Liam and Olivia: These are Sask.'s 20 most popular baby names

NEWS — Saskatchewan parents stuck to the tried and true in 2020, at least when it came to baby names. Liam tops the list of baby boy names for the 11th year in a row, and, for the sixth year running, Olivia took the top spot for baby girl names.

Last year, there were 63 baby boys named Liam, followed by Jack, Hudson, Noah and Oliver to round out the top five.

There were 69 baby girls named Olivia across the province, followed by Emma, Amelia, Sophia and Emily.

Some new names cracked the top 20. Aurora made a strong debut at number 12; there were 28 babies given the moniker. Bennett tied for 17th place on the list of boy names.

Multiple delays sidelined the release Top Gun 2 last year, but that did not stop parents from naming their child after Tom Cruise’s character. Maverick saw a significant rise in popularity, jumping from number 19 to the eighth spot.

While some names gained traction, others slid off the list. This was the first time in more than 10 years that Alexander did not make the list of top boy names. The baby girl names that did not carry over from 2019 were Chloe, Ella, Everly, Hannah, Brielle, Violet and Aria.

As of December 9, 2020, 12,044 live births were registered in Saskatchewan, roughly 2,600 fewer than number of live births registered in 2019. The final count will be completed in March.

You can find the full list of most Saskatchewan’s most popular baby names on the Government of Saskatchewan website.