‘Sean’ and ‘Emma’ still tops for tots
There were 787 girls named Emma, 213 more than the second most popular name, Katie.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO), in its annual report on Irish babies names, said the top five boys' names Sean, Jack, Conor, Adam and James had remained exactly the same for the last five years, with only their order changing.
The top five girls' names- Emma, Katie, Sarah, Amy and Aoife changed slightly with Amy replacing Ciara. The only names to have remained in the top five over the last five years are Aoife and Sarah.
The highest new entry for boys was Noah, which rose from 213th place in 1999 and 132nd last year to reach 79th place.
There were seven first time entries to the top 100 names for boys: Charles, Christian, Hugh, Noah, Odhran, Rian and Tomas. Lorcan and Owen returned to the top 100 after a year's absence.
The highest new entry for girls was Isabel, which climbed from 115th place last year to reach 67th place.
There were four first time entries to the top 100 names for girls Alex, Amelia, Kayla and Orlaith while Ailbhe, Isabel, and Sara returned to the top 100 after a year's absence.
The CSO said its research showed that girls were given a wider variety of names than boys, with around 37% of girls given a name not in the top 100 compared to around 28% of boys.
Emma was the most popular girls' name in every part of the country except for the Border region, where Niamh was most popular.
The most popular boys' name in Dublin was Sean; in the Mid-West, South-East and South-West it was Jack, in the Border and Midlands it was Conor, and in the West, it was Michael.
Traditional Irish names are well represented with Cian, Eoin, Liam and Cathal among the boys' top 100 and Caoimhe, Roisin, Aisling, Caitlin and Saoirse among the girls' top 100.
The CSO collected the information from an analysis of first names recorded on birth returns last year.
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