British Columbia

Olivia, Oliver most popular B.C. baby names for 2019

If you seem to notice a lot of Olivias under the age of 10 running around, it's more than a coincidence. 

Olivia has been going strong for a decade

Olivia has ranked as the top girls' name for eight of the last 10 years. (Getty Images)

If you seem to notice a lot of Olivias under the age of 10 running around, it's more than a coincidence. 

The name has taken the crown again for most popular girl name of the year in an almost decade-long trend, followed by Oliver for boys in 2019. 

The B.C. Vital Statistics Agency released a ranking Tuesday of the most popular names for roughly 43,000 babies born in B.C. between Jan. 1 to Dec. 18.

And the winners are:

  1. Olivia 
  2. Oliver
  3. Lucas
  4. Liam
  5. Ethan
  6. Noah
  7. William
  8. Benjamin
  9. Charlotte
  10. Emma 
  11. Leo

The numbers are preliminary because parents can register their baby's name up to three months after birth, meaning the final results aren't ready until the spring, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said. 

Olivia has been going strong for some time now, ranking as the top girls' name for nearly a decade, except for 2015 when Emma nudged ahead by two babies, and in 2011.  

Popular boys names fluctuate a bit more each year, with Liam, Benjamin, Ethan, Lucas and Oliver all vying for the top positions over the decade. 

It's quite the shift from a century ago, when John and Mary appeared over and over again as the top names for babies — with the occasional Edith, Dorothy, Walter and Ernest sprinkled throughout the Top 10 lists.