Top Baby Names in New Brunswick

One of my favourite things to read each year is the list of most popular baby names!

2025 TOP BABY NAMES IN THE MARITIMES

Jack and Charlotte top New Brunswick‘s list for 2025’s most popular baby names. Other top boys’ names included Noah, William, Henry, and Benjamin. The other most popular baby girls’ names were Sophia, Violet, Olivia, and Ellie. Noticeably absent from the top NB names this year is Liam, which has been in the top five since 2011. (The first babies born in New Brunswick in 2026 were named Caldon and Crew, with other recent New Year’s Day babies named Aliana, David, Jacob, Atlas, Annlena, and Hazel.)

In neighbouring Nova Scotia, Charlotte & Henry were in the top spots for 2025, with newcomer Lainey scooting into third place for girls’ names in the province. Lainey was on the rise across the country; in 2023, there were 193 Laineys born in Canada, and in 2024, there were 341 registered. We’re betting that number sees a spike again for 2025, mostly likely influenced by The Social’s Lainey Lui & country star Lainey Wilson.

In PEI, the top names were Theodore & Violet, with Lainey and Clara tied for second. Clara has been steadily gaining popularity across Canada since 2010 (nearly 650 girls were given that name in 2024, pushing it into the Top 20 for the first time), while Violet has been climbing since 2005.

We also noticed Isla coming in strong in both Nova Scotia & PEI in 2025; in recent years, the name peaked in popularity across Canada in 2021 when it was the 10th most common girls name, but remains in the top 20.

I’d love to know whether your child’s name is on the list & how you picked their name!

NEW BRUNSWICK’S MOST POPULAR BABY NAMES OF THE LAST DECADE

Between 2015 & 2024 some of the most popular boys & girls names in New Brunswick were also some of the most common throughout Canada and the United States, including Liam, Noah, Oliver, William, Olivia, Emma, and Charlotte.

In 2024, Noah and Charlotte took top spots in New Brunswick, with Liam, Oliver, & Olivia among the Top 10 overall.

Noah broke into the Top 20 back in 1999 and has been around ever since, generally in the Top 5. This is only the second time he’s taken the top spot, though! Liam first appeared in the Top 20 in 2005 & has been on the list every year but one since then – also usually always found in the Top 5. Oliver has been on the list for the past decade, another consistent name choice for New Brunswick parents. Henry kicked it up this year, landing in the Top 5 overall – when he’s only shown up on the popular list three other times since 2010! Jack has been consistently among the top names since 2013 (though didn’t make the short list of 12 overall names in 2023), so he’s not a big surprise on the list.

William didn’t make the short list in 2024, but he was in the Top 5 for a straight decade, followed by several more years on the popular list, with a 10th overall placing in 2023, so we guess there were still quite a few Williams who joined us in 2024 – but maybe the name is starting to drop off a bit.

Charlotte appeared on the list in 2011 & hasn’t left – but this is her first time taking the top spot! Olivia first appeared in the Top 20 in 1998 and has consistently appeared every year since, placing second among traditionally female names on the 2024 list. Amelia didn’t make the Top 2023 names, but was in 10th place in 2022. She also made the Top 5 for baby girl names in New Brunswick from 2017 to 2020, so she’s been on quite the upswing. Elizabeth is making her appearance in the top names for the first time since 2017 – which was the first time since at least then 1980s she was on the most popular list! Ellie isn’t a total newcomer to the list (she’s been in the Top 20 eight times since 2010), but 2024 was her best showing since 2016.

Emma had been in the Top 20 Names in New Brunswick since 1996; she’s not on the Top 10 overall list for 2024, but we bet there were still quite a few Emmas who were born in the province last year!

For a little trip down memory lane, the top five names in New Brunswick in 1980 were Amanda, Melissa, Jennifer, Julie, and Sarah, along with Michael, Christopher, Jason, Matthew, and David. We have more lists from the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s below; keep reading for details, along with detailed lists for the past several years, too!

New Brunswick name & birth statistics sourced via the Government of New Brunswick. Want to nerd out on name trends in Canada? Check out the Statistics Canada site. You can search up any name and see its popularity over the past few decades! (We used a similar type of site when choosing our children’s names, to try to choose ones that weren’t too popular.)

Trend Alert: Did you follow any baby name consultants online? Several have popped up in the past few years, breaking into big time US media circles. While we’re not fans of the click-bait headline ‘ick’, we are fans of Colleen Slagen‘s suggestions on what not to do when naming your baby.

DEEP DIVE INTO NEW BRUNSWICK BABY NAMES

2025

The most popular names for 2025 were mostly old favourites, with that noticeable absence of Liam. The province shared only a top 10 list overall again this year, so our trend mapping is a little weak – we’d love to know what’s happening with Liam and Amelia and whether Lainey or Clara has crept into our top 10!

