Jack still in the box seat as favourite boy name af ter 17 years reigning supreme

... but Grace knocks Emily off top girl slot

JACK has held the top spot as Ireland’s most popular boys’ name for the seventh year in a row, while Grace has risen to become the most popular name for girls.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has reported that Grace, which last claimed the top spot in 2020, has replaced last year’s number-one choice of Emily.

In terms of popularity, Síofra rose fastest up the rankings, from 157th place in 2022 to 100th last year.

However, while some ‘older’ names such as Oliver and Rose are making a comeback, it does not appear that there have been many newly christened Brigids since Ireland got the new bank holiday last February. The CSO said Brigid was hugely popular 50 or 60 years ago, but in 2023 the name only ranked in 625th place, while Bridget was in 279th place.

Cillian ‘is much more popular’

The top five boys’ names last year, in order, were Jack, Noah, James, Rian and Oisín. Jack has been in the top spot for 17 years since 2007 with the exception of 2016, when James was number one. Jack and James have both been in the top five boys’ names for 25 years now.

This is the first time that Oisín has made it into the top five.

Meanwhile, the top five girls’ names, in order, were Grace, Fiadh, Emily, Sophie and Lily.

The CSO noted that there has always been more variation when it comes to top names for girls, although Grace, Emily and Fiadh have been swapping the bronze, silver and gold positions since 2019.

Caelan, Jude, Paddy, Éanna, and Dáithí are the five new entrants into the top 100 boys’ names for 2023, with Caelan springing 58 places up the charts to 50th position.

Three new entrants appeared for the girls last year, which were Lucia, Cadhla and Síofra.

Looking at famous Irish names, the CSO reflected on the popularity of Cillian, given Cork actor Cillian Murphy’s current hopes of winning an Oscar in just over two weeks’ time. A spokesperson said Cillian was a consistently popular name. It ranked ninth in 2023 and has been in that position since 2021.

‘It is much more popular than it was during the 1970s, when Cillian Murphy was born, when it was around the 200 mark,’ they noted.

Tadgh, Kayden and Tiernan were among the top 100 names in 2022 which have fallen out of that list in 2023. Mary, Jessica and Alannah have also been given the boot.

Mary was consistently the top girls’ name across the country up to 1982, but has now dropped off in the rankings to being 130th today in terms of popularity.

Liam was the most popular boys’ name chosen by parents from the EU14 excluding Ireland (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden), while Murphy was the most common surname for babies born in 2023, followed by Kelly, O’Brien, Ryan and Walsh.

In total, there were 9,172 different newborn names registered in 2023.

There were just over 54,373 births registered last year, which is a fall of 5.5% in comparison with registrations in 2022.