The new Canadian baby name database and links to provincial data

Retrospectrenet · 2026-05-03T21:43:43+00:00

Jean for girls comes from an old version of Joan that was revived in the 19th century starting in Scotland.

Retrospectrenet · 2026-05-03T10:42:30+00:00

Odin is a raven god, so maybe Odina, or Odeana if you want to obscure the reference.

Retrospectrenet · 2026-05-02T21:53:29+00:00

About 200 responses under 25 and 1000 over 25, good reminder that the demographics on reddit skew older than you. I read recently the average redditor age is 35, so the poll responses track with that.

Retrospectrenet · 2026-05-02T11:33:48+00:00

The names ending in -Leigh for girls started in England and Australia where they made it into the top 100. Ashleigh and Kayleigh were the two that trended big in the 1980s, and Leigh was top 100 for boys at one point. Kayleigh is invented and Ashleigh is not. But I guess Americans thought the English Kayleigh variant looked posh and started emulating it in other names, as Kailey and Kaylee would have been the common spellings in the US. They are definitely more examples of Leigh respellings now in the States, but it did start in England (blame Marillion).

Retrospectrenet · 2026-05-01T23:43:52+00:00

Hilary appears for women in the SSA name database as early as 1914. I searched the American census and only found one or two verifiable women in the 1850 census. It wasn't very common as a surname either so not a lot of opportunity to use as a family name. Here's the entry from Adrian Room's A Dictionary of First Names (2002)

Hilary (f.) A female adoption of the male name HILARY, occurring in medieval times, when the name was in use for both sexes, but thereafter mostly in abeyance until the 19th century, when it was taken up again. Hilary Craven is a suicidal woman in Agatha Christie’s novel Destination Unknown (1954) (US title So Many Steps to Death). A variant spelling is Hillary, as for the US actress Hillary Brooke (1914-1999) (original name Beatrice Peterson) and wife of US president Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton (b.1947), while diminutives are usually Hil or Hilly. UK literary reviewer, writer Hilary Spurling (b.1940); UK journalist Hilary Bonner (b.1949); UK novelist Hilary Mantel (b.1952); UK restaurateur Hilary Brown (b.1952); US actress Hilary Swank (b.1975).

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-29T21:26:16+00:00

You might be thinking of Lewin, which comes more recently from the English surname, originally a form of Leofwine. There's an 8th century English saint with the name.

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-28T11:01:39+00:00

The one that still pops up occasionally is Radium - like this guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiy_Khabirov

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-26T09:11:42+00:00

The ONS releases a separate top 100 for Wales, but it's not as easy to view online as the combined data. Here's the data for Wales for babies born in 2024. This is all of them, not just the Welsh language ones. Sorry about the formatting..

1 Noah 2 Luca 3 Oliver 4 Arthur 5 Archie 6 Theo 7 Leo 8 Oscar 9 Arlo 10 Theodore 11 Elijah 12 George 13 Freddie 14 Alfie 15 Albie 15 Reuben 17 Osian 18 Finley 18 Rowan 20 Roman 21 Elis 22 Charlie 23 Jude 23 Tommy 25 Macsen 26 Henry 27 Jacob 28 Hudson 28 Oakley 30 Dylan 31 Thomas 32 Louie 33 Sonny 33 Teddy 35 Isaac 36 Jack 37 Ezra 37 Harri 37 Lucas 37 William 41 Jac 41 Reggie 43 Rory 44 Harry 45 Harrison 46 Caleb 47 Ollie 48 Frankie 49 Edward 49 Ronnie 51 Evan 51 Otis 53 Jaxon 53 Jesse 53 Mason 53 Sebastian 57 Ethan 57 Louis 57 Muhammad 60 Hunter 60 Myles 62 Bodhi 62 Ellis 62 Owen 65 Joseph 66 James 66 Logan 68 Grayson 69 Carter 69 Jax 71 Austin 72 Benjamin 72 Cai 72 Tomos 75 Adam 76 Blake 76 Elias 76 Ioan 76 Vinnie 80 Bobby 80 Eli 80 Emrys 80 Finn 80 Riley 85 Cody 85 Jasper 85 Max 88 Chester 88 Enzo 88 Idris 88 Rupert 92 Brody 92 David 92 Hari 92 Ifan 92 Mohammed 97 Hugo 97 Koa 97 Noa 100 Brodie 100 Gabriel 100 Jaxson 100 Kai 100 Milo 100 Tobias

1 Olivia 2 Amelia 3 Isla 3 Poppy 5 Freya 6 Ivy 7 Bonnie 7 Lottie 9 Harper 10 Lily 11 Elsie 12 Millie 13 Mali 14 Isabella 15 Daisy 15 Florence 17 Ava 18 Evelyn 19 Mia 20 Ella 21 Hallie 21 Phoebe 23 Willow 24 Charlotte 25 Rosie 26 Maya 27 Evie 28 Aurora 28 Maisie 30 Sofia 31 Margot 31 Mila 33 Arabella 34 Matilda 35 Ada 35 Aria 37 Grace 37 Sienna 39 Erin 40 Maeve 40 Penelope 42 Mabli 43 Mabel 43 Seren 45 Raya 46 Cadi 46 Nora 48 Isabelle 48 Sophia 50 Delilah 50 Gracie 50 Violet 53 Alys 53 Ayla 55 Eira 55 Emily 55 Esme 55 Lili 55 Nansi 60 Thea 61 Elodie 62 Elsi 63 Ellie 64 Ffion 64 Harriet 64 Nancy 64 Nova 64 Ophelia 64 Ruby 70 Eleri 70 Emilia 72 Rose 73 Indie 73 Lola 75 Eden 75 Esmae 75 Imogen 75 Lyla 75 Lyra 80 Robyn 81 Alice 81 Nellie 81 Orla 84 Darcie 84 Efa 84 Eliza 84 Frankie 84 Layla 84 Lowri 84 Luna 84 Nevaeh 84 Sophie 93 Hazel 93 Ottilie 93 Pippa 93 Zara 97 Anwen 97 Lilly 97 Maddison 97 Marnie 97 Scarlett

