JACK AND EMILY remain the most popular babies’ names registered in Ireland in 2014, new figures released by the CSO show.
Jack has been the number one choice for boys since 2007, and Emily has been the most popular girl’s name since 2011.
The top five boys’ names (Jack, James, Daniel, Conor and Sean) have been the top five since 2007 – with the order changing slightly from 2012, when Conor – shockingly – finished in fourth place, ahead of Sean.
Four of the top five boys’ names (Jack, Sean, Conor and James) have been in the top five since 1998.
This is the fourth consecutive year that Emily has been the most popular name chosen for girls. Sophie, Emma, Grace and Ava were the next most frequently chosen names in 2014.
There were four first-time entries to the top 100 for boys: Henry, Hugo, Ollie and Luca.
The highest new entry – at number 87 – was Ollie, rising from 113th place in 2013. It was also the name rising most in popularity, up 26 places from 2013.
There were two first-time entrants to the top 100 for girls: Annie and Isla. The highest new entry at 75th place was Annie, rising from 106th place in 2013. The name rising in popularity most was Evie – up 43 places from 110th place in 2013.
As in previous years, girls are given a wider variety of names than boys with 4,586 girls’ names registered compared to 3,486 boys’ names – despite a greater number of male births.
In most areas of the country one of the top five boys’ names took the number one spot.
Only seven areas favoured names outside of the top five for boys.
In Cavan, Adam was the most popular boys’ name in 2014. Michael was the most popular boy’s name registered in 2014 in Longford and the name also shared the top spot with Daniel in Limerick County. Patrick and Liam, along with Daniel and James, were the most popular in Galway city.
Oisin and James were most favoured in Donegal, while Thomas shared the top position with Jack in South Tipperary. Noah, Sean and Jack proved to be the most popular name for baby boys registered in Carlow.
For girls, there was a wider range of names outside the top five that were county and city favourites. These included Amelia, Anna, Aoife, Caoimhe, Ella, Katie, Lily, Lucy, Mia and Sophia.
Some of the less common girls’ names registered in 2014 and not included in the top 100 names were Skylar, Angel, Meadow, Miley, Destiny, Raven and Halle.
Some of the less popular boys’ names registered in 2014 were Troy, Avery, Deacon, Braxton, Dexter, Cooper and Ariel.
Parents from other countries
Where both parents were stated as being Irish nationals, Jack was the top ranked name for boys. Charlie, Daniel, Finn, Jack, Leo, Noah and Thomas were the most popular choice with parents of UK nationality, while Liam was the most popular boy’s name chosen by parents from the EU15* excluding Ireland and the UK.
David and Jakub were the boys’ names chosen most often by parents from all EU member states excluding EU15 countries. Parents from nations outside the EU made Muhammed the highest ranked name of baby boys registered in Ireland in 2014.
Emily was the most popular name where parents were Irish or English. Emma ranked first with parents of the EU15 (excluding Ireland and the UK) and Julia took the top spot with parents of the all EU member states excluding EU15 countries. Sarah was most popular with parents from outside the EU.
For the first time, the CEO data includes the top ten most popular surnames of babies’ registered in 2014:
There were 67,462 live births registered in 2014. Of these, there were 22,090 unique surnames, including some double barrelled surnames e.g. O’Brien-Murphy.
The top 10 most popular surnames account for over 7.4% (or 5,000) of overall births. Murphy accounts for over 1.1%, while Kelly accounts for just over 0.9% (633 births).
50 years ago
An analysis found that John and Mary were the most popular baby names in 1964.
There were 3,696 boys registered under John that year. The name ranked number 25 in popularity in 2014 (293 babies).
The top five boys’ names in 1964 were: John, Patrick, Michael, Paul and James. Of these, only James was in the top five last year.
For girls, Mary was the name of choice for 3,471 parents for their newborn daughters in 1964. It now ranks at number 77 (88 babies).
The top five girls’ names in 1964 were Mary, Catherine, Margaret, Ann and Anne. None of these names featured in the top five names registered for baby girls in 2014. Apart from Mary, none of the other four names featured in the top 100 names last year.
None of the top 10 most popular names for girls’ in 2014 appeared anywhere in the top 100 girls’ names in 1964.
As in 2014, the data for 1964 shows that girls were given a wider variety of names than boys. However, the range of names for both boys and girls were not as varied 50 years earlier. There were 1,103 girls’ names registered in 1964 (versus 4,586 in 2014) and 614 boys’ names (compared to 3,486 in 2014).
*EU15: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.
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