Parents get adventurous in naming newborns
In a survey of new baby names for 2002, Roy does not even make the top 100. Not even in Keano’s home of Cork.
Sarah and Jack remain the most popular names while parents show more imagination when it comes to girls, the annual survey by the Central Statistics Office reveals.
Of the nearly 30,000 baby girls born last year, 2.4%, or 655, were named Sarah, just edging out Aoife in the popularity stakes.
Just over 3%, 868, of boys were named Jack, slightly more than were called Sean, runner up five years in a row.
Despite the top five for both boys and girls remaining largely the same over the last five years, many parents do pour over the list and then pick a less popular name, according to the team behind parenting website Rollercoaster.ie.
Kathleen Kenny, of Rollercoaster.ie, said last year’s list provoked lengthy debates.
Many suggested it was a good idea to avoid the most popular names, if only to prevent confusion in later years.
“Parents have a difficulty with a popular name. If there’s a large number having the same name, say Ciara, when they get to school and the child’s name is called, you could find five others turning around.
"It’s something parents were discussing on our discussion boards,” said Ms Kenny.
There were six new entries to the top 100 for boys: Charlie, Connor, Denis, Eric and Seamus and Steven at joint 99th.
Eric and Steven returned to the top 100 after missing out last year while Seamus and Connor also returned to the top 100 after being absent since 1998.
The tables reveal that girls are given a wider variety of names than boys. The top 100 accounted for 62.7% of girls’ names compared with 73.6% of boys’ names.
Jack was the most popular name in five of eight regions, in the south and west of the country.
Conor was the most popular boys’ name in the Border region, Adam in the Midlands and Sean in Dublin. Sarah was most popular in five regions.
