What’s in a name? - Maturing or less at ease?

IT’S probably a tad wistful to expect that in our new, multicultural, multichannel Ireland that Bridget or Eamonn, Maureen or Donal might make the top 10 list of names we give to our children.

We were told yesterday that Jack — at 1,073 — and Sarah — 656 — were the most popular names among parents of babies last year. The most popular girls names — Sarah, Emma, Ella, Katie and Sophie — suggest that the influence of contemporary culture has, less than a century after we won independence, overshadowed traditional Irish names completely.

Is that because we have become “more mature” or is it because we are less at ease with our culture than other European countries are with theirs?