Irish Baby Names: What’s Hot Now
Irish baby names are in the news this week, with the release of the official statistics on the top names of 2010. Leading the list: Sophie and Jack, holding onto their Number 1 crowns from last year. But there are lots of other changes and surprises in the statistics.
The first surprise, especially if you don’t live in Ireland, is how few of the top Irish baby names are actually Irish. Four of the top ten boys’ names — Sean, Conor, Ryan, and Dylan (Welsh, actually, with Dillon the Irish cognate) — are Irish; only one of the girls’ names — Aoife at Number 10 — is a native choice.
The top ten Irish baby names are:
girls
1. Sophie2. Emily3. Emma4. Sarah5. Lucy6. Ava7. Grace8. Chloe9. Katie10.Aoife
boys
1. Jack2. Sean3. Daniel4. James5. Conor6. Ryan7. Adam8. Alex9. Luke10.Dylan
In the Top 100, however, the balance shifts and a bit over half of the names overall are authentically Irish. With their actual standing in the Top 100 in parenthesis, the Irish names most popular for girls, beyond Aoife, are:
Ciara (15)Saoirse (18)Caoimhe (24)Niamh (25)Roisin (32)Erin (36)Clodagh (39)Aisling (42)Eabha (55)Aine (58)Tara (62)Sadhbh (65)Aoibhinn (67)Caitlin (75)Aoibheann (76)Eimear (78)Aoibhe (79)Orla (85)Orlaith (94)Sinead (97)
Irish boys’ names in the Top 100, beyond the Top 10, are:
Cian (14)Liam (15)Darragh (16)Oisin (17)Patrick (18)Cillian (21)Eoin (29)Callum (32)Shane (33)Fionn (35)Tadhg (40)Cathal (42)Finn (46)Ronan (50)Ciaran (53)Rian (54)Eoghan (55)Rory (57)Cormac (59)Killian (62)Dara (71)Senan (74)Oran (75)Shay (76)Odhran (77)Ruairi (88)Niall (91)Calum (93)Daithi (94)Lorcan (97)Daire (100)
There are a couple of other surprises within the list of Top 100 Irish baby names. Number 71 for girls, for instance, is the remarkable Zuzanna. Other girls’ names more popular in Ireland than in the US include Brooke, Natalia, Lena, Shauna, Zara, Millie, Hollie, and Ruth.
For boys, the outliers include Jamie, at number 11, Harry, Leon, Jakub (far more popular than the US number 1 Jacob), Martin, and Patryk — Ireland‘s national name dragged into the 21st century.
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