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Ministry of Health
VITAL STATISTICS INFORMATION BOX
MOST CHOSEN FIRST NAMES FOR BABIES IN 1998
AND A CENTURY AGO
In 1872, the Division of Vital Statistics was created to register births, deaths and marriages in British Columbia. There are over 23,200 registrations on file for births that occurred between 1872 and 1898, including births which were registered some time after the birth. (See the Websites information box for information on publicly available indexes to these historical births). With the return to 'traditional' names in recent years, it is interesting to compare the most chosen first names in 1998 to those chosen in British Columbia a century ago.

Matthew, Joshua and Nicholas were the three most chosen names for boys in B.C. in 1998, 1997, and 1996. One hundred years ago, the three most chosen boy's names were William, John and George. Interestingly, four boys names - Alexander, William, James and David - appeared among the twenty-five most chosen names in both the 1998 and the historical birth lists.

For girls, Emily, Sarah and Emma were the top three most chosen names in 1998. These names have shared the top three places in different orders since 1994. One hundred years ago, Mary, Margaret and Annie were the three most chosen names for girls. Only Sarah and Emma were among the top twenty-five names in both lists. A list of all first names that were chosen for 5 or more births in 1998 is available on the Vital Statistics Agency website (http://www.hlth.gov.bc.ca/vs/babynames/index.html) or from the Agency.

 BABY BOYS
 BABY GIRLS
 1998
1872-1898
 1998
1872-1898
RankNameNumberNameNumber NameNumberNameNumber
1 Matthew452 William1009 Emily401 Mary704
2 Joshua381 John881 Sarah335 Margaret350
3 Nicholas367 George600 Emma295 Annie314
4 Ryan312 James588 Jessica282 Elizabeth266
5 Alexander297 Charles427 Taylor246 Edith262
6 Tyler286 Robert401 Hannah239 Ethel242
7 Michael285 Thomas365 Megan236 Florence227
8 Brandon280 Henry264 Samantha223 Alice202
9 Jacob280 Arthur253 Ashley189 Sarah173
10 Kyle269 Joseph243 Nicole189 Agnes148
11 Jordan261 Frederick241 Madison173 Jessie144
12 Liam236 Albert225 Rachel168 Mabel141
13 Justin232 Edward201 Julia151 Gertrude131
14 Christopher230 Walter200 Sydney149 Catherine122
15 Austin223 Ernest175 Lauren136 Dorothy120
16 Daniel211 Frank164 Alexandra134 Ellen113
17 Benjamin201 Alexander156 Olivia133 Violet107
18 Noah200 Harold144 Amanda132 Helen106
19 Andrew193 Herbert139 Rebecca120 Gladys97
20 Dylan189 Francis137 Michelle115 Lillian97
21 William182 Alfred133 Alyssa113 Beatrice95
22 James181 Harry127 Cassidy111 Grace93
23 Nathan181 Richard120 Kayla109 Eva92
24 David179 David116 Jasmine105 Emma92
25 Connor175 Clarence95 Chloe102 Laura88