Top Baby Names of the Decade in Canada

If you had a baby between 2000 and 2010, chances are they have a classmate named Ethan or Emma (or they will in a couple of years).

The Globe and Mail reported that the Top 5 most popular baby names in Canada this past decade were Emma, Ava, Emily, Hannah and Madison (for girls), while the Top 5 boys' names were Ethan, Matthew, Joshua, Jacob and Nicholas. If you were one of the masses who named their kids one of these desirable monikers, you may view this development as a positive or a negative, depending on your perspective. The positive: Teachers are unlikely to mispronounce your child's name repeatedly. The negative: Your child may end up with a perpetual initial at the end of his or her name (eg. Emma B. vs. Emma T., Ethan D. vs. Ethan J.).

For those who are expecting a baby in the next decade and are really into this sort of thing, you can check Wikipedia for a veritable feast of the most popular names from all over the world, including Japan (Hiroto for boys, Rina for girls), Hungary (Bence for boys, Anna for girls) and Brazil (Maria for girls, Joao for boys). You can also check out Nameberry.com to see where your favourite names fall on the popularity scale.

Some wacky baby names, after the jump...On the other end of the spectrum, celebrities truly went weird-name mad in the '00s. While Canadians were favouring more traditional names like Emily and Matthew, this decade saw some superbly wacky celebrity concoctions. There have always been strange names in the past -- think Moon Unit Zappa, Chastity Bono and Fifi Trixibelle (Bob Geldof's daughter). But the '00s found celebs going to great lengths to come up with inventive, bizarre, and sometimes beautiful names for their children.

Way back in 2003, Brothers and Sisters' star Rachel Griffiths named her newborn boy Banjo Patrick, and The Rules of Attraction's Shannyn Sossamon's dubbed her son Audio Science. In 2004, there was great hubbub when Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin named their daughter Apple (her brother Moses came later). And 2005 was a particularly wacky year: There was Nicolas Cage's son Kal-El (yes, named after Superman's dad), and Penn Jillette's daughter Moxie CrimeFighter. 2006 saw the birth of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' little princess, Suri (which really doesn't seem such a big deal after all) and Spice Girl Geri Halliwell's daughter was named Bluebell Madonna (ouch). In 2008, Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz welcomed their son Bronx Mowgli into the world, and Gwen Stefani gave birth to Zuma Nesta Rock, her second son with singer Gavin Rossdale (their first son is named Kingston). In 2009, Nicole Ritchie and Benji Joel Madden named their son Sparrow James Midnight, and Erykah Badu had her third son, Mars Merkaba (whose brothers are Seven and Puma, by the way).

Did your favourite baby name of the decade make the list? What's the craziest name you've heard over the past 10 years? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.