News release

Congratulations Emily and Jacob

Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations (Oct. 2000 - March 2014)

The sweep continues for Emily and Jacob, the most popular baby names in 2001. Emily has been at the top of the girl's list for four years running. Jacob tops the list of boys' names for the second year in a row and has been in the top 20 name choices since 1994.

The top five girls' names were Emily (119), Madison (106), Emma (104), Hannah (84) and Olivia (71). The top five boys' names were Jacob (95), Logan (84), Matthew (80), Joshua (77) and Ethan (71).

In 2000, the top five choices for girls (and their ranking this year) were Emily (1), Hannah (4), Emma (3), Sarah (6) and Jessica (7). The top five boys' names in 2000 were Jacob (1), Nicholas (6), Joshua (4), Ryan (7) and Matthew (3).

Mary and John, the most popular names of the last century, were absent from this year's list and Mary also missed out in 2000.

"It's not quite the photofinish for boys' names that we had last year, when one birth made the difference," said Liz Crowley Meagher, Vital Statistics manager at Service Nova Scotia. "And call it a coincidence, but there were 119 Emilys born in 1999, 2000 and 2001."

Where do the names come from? "It's a mix of factors," said Ms. Crowley Meagher. "Some names are traditional in a given family, some children are named after popular celebrities and biblical names seem to be back in fashion."

There were 8,750 babies born in Nova Scotia in 2001 -- 4,494 boys and 4,256 girls -- down slightly from last year. The province's birthrate has been in gradual decline since it peaked in 1962, when 19,832 children were born.


NOTE: The following is a list of boys' and girls' names in N.S. for 2001.

Top 20 Baby Names for 2001

Boys Births Girls Births

  1. Jacob 95 Emily 119
  2. Logan 84 Madison 106
  3. Matthew 80 Emma 104
  4. Joshua 77 Hannah 84
  5. Ethan 71 Olivia 71
  6. Nicholas 71 Sarah 58
  7. Ryan 71 Jessica 55
  8. Cameron 70 Abigail 52
  9. Dylan 70 Taylor 49
  10. Liam 62 Julia 48
  11. Benjamin 61 Grace 45
  12. Noah 59 Lauren 45
  13. Alexander 58 Megan 45
  14. Brandon 57 Jenna 39
  15. Michael 55 Mackenzie 37
  16. Justin 52 Haley 35
  17. William 51 Samantha 35
  18. Riley 48 Alyssa 32
  19. Tyler 48 Rebecca 30
  20. Daniel 47 Brianna 29