The Minister for Business and Regulatory Services has revealed Canberra’s most popular names for newborn children with Harper heading the girls’ list and Oliver the boys’.
The Minister, Gordon Ramsay said much had changed in the city over the years including how births and names were registered in the ACT.
“Back in the 1930s when Margaret, Joan, Patricia and John, James and Donald topped popular name lists, births were likely recorded on parchment paper,” Mr Ramsay said.
“Now new parents can jump online using a mobile phone and register a birth — anytime and anywhere.”
He said that since Access Canberra introduced its new digital service in October 2018, more than 3,400 births had been registered online.
“There are now more than 400 services and transactions which can be done online with Access Canberra and the Agency is well on track to have 80 per cent of all services digital by 2020,” Mr Ramsay said.
He said birth registration names went in cycles — including drawing inspiration from royalty and popular culture.
So far this year a total of 3,166 births had been registered in Canberra.
Mr Ramsay said the most popular name for girls was Harper, followed by Zoe, Charlotte, Amelia, Chloe, Grace, Abigail, Matilda, Sophie and Ava.
He said for boys it was Oliver, followed by Jack, Noah, Thomas, William, Isaac, Henry, Lucas, Archer and George.