According to the Vital Statistics Office, New Brunswick’s top baby names for 2024 were Jack and Charlotte; Charlotte was also in the top spot in 2025, while Jack had been in fifth place. Between January 1 and December 16, 2025, there were 5,699 births registered in the province – a slight decrease from the previous year.

Jack (up from 5th place)
Charlotte (same as last year)
Noah (dropped from 1st)
William (wasn’t in the top five in 2024; was 7th for boys’ names in 2023)
Henry (same as last year)
Benjamin (wasn’t in the top five in 2024; was 4th for boys’ names in 2023)
Sophia (last time in the top 5 was 3rd place in 2021)
Violet (wasn’t in the top five in 2024; was 4th for girls’ names in 2023)
Olivia (dropped from 2nd place in 2024)
Ellie (same as last year)

2024

For 2024, the province only released the top 10 names in total for New Brunswick, making it hard to gauge how the trends over the past few decades might be changing, but we’ll keep sharing the data we can find.

According to the Vital Statistics Office, New Brunswick’s top baby names for 2024 were Noah and Charlotte. Neither were in the top spot last year, though they were on the list. Between January 1 and December 15, 2024, there were 5,822 births registered in the province – a big jump from the 4,642 during that time in the previous year.

The most popular names in 2024 were:

Noah
Charlotte
Liam (has been in the Top 20 every year but one since 2005 – and took the #1 spot in 2023, 2021, & 2020 – and second place in 2024 & 2022)
Oliver
Henry
Jack
Olivia
Amelia
Elizabeth
Ellie

Wondering how that stacks up against other areas? Based on popular names throughout Canada & the United States, Elizabeth taking Emma’s spot is the clear surprise in New Brunswick, while Olivia, Charlotte, & Amelia are all popular names in both countries right now. Ellie seems to be ahead of the trend here, too. Noah and Liam are jockeying for top positions throughout the two countries, while Oliver, Henry and William are all popular. Theodore and Leo also quite popular in Canada, while Elijah is in the Top 5 in the US.

Olivia – #1 for girls in Canada & in the United States
Emma – #2 for girls in Canada & in the United States (You can see why we were surprised she dropped off the New Brunswick list this year!)
Charlotte – #3 for girls Canada & in the United States
Amelia – #4 for girls in Canada & in the United States
Sophia – #5 for girls in Canada & in the United States (And on New Brunswick’s top list as recently as 2021.)
Elizabeth – didn’t make the Top 20 in Canada, though she was #15 for 2023 in the United States
Ellie – #14 in Canada, #27 in the United States

Noah – #1 for boys in Canada & #2 for boys in the United States
Liam – #2 for boys in Canada & #1 for boys in the United States
Oliver – #6 for boys in Canada & #3 for boys in the United States
Henry – #16 for boys in Canada & #8 in the United States
Jack – #10 for boys in Canada & #14 in the United States
Theodore – #3 for boys in Canada & #7 in the United States
William – #5 for boys in Canada & #10 in the United States
James – #11 for boys in Canada & #4 for boys in the United States (On our list in 2023.)
Elijah – #5 for boys in the United States (A name that hasn’t shown up on our list since 2010 – maybe we’ll see a rise soon? It’s been gaining popularity throughout Canada since 2012, though not in the Top 20.)

Looking for French inspiration? Check out Retraite Québec’s List of Baby Names & remember you can find the most popular Canadian names on the Statistics Canada site. The top baby names in the US data is according to Nameberry.

2023

Liam & Olivia tied for top spot in New Brunswick in 2023, with the province’s Vital Statistics Office registering 4,642 births between January 1, 2023 and December 15, 2023.

Liam (back to 1st place, from 2nd in 2022)
Olivia (up from 8th place in 2022)
Theodore (up from 12th place in 2022)
Emma (up from 9th place in 2022)
Noah (down from 1st place in 2022)
Benjamin (up from 7th place in 2022)
James (up from 17th place in 2022)
Charlotte (up from 19th place in 2022)
Oliver (down from 6th place in 2022)
William (down from 3rd place in 2022)
Jacob (same as 2022)
Violet (up from 18th place in 2022)

Dropped from the top 10 this year was Jack (in 4th place in 2022), Thomas (in 5th place in 2022), & Amelia (in 10th place in 2022).

For comparison, in Nova Scotia, the most popular name in 2023 was Henry – which has been dropping in popularity in New Brunswick the last few years, not even making the top 12 in 2023. New Brunswick’s top name, Liam, was in 8th place in Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotians also liked the name Theodore in 2023, with it coming in 2nd place – but if you combined it with Theo, it would overtake Henry as the top name. Olivia was also popular in Nova Scotia, along with Charlotte.

A few popular Nova Scotia names that didn’t make the Top 12 in New Brunswick include Owen, Jackson, Ethan, Lucas, Bennett, Ella, and Sophia.

Fun fact: Nova Scotia began registering births in 1864, with Mary and John taking the top spots that year.

