Jack is the top lad, while Emily leads girls’ names
■ Most popular baby names in 2017 revealed ■ Noah and Amelia at number one in capital
JACK and Emily have taken the number one baby-name spots across the country, but the more unusual Noah and Amelia were top choice in the capital.
The CSO released the baby name charts for 2017 yesterday, with Jack leapfrogging James to reclaim top spot.
The top five positions for boys were held by Jack, James, Daniel, Conor and Sean – the same as the previous year, but in a slightly different order.
On the girls’ side, the most popular were Emily, Emma, Amelia, Grace and Sophie last year.
However, there were eight new entries in the 2017 rankings that did not feature at all in the top 100 names for either gender during 2016.
The biggest jump was Aoibhin, which leapt from 150 to 68 in 2017. For boys, Theo came into the ranks at 73 having been at 106 for 2016.
Other names either making a return or debut in the top 100 were Archie, Ruairi and Jackson. Aoibhin, Nina and Esme were also first-time entrants into the top 100.
Meanwhile, the marriage last year of Pippa Middleton – sister of Duchess of Cambridge, Kate – may have been the catalyst for a rise in popularity for that particular name. Pippa rose from 110 to 89 last year and was a first-time entrant into the top 100.
The name of the daughter of former Ireland rugby captain Brian O’Driscoll and actress Amy Huberman may have also had an effect on the rankings. Sadie was positioned in 22nd place for popularity – a rise from 31st the previous year.
Analysis by the CSO conveyed that, as usual, there was a wider variety of girls’ names than boys’ – with 4,493 girls’ names registered in 2017 in comparison to 3,472 boys’ names.
When it came to the least popular, however, it seemed to be a case of better not call your child Saul for parents, as it languished low in popularity, despite its prominence in hit television show ‘Better Caul Saul’. This particular name joined others such as Seaghan and Marlay as least common choices for boys. On the girls’ side, Everly, Teegan and Romi were among the least common.
The most popular name for boys born to Irish parents was Jack, with the number one for boys born to UK parents here being Charlie.
Meanwhile, parents from outside of the EU living in Ireland chose Muhammed as the most popular boys’ name.
Hannah was the most popular girls’ name chosen by parents originally from the UK, with Maria the most commonly used by parents from outside of the EU living in Ireland.
Figures provided by the CSO also gave a comparison with the most popular baby names for children 50 years ago.
In 1967, the most commonly chosen baby names were John, Michael, Patrick, James and Paul.
None of the current top five names were present in the top 100 from 1967.
The top five girls’ names half a century ago were Margaret, Mary, Catherine, Ann and Anne.