The Royal newlywed tour of Canada in 2011 apparently left a lasting impression with Alberta parents with eight boys named Prince, six girls named Princess, and one boy named Princewill.
Service Alberta Minister Manmeet Bhullar says that the gesture of naming children after the royal couple is no surprise, especially considering the care William and Kate took in the province, especially in Slave Lake.
According to a release, William and Kate became even more popular as names in 2011, with William (199 named) rising to 9th place from 11th the year before.
Kate (50 named) rose to 64th from 79th.
Families also chose other monarchy-related names: Knightly, Lady, Mirza, Queen, Reign, Royal, and Sovereign for girls; and Dominion, Duke, Emir, Kaiser, King, Lord, Malik, Princelife, and Sultan for boys.
Preliminary figures from the report say that just under 51,000 babies were born in Alberta, ten less than the year before.
The Vital Statistics branch of Service Alberta recorded 5,695 distinct boy names and 6,994 unique girl names, including two girls named Unique.
Parents also celebrated new additions to their families with names such as Amen, Destiny, Divine, Favour and Marvelous for boys; and Heavenly, Hopestill, Hosanna, Kismet, Lovely, Praise and Precious for girls.
Several parents of boys chose military-related names, including Arrow, Caliber, Cannon, Gunner, Jag, Major, Pistol, Remington, Stryker, Tank and Trooper. Many girls were named after nature, with names such as Acacia, Amaranth, Autumn-Destiny, Cedar, Feather, Juniper, Oryx, Tulip, Star, Storm and Winter.
Some babies received one-of-a-kind names, such as the boys named Doc, Essay, J-Cub, Jäger, Moo, Stylez, Smiley, Solo, Stiff, and Tuff; and the girls named Dreamz, Luv, Lyric, Mega, Meta, Siri, Story, Symphonie, and Tuba.
Alberta's top names for 2011
Girls
- Olivia
- Sophia
- Emma
- Emily
- Ava
- Chloe
- Abigail
- Lily
- Brooklyn
- Sophie
Boys
- Liam
- Ethan
- Mason
- Lucas
- Jacob
- Benjamin
- Alexander
- Noah
- William
- Logan
