Oliver, Emma top the list of most popular baby names in B.C. in 2015
Oliver is number one name for baby boys for the first time ever
It seems British Columbians are saying "more please" to the name Oliver in 2015.
For the first time, the name tops the rankings for most popular baby boy name in the province.
Official numbers for 2015 were released this morning. The Vital Statistics Agency does not finalize the official name figures for nearly a year.
But it doesn't look like British Columbians would do anything to ensure Oliver's reign on top will last — preliminary statistics for boys born in 2016 show the top name is Lucas.
For girls born in 2015, the name Emma has slightly outpaced the 2014 champion, Olivia, as the most popular name.
But it was a tight race — the province's figures show 258 baby girls were named Emma compared to 256 named Olivia.
However, it doesn't look like Olivia will have to wait long to regain its crown. Preliminary numbers fo 2016 show Olivia as the province's most popular name.
Rounding out the top five names for girls born in the province in 2015 were Emily, Sophia and Ava.
However, when looking at different spellings of the same name, the top 5 is a little different.
For girls, the list includes:
- Emma.
- Olivia.
- Sophia/Sofia.
- Emily/Emilee/Emilie.
- Amelia/Emelia/Emilia.
For boys, the top five names are:
- Jackson/Jaxon/Jaxson.
- Lucas/Lukas.
- Oliver.
- Ethan.
- Liam.
Names had to be registered at least five times, spelled the same way, to make the list.
There were zero names starting with U or X for girls that met the criteria, but there was a name that started with every letter that met the criteria for boys, including 44 Xavier's and five Uday's.
There were 44,405 babies born in B.C. in 2015 — 22,819 boys and 21,586 girls.