One life destroyed before it begins

[SeeGeeWhy]

News Release


February 13, 2009
Alberta parents deliver record number of babies in 2008
Ethan still top name for boys, Olivia joins Ava as most popular pick for girls
Edmonton... Alberta had another record-breaking year for births, with more than 50,543 babies born in the province during 2008.

The count tops the previous record of 48,589 in 2007. Prior to that, the highest number of births in one year was 45,465 in 1983. The 2008 total is a nearly four per cent higher than in 2007 and a 24 per cent increase from the 40,700 births recorded five years ago.

“It’s often been said that Alberta is a great place to raise a family, and it’s clear from the numbers that Albertans truly believe that,” said Service Alberta Minister Heather Klimchuk. “The record number of births bodes well for the future of our province.”

In 2008, the Vital Statistics branch of Service Alberta recorded the births of 26,017 boys with 5,513 distinct names, and 24,526 girls with 6,829 different names.

For the eighth year running, Ethan was the most popular name for boys, picked by 366 families. Olivia and Ava were the top choices for girls, at 236 each. Ava was the sole number one selection in 2006 and 2007.
In the top 10 names, Liam, Nathan, Noah and Owen replaced Benjamin, Connor, Evan and Ryan from five years ago. There was even more movement for girls’ names, with Ava, Isabella, Sophia, Chloe and Grace among the most popular choices, replacing Hailey, Sydney, Megan and Jessica in 2003.

Leonidas, Napoleon, Xerxes, Barack and Obama all appeared once each in 2008 as names for boys with parents who might have an eye to leaders past and present.

Names appearing in science fiction or literature were among the unusual monikers chosen by parents. From Star Wars, the name Leia was chosen for eight girls, while Anakin was picked for three boys. Optimus, a name appearing in Transformers, and Zephram, from Star Trek, were choices for one boy each.

Writers were represented in names like Huxley (for one boy), Anaïs and Bronte (one girl each), while characters might have influenced choices for boys such as Ignatius (one) and Atticus (five), and girls, with Ophelia (one).

Parents looking to give their children unique names came up with Brazen-Lee, Coal, Delorian, Gonzo, Jazzy, Jury, Natorious, Rexall, Sequoia, Stetson and Zeppelin for boys, and Anarchy, Castle, Harloquinn, Jetaime, Queen, Science, Taffy, Tree, Tyranny, Valkyrie and Whiteangel-Victoria for girls.

For more information on Alberta’s most popular baby names, visit the Service Alberta website at www.servicealberta.ca and click on Vital Statistics.

[edn88]

Funny - I was going to post this as well. One of my cousins (whos husband is a big Oiler fan) named their child Garrin (after Bill Geurin). Shortly after child was born, Billy G got traded (I suppose it could have been worse and they could have named him after Pronger).

Thankfully the child has suffered no ill effects as a result of the name (possibly because Billy is no longer in Edmonton).

Have to say though that naming your child Rexall is brutall. They do realize that is the name of a drugstore right?

[BlackArcher101]

And I swear 20% of them shouldn't even be having babies.

Freaking horrible horrible names. I don't hold back insulting a parent if they pick a weird name in order to be "unique".

[missdpuck]

Oh my god naming a kid after Bill Guerin? AAAAAAAAaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[@theCBE]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Delorian, Gonzo, Natorious, Anarchy, Harloquinn, Tyranny, Valkyrie and Whiteangel-Victoria for girls.

Those stuck out as the most ridiculous ones... Natorious? seriously? Did you mis-spell Notorious? Would it have made it any better if you spelt it right?

I think it would be cool if my name was Science.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Leonidas, Napoleon, Xerxes, Barack and Obama all appeared once each in 2008 as names for boys with parents who might have an eye to leaders past and present.

I'm guessing if they're giving their kids those names, it probably has more to do with 300 then actually being leaders.

[CaptainCrunch]

There's still that baby in detroit that was named famale

[Resolute 14]

I wonder if Anarchy and Tyranny are twins?

I think we need to go the Swedish route and require approval for names.

When I have kids, I would like for them to have different names, but not something that will embarrass the kids - so no stupid spellings, no naming them after political concepts or physical materials, and no completely made up crap.

Something like Alexa or Alexia for a girl... a real name with historical validity that isn't overly common usage.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

There's still that baby in detroit that was named famale

At least it wasn't shamale.

[The Fonz]

"Parents looking to give their children unique names came up with Brazen-Lee, Coal, Delorian, Gonzo, Jazzy, Jury, Natorious, Rexall, Sequoia, Stetson and Zeppelin for boys, and Anarchy, Castle, Harloquinn, Jetaime, Queen, Science, Taffy, Tree, Tyranny, Valkyrie and Whiteangel-Victoria for girls."



Oh my god...

[Slanter]

Phew. I thought this was going to be an abortion thread.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Slanter

Phew. I thought this was going to be an abortion thread.

Given some of those names, retroactive abortion for some of the parents may be in order.

[habernac]

I loved The Sports Guy Bill Simmons' comments about names awhile back. He joked that he was going to name his kid "LaBill" to guarantee he had a career in pro sports. Chone Figgins has to be my favourite ridiculous name spelling.

The nurses at the hospital when my kids were born were pleased that we had picked "normal" names for our kids. "You wouldn't believe some of the ones we hear..."

[Ford Prefect]

Rexall? Surely that's grounds for Social Services to step in and take control. I wonder what his middle name is ... Perseus?

[Prototype]

If Rexall was a girl, I would assume that her middle name was Sheldon Souray.

/tip of the hat to HalifaxDrunk

[alan21]

I might as well name my kid Pengrowth to battle the evil Rexall.

Crap. I have a huge job ahead of me. It seems like some of the ones I was liking are way too popular and I think I have too many brain cells to name my kid something like "Tree".

Wasn't there some kid in the states that was taken away from his parents by social services because they named him Adolf Hitler?

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Puxlut

Crap. I have a huge job ahead of me. It seems like some of the ones I was liking are way too popular and I think I have too many brain cells to name my kid something like "Tree".

Wasn't there some kid in the states that was taken away from his parents by social services because they named him Adolf Hitler?

No, sweet little Adolf wasn't taken away from his loving and nurturing parents. Those freedom-hating jerks at Wal-Mart just refused to put his name on his birthday cake.


You should name your baby after one of the Flames. There are lots of good names like Robyn, Dion, Cory, or Adrian. There are some good boys' names on the team too.

[habernac]

yep. His 2 year old sister's name is JoyceLynn Aryan Nation. Lovely family.

[doozwimp]

http://www.somethingawful.com/flash/shmorky/babby.swf