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Each year, the government collects and publishes the most popular names given to little girls and boys in the province
In my pre-baby days, friends and I would sometimes amuse ourselves by making up silly or outrageous baby names — Turbulence, anyone? We were doing this in part to poke fun at the sometimes fanciful monikers celebrities and others would bestow on their offspring.
Then I became pregnant and the enormity of finding a name hit home. I wanted one that would sound lovely in both English and French. But I didn’t want the child’s first name to rhyme with my last name. The list of potential names dwindled. Luckily, I felt no obligation to name my soon-to-be child after a family member or the list would have been even shorter. Eventually, I settled on Nicolas for a boy (which my first born was) and Maya for a girl. I didn’t know that Nicolas was, at that time, a very popular boy’s name so my son ended up sharing a first name with several other little boys in his class.
Today, parents who are curious (or worried) about the popularity of certain names can check out the top baby names in Quebec at www.rrq.gouv.qc.ca (click on the section “children” and follow the links). The government agency collects the names over the previous year and then publishes them. So, the top 10 names for 2009, the most recent year available, are:
Girls
1. Lea
2. Florence
3. Emma
4. Rosalie
5. Jade
6. Juliette
7. Camille
8. Gabrielle
9. Maika
10. Mia
Boys
1. William
2. Olivier
3. Thomas
4. Nathan
5. Alexis
6. Felix
7. Gabriel
8. Samuel
9. Antoine
10. Xavier
