Interesting choices:
[name]Liam[/name] and [name]Emma[/name] were the most popular baby names in [name]Alberta[/name] in 2012.
[name]Liam[/name] stayed at the top of the most popular names list for a third year in a row, while [name]Emma[/name] rose to the number one spot among popular girl names in the province, moving up from third in 2011, according to the Service [name]Alberta[/name] annual baby names survey.
According to the rankings, 281 [name]Alberta[/name] baby boys were named [name]Liam[/name] in 2012, while 299 girls in the province were named [name]Emma[/name].
And those baby boys and baby girls also have the distinction of being born in the biggest baby boom in the province’s history, with 52,398 births taking place in [name]Alberta[/name] in 2012.
The previous record was in 2009, a year that saw 51,505 births. Meanwhile, 2011 saw 50,841 new babies in [name]Alberta[/name].
“We are in what looks like a sustained baby boom," said Service [name]Alberta[/name] Minister Manmeet S. Bhullar.
"[name]Alberta[/name] is a national economic leader with rapid job growth, high wages and a relatively young population, not to mention the province’s abundant natural beauty, so it’s little surprise so many Albertans are starting families here.”
Apart from the boom in babies, [name]Alberta[/name] also seems to find itself in the midst of a weird name boom.
Some of the more stranger ones include [name]Precious[/name], Dancing-Sunflower, Rhaney-[name]Day[/name], Shy-[name]Angel[/name] and Skeeter for girls; and Thunderbolt, [name]Little[/name], [name]Horizon[/name], Brave, and [name]Icarus[/name] for boys.
But then again, there were also children born in [name]Alberta[/name] last year named [name]Lyric[/name], [name]Symphony[/name], Chorus, [name]Divinity[/name], [name]Eternity[/name], [name]Heaven[/name], [name]Cedar[/name], [name]Wren[/name], [name]Adele[/name], [name]Lennon[/name], [name]Hendrix[/name], and Minaj.
There were still a number of Kates and [name]Williams[/name] to honour the British royal couple’s visit to [name]Alberta[/name] in 2011. And a royal trend that started that year continued in 2012 with [name]King[/name], [name]Prince[/name] and [name]Lord[/name] appearing for boys and [name]Princess[/name] showing up 12 times for girls.
Albertans can now also download a free [name]Alberta[/name] [name]Baby[/name] Names app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices. It has more than 81,000 [name]Alberta[/name] baby names and their popularity ranking going back to 1980.