Princess Charlotte: What this means for baby-name trends

As you know, it's official: Britain now has a new princess—Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.

"Charlotte," meaning free, has not held the top spot for Canadian girls' names in the last decade —but, could this be the year Charlotte takes the throne from reigning Olivia?

Indeed, it's been rising in popularity in recent years. In Canada, Charlotte climbed from 11th place in 2013 to fifth place in 2014, according to our very own Top 100 Baby Names in Canada charts. The question now is this: Will the name "Charlotte" continue to climb, thanks to the new royal baby? Or will it plummet?

If we go by what happened when Prince George was born, the name may continue to climb... in some parts of the world. George grew in popularity across Europe—rising to the 10th spot in 2013, across England and Wales, according to The Telegraph. But this wasn't the case in Canada. George didn't even make it onto our Top 100 lists for 2013 or 2014. At the same time, however, we haven't seen "George" on our list in years.

Ultimately, history shows Canadians don’t tend to shift their naming habits based on the royal family, but this time may be an exception. Since Charlotte's already a popular name, we suspect the name will stay where it is on our list, or dip slightly because it's just too famous now.