Irish Babies’ Names 2008

Five most popular babies' names

Jack and Ava most popular names

Jack and Ava were the most popular babies' names registered in 2008. Jack retains the top position it held in 2007 while this is the first time Ava has taken the number one spot, climbing from sixth in 2007. There were 1,141 boys named Jack in 2008, 178 more than the number of boys named Sean. There were 685 girls named Ava, 22 more than the number of girls named Katie, the second most popular girls' name.

These results are contained in the Central Statistics Office's, Irish Babies' Names 2008 report.

The top five boys' names in 2008 (Jack, Sean, Conor, Daniel and James) also made up the top five in 2007, retaining the same order. Four of the top five boys' names (Jack, Sean, Conor and James) have been in the top five since 1998, with only their order changing from year to year. Daniel entered the top five at number four in 2007 but had been ranked sixth from 2002 to 2006. There has been more variation in the girls' top five. While Emma and Sarah have been in the top five since 1998, Katie has only been in the top five since 2003. Emily and Ava are in the top five for the first time.

There were five first time entries to the top 100 for boys: Jakub, Kacper, Filip, Billy and Patryk. Hugh returned to the top 100 after a 2-year absence and Odhran and Lorcan returned after a 3-year absence. The highest new entry at number 63 was Jakub which rose from 649th place in 2003 and 105th in 2007. The biggest climbers in the year, based on rank, were Jakub (up 42 places to 63), Filip (up 39 places to 95) and Leon (up 31 places to 44).

There were four first time entries to the top 100 for girls: Maja, Natalia, Zuzanna and Meabh. Michelle returned to the top 100 after a 2-year absence. The highest new entry was Maja, which climbed from 657th place in 2003 and 110th in 2007 to reach 73rd place. The biggest climbers in the year, based on rank, were Natalia (up 72 places to 78), Zuzanna (up 48 places to 85) and Maja (up 37 places to 73).

In general, the tables show that girls are given a wider variety of names than boys are, with 43.1% of girls given a name not in the top 100, compared with 34.9% of boys.

Jack was the most popular boys' name in seven of the eight Regional Authority areas. The exception was the Dublin region where Sean was the most popular. Ava was the most popular girls' name in the Dublin region. Katie was the most popular in the Midland and Mid-East regions. Sarah was the most popular in the Mid-West and South-West regions.
Emma was the most popular name in the Border and West regions and Emily in the South-East region.

While the top five names for boys and girls were most popular within a number of different areas, additional names were also county and city favourites. For boys, Ryan was the most popular name in Carlow and Cork City, while Oisin was included in the top names for Donegal and Monaghan. Alex, Dylan and Matthew were the most popular in South Dublin,
Limerick City and Sligo respectively. For girls, Grace was ranked first in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, Laois, Offaly and North Tipperary. Sophie was joint favourite in Laois and Meath, while Aoife was joint favourite in Waterford County and Leitrim. Ella, Leah, Laura and Caoimhe were among the most popular names in Wicklow, Clare, Galway City and Leitrim respectively.

Most popular babies' names registered in each regional authority

For more information contact Sandra Tobin (LoCall 1890 313 414 Ext 5307) or Paula Scully 021 453 5792.

31 August 2009

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