Welcome Baby! The Most Popular Baby Names in Ireland Are…

Despite the more unusual names you might hear called out in playgrounds these days, it appears that Irish parents are, by and large, the traditional sort when it comes to doling out monikers for their offspring.

The Central Statistics Office has released the list of Irish Babies’ Names for 2012 this weekend, and once again it’s Jack and Emily that top the lists.

2012 marks the fifth year running that Jack has been the most popular boys name in the country, while Emily claims the top spot for the second year running.

In fact, it seems that it’s very much a case of ‘If it ain’t broke’ when it comes to boys names, as the top five names – Jack, James, Daniel, Sean and Conor, have made up the top five every year since 2007, and all but Daniel have appeared every year since 1998.

For the girls, the top five names (Emily, Sophie, Emma, Grace and Lily), have remained the same, in order, as the top five in 2011, the first time such an instance has occurred since 2004/2005.

More adventurous parents were responsible for the addition of three new entries to the top 100 for boys; Isaac, Danny and Logan. Meanwhile five new names entered the girls list; Evie, Amelie, Hanna, Maisie and Rose.

In general, parents of baby girls seem to have more monikers to choose from, with 4,730 girls’ names registered compared to 3,804 boys’ names, despite the fact that there were more male births.