Quebec's most popular baby names revealed: Noah and Emma top the 2021 list

Goodbye Liam and William. Noah was the top baby name for baby boys born in Quebec last year. For girls, it was Emma. (Source: Pexels)

In 2021, Noah was the most popular name given to baby boys born in Quebec, declassifying for the first time Liam and William, who had been at the top of the list for more than ten years.

In the girls' category, the name Emma took back the title from Lea in 2015, but that Olivia had conquered in 2019 and 2020. Leas dominated this ranking for ten years, until 2014, except for one year in 2012, when Emma took the crown.

In 2021, there were 521 new Emmas, but 519 Olivias -- it was a close fight. Alice, Florence and Charlie were not far behind.

Among the boys, William had been first 14 times from 2002 to 2018, with Samuel and Thomas interspersed. Liam had taken over in 2019 and 2020, but Noah overtook William in 2021, at 717 occurrences against 709.

In 2021, Liam drops from first to fifth place, and Jacob rises from ninth to sixth; Leo, Nathan, Arthur and Edward are still popular.

The names Zoé and Félix are back in the top 10, displacing Clara and Logan from the list in 2021.

The "most popular names" list is published every year by Retraite Québec. In addition to administering the Quebec Pension Plan and public sector pension plans, Quebec Retirement also administers the Family Allowance measure.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 5, 2022.