Revealed: These are the most popular baby names of 2019

The Central Statistics Office today released its statistics on baby names registered in 2018.

Carol Anne Hennessy, statistician said: “Emily retains the top spot for girls, and with Grace, Emma, Sophie and Amelia, were the top five names of choice by parents for their newly arrived baby girls in 2018.

“Jack has retained the stop spot as the most popular baby boys name in 2018, a position it has held since 2007, except for 2016, when James was the most popular choice.

“Jack was followed by James, Noah, Conor and Daniel as the five most popular names for boys in 2018.”

The statistics show that over the years, girls are given a wider variety of names than boys, with 4,779 girls names registered compared to 3,712 for the boys.

Frankie, Freddie and Theodore were new entrants into the top 100 for boys in 2018. Theodore and Frankie were also the names rising most in popularity, increasing 63 and 31 places respectively.

There were four new entrants to the top 100 for girls: Ada, Bella, Bonnie and Ivy.  Ada gained 67 places, moving from 137th to 70th place between 2017 and 2018. Ivy also rose from 137th place to 84th over the same period.

Emily has been the most popular name for baby girls since 2011.

The top three surnames for babies were Murphy ( 686), Kelly (584) and Ryan (498).

Some counties picked names outside the top five. For example, Michael was ranked 8th nationally but held the top spot in Galway city. Adam and John were the most favoured names in Leitrim, while Tadhg shared top place with Conor in Waterford county.

Emily was the most chosen girls name, or joint first in eleven areas including Dublin city, where it shared the top spot with Olivia.

Top five boys names:

1. Jack

2. James

3. Noah

4. Conor

5. Daniel

Top five girls names

1. Emily

2. Grace

3. Emma

4. Sophie

5. Amelia