The onset of a new year always brings stories of new bundles of joy as parents and communities around the world welcome New Year’s babies, who have Jan. 1 birthdays. This year, Merritt is home to B.C.’s first baby of 2013 to local parents Geraldine and David James.

Born two minutes after the stroke of midnight, David Jr. was considerably more eager to meet the world than some of his birthday-mates.

Aberley Jean Mcdougall, Vernon’s New Year’s baby, waited until 4:05 p.m. on Tuesday to make her first appearance. Baby Niguel Japson, who took Kelowna’s New Year’s baby title, held out until 7:15 p.m.

In Akron, Ohio, cousins Aiden and Donavyn missed the New Year’s baby mark by about half a day, although their story is still unusual. Their mothers, twin sisters Aimee and Ashlee Nelson, told the Akron Beacon Journal that they didn’t plan their pregnancies to be simultaneous, and that they actually expected the boys about a week apart.

Parents in Plano, Texas, celebrated the new year with the arrival of their New Year’s triplets — Clawson, Genevieve and Enid were all born between 12:03 a.m. and 12:05 a.m.

Last year, a couple from Buffalo, N.Y. welcomed twins with different birth days and years. Baby Ronan was born just before midnight on the last day of 2011, and his younger brother Rory entered the world just after midnight on Jan. 1, 2012. The same thing happened in Minneapolis, Minn., where Stephanie Peterson delivered son Beckett at 6:40 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and his twin sister Freya about six hours later, putting her birthday in a different year.

The new year also marks the beginning of a new year for bizarre baby names. Baby Centre, an online pregnancy and parenting resource that reaches 22 countries and millions of people, has released its Unusual Baby Names of 2012. Some of the more unusual girls’ names on the list are Excel, for the numerically-inclined; Fedora, for the trend-setter; and Yoga, for the fittest baby in the daycare. As for boys, the unusual hybrid of Donathan popped up on the list, as well as the self-explanatory Elite, and the less-than-inspirational Drifter.

But how could we forget some of 2012’s most unusual celebrity baby names? There’s Exton Elias Downey, son of Robert Downey Jr. and wife Susan; Blue Ivy Carter, the apple of Beyonce and Jay-Z’s eyes; and, of course, Rosalind Arusha Arkadina Altalune Florence Thurman-Busson, Uma Thurman’s baby girl.

However, the prize for ultimate name creativity has to go to British chef and TV personality Jamie Oliver and wife Jools for the nomenclature of their children: daughters Petal Blossom Rainbow, Daisy Boo Pamela, Poppy Honey Rosie and their brother Buddy Bear Maurice Oliver.

In any case, happy birthday to David Junior Ricky Joe James and congratulations to his proud parents.