Baby names were on the brain, at least across Ontario, after the publication of online maps that graphed the most popular newborn monikers according to postal code.The popularity of the name Tenzin in downtown Toronto's resurgent Parkdale raised the most curiosity among visitors to national neighbourhood news website OpenFile.
A follow-up report explained how the gender-neutral name is typically the first of two bestowed upon babies by Tibetan spiritual leaders in honour of the Dalai Lama, whose religious name is Tenzin Gyatso.
Parents of all backgrounds have increasingly considered handles of more offbeat origin, based on the popularity in the U.S. of Nevaeh. The backwards spelling of "heaven" gained accidental traction in 2000 after the singer of heavy metal group P.O.D. mentioned it was the name of his daughter on MTV's "Cribs," and it has stuck around ever since.
Government of Ontario data collected between 2005 and 2009 was used by OpenFile map designer Patrick Cain to create Top 5 lists for both genders, broken down by the first three characters in each postal code. Tenzin was ranked for Toronto girls in the company of Ava, Chloe, Emily, Emma, Fatima, Gurleen, Isabella, Olivia, Sarah and Victoria.
Baby name trends mapped out to reveal a few unexpected choices
