Alberta has announced the most popular baby names for 2021.

For the eighth year in a row, Olivia is Alberta's most popular baby girl's name, tying the record for the longest any name has spent in the top position. Noah was the most popular baby boy name in 2021, the third consecutive year at the top spot. 

Charolette, Ava, Emma and Amelia were among the top five most popular names for baby girls, while Jack, Oliver, Liam and Theodore were some of the highest-ranked baby boy names. 

More unconventional names, such as Archangel, Chickadee, Tuba, and Jocko, appeared on the list of names that parents chose for their infants.

Some seem to have been inspired by famous fictional characters (Mads, Jedi, Anakin, Hobbes, Furious), vehicles (Audi, Benz, Royce, Chevy, Mercedes), locations (Monaco, Scotland, Denver, Brisbane, Nairobi) and music (Zeppelin, Jagger, Jethro). 

Other notable changes to the 2021 list include Evelyn moving into the top 10 list for girls and Henry sliding into the top 10 for boys after placing 11th in 2020. 

Emily dropped to 14th place after appearing in the top 10 list every year since 1993. Maverick has increased in popularity on the boys' names list, moving from 45th place in 2017 to 13th most popular in 2021.  

Some names reappearing in the top 10 include Chole and Aria, which reappeared for the first time since 2017. Ethan, which for a long time held the record for being the most popular boy's name, has returned to the top 10 list after dropping to 12th place in 2020. 

Historically, girls' names that held the number one spot for the longest consecutive time period include: 

  • Jessica: six years (1990-1995) 
  • Emily: five years (1998-2002) 
  • Olivia: nine years (2013-2021) 

Boys' names that held the top spot for the longest consecutive time period include: 

  • Matthew: five years (1995-1999) 
  • Ethan: nine years (2001-2009) 
  • Liam: seven years (2010-2016) 

There were 49,938 babies born in Alberta last year—25,714 boys, 24,219 girls, and five genders not stated in the initial registration.