza

The Latin American name Dayana is based on (and sounds a lot like) the English pronunciation of the name Diana. It also happens to be the name of several different South American orchids, all of which were named in honor of 19th-century English botanist John Day.

In 2012, usage of the name was nudged above 700 babies for a third time — likely because of Dayana Mendoza’s participation in the reality TV competition series Celebrity Apprentice. She placed sixth out of 18 contestants. (The winner that season was Arsenio Hall.)

What are your thoughts on the name Dayana?

Sources: Miss Universe 2008 – Wikipedia, Dayana Mendoza – Wikipedia, Dayana – Behind the Name, SSA

Images: Screenshots of the TV broadcast of the 57th Miss Universe pageant