Ontario parents show tender spot for Olivia
After years in the top spot, moniker now most popular of past decade
Ontarians officially love Olivia.
Taking the top spot yet again, Olivia has been the go- to moniker for years for parents in the province — so popular that two years ago, after officials looked at birth registrations, it was declared the name of the decade even before the decade was over.
The province recorded 933 newborn Olivias in all of 2019, the most recent year available, the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services announced Monday, with Charlotte in second place followed by Emma, Ava and Sophia.
Among boys, Noah was the most common, followed by Liam, Lucas, Benjamin and Ethan.
“Every new year brings an opportunity to celebrate families that ring in the new year with the birth of a child,” said Minister of Government and Consumer Services Lisa Thompson in a statement to the Star.
“The dawning of a new year also presents a time to reflect on the popular baby names from the previous year,” she said.
“I am pleased to share that Olivia and Noah were the top names for parents in southern Ontario” as well as overall for the province and “it is also interesting to note that the name Olivia is closing the decade as one of the most consistently popular names in the province.”
Steve Joordens, a psychology professor at the University of
Toronto Scarborough, said via email that “one factor that influences names is the extent to which the parts of the ( name) flow softly or include harder ( i. e. voiced) aspects.
Generally speaking, female names tend to be more flowing, such as Olivia. Male names are often less so, like Jack.”
He also said “the name a parent gives may, to some extent, reflect their views on gender identification … ( and) it’s possible the continued popularity of Olivia represents our natural bias to give girls more feminized names.”
Across the province there is some variation in the most common baby names, with William and Jack topping the list for boys in Eastern Ontario, and Abigail and Scarlett making the top five for girls in the north.
Some websites, such as babycenter. com based in the U. S., predict that given the pandemic, new parents will start to choose inspiring and hopeful names.
Nameberry, another popular baby name website, expects monikers that sound similar to COVID or coronavirus such as Cora, Coralie, Corinne and Cove “will take a steep fall in 2021.”
Ontario’s top names by region:
Central: Olivia, Emma, Charlotte, Ava, Sophia; Noah, Liam, Ethan, Lucas, Benjamin.
Eastern: Olivia, Charlotte, Abigail, Emma, Ava; William, Jack, Noah, Theodore, Benjamin.
Southwestern: Olivia, Charlotte, Emma, Amelia, Ava; Noah, William, Lucas, Jack, Liam. á Northern: Charlotte, Olivia, Emma, Scarlett, Abigail; Liam, Noah, Benjamin, Oliver, Owen.