2022

There were 6,187 babies born in New Brunswick in 2022, according to the provincial government. The top given names were:

Noah (up from 6th place in 2021)
Liam (down from 1st place in 2021)
William ( down from 2nd place in 2021)
Jack (up from 15th place in 2021)
Thomas (up from 9th place in 2021)
Oliver (down from 4th place in 2021)
Benjamin (down from 5th place in 2021)
Olivia (up from 12th place in 2021)
Emma (up from 28th place in 2021)
Amelia (dropped out of the top in 2021, but had been 2nd for girls in 2020)
Jacob (up from 13th place in 2021)
Theodore (up from 17th place in 2021)
Owen (down from 7th place in 2021)
Henry (dropped from 11th place in 2021)
Logan (up from 19th place in 2021)
Levi (down from 8th place in 2021)
James (down from 16th place in 2021)
Violet (dropped out of the top in 2021, was 5th place for girls in 2020)
Charlotte (dropped from 3rd in 2021)
Hudson (dropped from 14th in 2021)

For comparison, the top Nova Scotia baby names in 2022 were:

Oliver
Jack
Charlotte
Violet
William
Emma
Owen
Olivia
Henry
Noah
Theodore
Amelia
Ellie
Levi
Grayson
Liam
Beau
Harper
Sadie
Jackson
Theo
Thomas

There were 6,828 births in Nova Scotia in 2022, which has been registering births since 1864, when the most popular names were Mary and John.

2021

There were 6,443 babies born in New Brunswick in 2021. The top names given were:

Liam
William
Charlotte
Oliver
Benjamin
Noah
Owen
Levi
Thomas
Jackson
Henry
Olivia
Jacob
Hudson
Jack
James
Theodore
Sophia
Logan
Ellie
Gabriel
Paisley
Lincoln
Eli
Sophie
Willow
Isla
Emma
Ella
Abigail
Lucas
Jaxon

2020

There were 5,403 babies born in New Brunswick in 2020; 2,579 girls and 2,824 boys.

Top Girls Names for 2020

Olivia
Amelia
Emma
Charlotte
Violet
Ella
Scarlett
Ellie
Ava
Sophie
Mia

Top Boys Names for 2020

Liam
Noah
Jack
Jackson
Benjamin
Lincoln
William
Oliver
Thomas
Jacob

2019

There were 5,355 babies born in New Brunswick in 2019; 2,603 girls and 2,752 boys.

Top Girls Names for 2019

Olivia
Emma
Charlotte
Amelia
Ava
Evelyn
Chloe
Scarlett
Violet
Sophia
Emily
Madison

Top Boys Names for 2019

William
Liam
Noah
Logan
Benjamin
Jacob
Jack
Thomas
Owen
Lucas
Oliver
Jackson

2018

There were 5,448 babies born in New Brunswick in 2018; 2,636 girls and 2,812 boys. The top name spot was a close competition for the girls: it was basically a tie between Emma & Olivia for top spot!

Top Girls Names for 2018

Emma
Olivia
Charlotte
Amelia
Avery
Everly
Abigail
Zoé
Ellie
Audrey
Sophia
Ava
Lily
Emily
Jade
Chloe
Alice
Mila
Isabella
Hannah

Top Boys Names for 2018

William
Liam
Noah
Oliver
Jack
Jacob
Lucas
Mason
Logan
Henry
James
Benjamin
Xavier
Owen
Connor
Félix
Thomas
Ethan
Caleb
Samuel

2017

There were 5,738 babies born in New Brunswick in 2017; 2,810 girls and 2,928 boys.

Top Girls Names for 2017

Emma
Olivia
Amelia
Charlotte
Sophia
Madison
Ella
Elizabeth
Willow
Audrey
Claire
Sophie
Lily
Isabelle
Grace
Alexa
Abigail
Scarlett
Ellie
Violet

Top Boys Names for 2017

Liam
Noah
Benjamin
William
Logan
Jack
Lucas
Oliver
Thomas
Samuel
Mason
Wyatt
James
Lincoln
Owen
Xavier
Jacob
Jake
Grayson
Ethan

2016

There were 6,015 babies born in New Brunswick in 2016: 2,972 girls and 3,043 boys.

Top Girls Names for 2016

Emma
Olivia
Charlotte
Sophia
Ellie
Mia
Evelyn
Anna
Amelia
Lily
Hailey
Abigail
Madison
Grace
Ava
Audrey
Sophie
Zoey
Sadie
Peyton

Top Boys Names for 2016

Liam
Jacob
William
Thomas
Noah
Benjamin
Samuel
Jack
Owen
Mason
Jaxon
Xavier
Caleb
Oliver
Lincoln
Olivier
Lucas
Isaac
Jackson
James

We’ve found some older lists of the top names for New Brunswick, dating back to the 1980s. Check it out & don’t forget to let us know in the comments how you chose your name for your children!

NEW BRUNSWICK’S MOST POPULAR BOYS NAMES IN 2010