One Direction make their mark on baby names

Celebrities — they’re everywhere nowadays.

And now information from the Department of Foreign Affairs has revealed that X Factor boy band One Direction are influencing baby names.

The department recently issued the list of the most popular names on first passports, with Jack and Emily once again topping the list.

Jack is the runaway winner when it comes to boys names, with 600 passports issued last year.

Emily, Emma, Aoife, Sophie, and Grace are top of the pile when it comes to girls under three.

Proving that the popularity of some names can fluctuate, Mary has seen a decline in popularity, appearing on just 55 newly registered passports.

Irish names fail to make a major impact in the top 20 for either sex. Cillian, Cian, Oisín, and Darragh make the cut for the boys and just Aoife and Caoimhe for the girls. Traditional favourites Seán and Patrick are just outside the top 20, at 23 and 24 respectively.

One Irish name that remains popular, however, is Niall. It seems One Direction may have played a part in baby naming over the past couple of years, with Niall, Harry, Liam, and Louis all featuring on the list. Of all the members of the boy band, Zayn is the only one whose name is absent from the Irish passport list.

The celebrity influence doesn’t end there, either: The list shows there were 57 passports issued for children named Kai last year.

Kai is the name given to the son of Wayne and Colleen Rooney, and to the son of former Westlife singer Kian Egan and his wife Jodi Albert.

Some of the more exotic names included on the DFA list include Maksymilian, Zachary, Lexi and Zara.