Tuesday, January 2, 2019 ~ BC.
by West Shore Voice News
Each year it shows various social trends in the top baby-names that parents have given to their children.
For some reason, this is the first year that the names have not been announced by the BC Government with gender equity. Usually ‘top boy’s name’ and ‘top girls name’ are given equal billing.
For the government to say in their Ministry of Health news release on December 31 that the most popular baby name in BC in 2018 is Liam is misleading (implying that girls might also be called Liam, which is possible but unlikely), and quite out of step with the BC government’s efforts in the area of gender equity.
For the record, here are the details:
- Most popular names for boys in 2018: Liam, Lucas, Oliver, Benjamin, Ethan, Noah, Logan, William, James and Leo. A new addition to the top 10 in 2018 is Leo.
- Most popular names for girls in 2018: Olivia, Emma, Amelia, Charlotte, Chloe, Ava, Sophia, Isla, Emily and Hannah. Isla is new to the list this year. For six of the past seven years, Olivia has been the favourite name for girls born in BC.
Only names whose frequency occurs five or more times are listed by the government in these tallies.
Choosing a child’s name is to set them on a course for life. Top names of recent years appear to be influenced by celebrity exposure, along with traditional (e.g. James) and names with a royal vibration (e.g. William, Charlotte). One blogger suggests a few things when naming a newborn:
- Your kid will be an adult far longer than they will be a child, so don’t think of a ‘baby’ name, think of an adult’s name.
- Whatever name you choose, other kids will find a way to tease them about it, so try to not to pick a name that makes it too easy for the other kids.
- 3-syllable names will be difficult for other kids, when very young, to say or pronounce.
- Think about how the name is thought of internationally or whether it has another meaning? For example, Dom means King in Portuguese, but in Dutch it means idiot or stupid.
There were 40,565 babies born in BC in 2018: 19,821 girls and 20,744 boys. That’s down rather notably from 2017 when there were 44,694 babies born in BC: 21,727 girls and 22,967 boys.
- Full list of the most popular baby names in BC for 2018 (not available yet)
- Full list of the most popular baby names in BC for 2017