Chai Brady
Six out of the top 10 baby names chosen for boys last year in Ireland were from the Bible according to figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
There was 677 Jacks born in Ireland last year, making it the most popular boys name in 2019. Jack is a derivative of John, and has been in the top spot since 2007 except in 2016 when James took the lead.
The second favourite was James, followed by Noah, the Irish name Conor, and then Daniel coming fifth. James was the only name in the top five boys’ names in 2019 that was in the top five list 50 years ago in 1969, while Noah was new to the top five in 2018 and remained there in 2019.
Connection
Alternatively, there was only two Biblical names for girls in the top 10 list for last year. There was 452 babies called Emily, making it the favourite name for Irish parents for the ninth year in a row. This was followed by Grace, which although is not a Biblical name, it can have a Christian connection particularly regarding the concept of ‘Divine Grace’.
In third place was the Irish name Fiadh. The only two Biblical names were Hannah, which came in fifth, and in seventh is Ava – commonly believed to be a derivative of Eve. Different spellings of a name were treated as separate names by the CSO.
Variety
In 2019, if the number of girls named Hanna (57) and Hannah (321) were combined, it would fall into third place ahead of Fiadh.
There was a wider variety in the names registered for girls, with 4,814 girls names in 2019 compared with 3,725 for boys.
Jack was the most popular name for boys where both parents were Irish nationals, while Oliver was the most popular choice with parents of UK nationality. Muhammad was the highest ranked name of baby boys born where both parents were from outside the EU.
Grace was the most popular girls name when both parents were Irish nationals. Georgia, Isla and Sarah were the names most often chosen by parents of UK nationality.
Emily was the main choice for parents from outside the EU.