The most popular baby names in Canada have been revealed—Noah and Olivia once again leading the charts.
Noah has been the most popular name for a baby boy in Canada for four years in a row, while Olivia has remained Canada’s favorite girl name for the last nine years.
Why It Matters
Many different factors influence trending baby names. Some may follow family traditions when deciding the name of their baby, while others may call their babies after influential or popular figures, or even song titles.
For example, in the U.S., the Social Security Administration said in 2024 that Kaeli and Eiden were both names growing in popularity, likely because of the fact both are popular TikTok stars. Chozen is another name gaining favor, and is the name of a character on the Netflix series “Cobra Kai.”
The different languages spoken in a country can also play a role, and in the U.S. the increasing Hispanic population could have influenced the fact that Matteo is now a popular name, a Spanish form of the once popular name Matthew, according to Northeastern University’s news website northeastern.edu.
What To Know
In 2024, a total of 2,115 babies were given the name Noah, while 1,639 were named Olivia, according to Canada’s national statistical agency, Statistics Canada.
Other high contenders for boys names included Liam (1,694), Theodore (1,429), Leo (1,410 babies), and William (1,367).
The top ten most popular boy names in Canada for 2024 also included Oliver, Lucas, James, Benjamin, and Thomas.
Charlotte was the second most popular girl name (1,528), and Emma was third (1,358) then came Amelia (1,123) and Sophia (1,086).
The top ten most popular girl names also included Sofia, Mia, Chloe, Lily and Ava. Had there only been one way of spelling the two same-sounding names, Sophia or Sofia, the total number of babies with that sounding name would have surpassed the number with the name Olivia.
Canada’s preference of baby names in 2024 was not all that different to the same list in 2023, according to Statistics Canada’s data.
With Noah still at the top of ranking, the name was followed by Liam Theodore, Leo, William, Oliver, Lucas, Thomas, Benjamin and Jack in 2023. This means that the top five names were the same, but Thomas was higher up in the top 10 rankings, and James replaced Jack.
For girls names, Olivia was followed by Emma, Charlotte, Amelia, Sophia, Mia, Mila, Chloe, Sofia and Alice. This means that in 2024, Charlotte overtook Emma in the rankings, but otherwise the top five rankings remained the same. In the top 10 rankings, Lily and Ava replaced Mila and Alice.
Some of these names are also trending in the U.S, as the Social Security Administration’s data for 2023 shows that Olivia and Liam were America’s most popular baby names for the fifth year in a row.
Other popular names for boys in the U.S. include Noah, Oliva James, Elijah, Mateo, Theodore, Henry, Lucas and William, and for girls, popular names include Emma, Charlotte, Amelia, Sophia, Mia, Isabella, Ava, Evelyn and Luna.
What Happens Next
Many factors will likely influence what names make the charts in the coming years, although some are likely going to remain in the top ten given their consistent popularity.
In the U.S, some of the names for boys gaining popularity the fastest include Izael, Chozen, Eiden, Cassian, and Kyren and for girls, the names include Kaeli, Alitzel, Emryn, Adhara and Azari, according to the Social Security Administration.
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