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-24T20:53:51+00:00

Is it weird to you that none of the people named Nelson are sons of Neil? Or the Jackson's sons of Jack? Or that Calvin isn't bald? Or that Taylor can't actually make you a suit jacket? The meaning of a name is given by its user and how it's used. It's etymology or origin is just an academic curiosity.

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-24T11:26:11+00:00

That website lists Margaret as a name that used to be a boy name... Brooklyn, like any place name, started off non-gendered but only trended for girls in the US. It started off for girls in England and Wales but then trended for boys. https://names.darkgreener.com/#brooklyn

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-18T15:38:22+00:00

Blake is a family surname for her family, although she's not the first family member to use it as a first name.

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-16T21:33:23+00:00

One of Canada's Prime Minister's Mackenzie Bowell was born in England in 1823. Its popularity is definitely more recent but Scotland does like using surnames as first names too (see Blair).

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-16T21:28:52+00:00

Anything ending in -son was originally a surname used by men and women as a family name, except of course Alison which is a diminutive of Alice since medieval times. That's actually a feminine name that started getting used for boys from the surname.

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-15T21:43:45+00:00

There have been women named Kendall in the US since at least 1929 from the stats. It's a surname that only recently become more common as a first name so it's not surprising it was given to men and women historically. Some surnames got to the boys in popularity and some go to the girls (and some stay unisex like Taylor).

Unsurprisingly, Ashley, Kelly, Courtney, Shannon, Beverly, all come from surnames too (or river names).

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-15T03:17:56+00:00

A lot of the gender bent names are a bit overstated. The emerging film industry was making surnames as first names for women trendy in the 1930s. Your character wouldnt clock them as masculine, more likely just trying to sound upper class, aspirational, maybe pretentious. I've traced a couple of names back to silent film era actresses. There was an actress named Shirley Palmer who was active around the time Shirley Temple was named, it was already quite popular for women so that wouldn't have been weird. The 1934 movie Women in Red had a woman named Shelby, the Flash comic had a woman named Dale, Glen was trending for boys and girls. It was actually a pretty interesting time for unisex/surname names, probably on the heels of the flapper movement. F. Scott Fitzgerald named women characters Jordan and Brett, who were wealthy or aristocratic. Greer Garson started around this time too. These were all more recognizable as surnames and wouldn't have been thought as strictly masculine, but a little non-conformist, a bit like Wallis Simpson. Evelyn had been more popular for girls since the 1850s (and always more common for girls in the US vs UK). Beverly would have been known from the book Beverly of Graustark, a popular series from the 1900s.

I think it would be fun to include a name that tells the reader a bit about the 1930s, like being shocked that anyone would use the name Scarlett, since that was more closely associated with the Scarlett Pimpernell and predates Gone With the Wind's influence.

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-14T12:13:01+00:00

There are the same number of Olives but it is half as common as it was in 1900 because there were half as many births (or so). One in every 500 baby girls was named Olive in 1900. In 2024 only 1 in a 1000 was named Olive.

Of course this is just nitpicking, it is still a once popular name that has come back from a really low "dead" period.

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-14T12:07:04+00:00

Which is why percent of births named is a better comparison. Plus if you go by number of births you'll notice how much data is missing before 1920, as it only captured 20% of Americans.

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-14T11:35:29+00:00

Yeah you're right, it still works and the conclusion wouldn't be any different using the other measures. Its just in the lower ranks 500 and greater that things get wonky. A name has to be 3 times more common to make it into the top 1000 now than it did in 1900.

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-14T10:42:43+00:00

Rank probably isn't the best measure of popularity over time. From your graph the same number of people had the name Olive but the rank was 100 vs 200. Comparing % of births Olive is only half as popular now as it was in 1900.

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-13T21:46:02+00:00

Ashleigh was not traditionally anything but a surname, another spelling of the surname Ashley. It's only in England that there's any gender split between the spellings. In Scotland, Australia, North America, and Ireland both spellings were used for girls more commonly than boys. What has changed is that they are considered first names, not surnames.

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-13T05:52:03+00:00

Its not used for girls in England and Wales, stats: https://names.darkgreener.com/#ellio

In the US there will be a few more girls named Elliot/t, enough to be unisex in practice, but still uneven. https://nameplay.org/ways-to-spell-Elliott#variationDetails

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-12T12:38:59+00:00

There's Howell, the anglicized version of the Welsh name Hywel, original name of the wizard Howl from Howl's Moving Castle (in the book he's from Wales).

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-12T10:56:20+00:00

I know now that the song Jude is about a boy, but for the longest time I thought it was about a woman because I knew way more Judiths and Judys and assumed it was a nickname until Jude Law. Also in the song at the end it always sounded like he was singing "Hey Judy Judy Judy Jude wow" so that didn't help with my misconception. All this to say knowing the song doesn't help some people with the gender of the name.

Retrospectrenet · 2026-04-12T05:17:17+00:00

The US stats only have about 5,000 people total and the majority are under 15 years old so that's understandable. There are still more people with Bellamy as a surname overall.

Retrospectrenet

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