What a Des-aster!
RTÉ’s Des Cahill vows to save his Christian name from extinction
DES Cahill, Des Bishop, Des O’Connor... they’ll all be aghast as their Christian name has fallen out of fashion.
Once a household name, Des, or Desmond, has been in decline in recent years, falling down the list of most popular names, until this year it fell away altogether.
Irish Mail on Sunday analysis of Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures gives a breakdown of baby boys’ names as far back as 1964.
A number of names which used to be popular – such as Desmond, Donald, Stewart, Roger, Nigel, Norman and Rodney are not registered on the list in 2016.
Desmond is the most popular name to slip off the record books. In 1964, when records began, it was the 43rd most popular name in the country. Last year, for the first time in 52 years, there were none.
RTÉ’s Des Cahill, who hated his name as a child, has now vowed to start a social media campaign to save it. He said: ‘When I was a child I asked my mother, “Why did you call me Desmond?” She just said it was a beautiful name. I’m going to start a campaign to save it.”
For Rosanna Davison, Wesley is only the name of her beloved husband but it too is now off the radar. As is Donald, notwithstanding the fact that it is one of the world’s most recognisable names, on account of it belonging to President Trump. Or maybe because of it!
In fact, there haven’t been two or more Donalds born in Ireland since 2010, when there were three.
Rodney, a familiar name in Irish households due to the popularity of TV sitcom Only Fools and Horses, has fallen out of favour since the show’s release with parents opting to save their sons being labelled ‘plonkers’ in the schoolyard.
The most popular boys’ names since 1964 are John, Michael, David, Patrick and James.