Most popular baby names in Ireland with county by…

Most popular baby names in Ireland with county by county breakdown amid unsurprising winners

The most popular baby names in Ireland in 2022 have been revealed - with unsurprising winners.

Once again Jack triumphs as the top baby name for boys, while Emily was the most popular name for baby girls, beating out Fiadh who was the 2021 winner.

The latest data from the CSO lists the top 100 most popular names and gives a county-by-county breakdown.

There were six new entries into the top 100: Blake and Cody for the boys and Hailey, Phoebe, Ayda and Éala for the girls.

Éala rose a staggering 86 places to become the 91st most popular baby girls' name in 2022, while Tomás rose 42 places to become the 77th most popular name for baby boys in Ireland.

Top boys names in Ireland in 2022

After Jack, the most popular boys names in Ireland last year were: Noah; James; Ríán and Charlie in that order.

Jack and James have been in the top five boys' names since 1998 and both have maintained their position at first and third respectively. Noah remains in the top five in 2022, maintaining its position at 2nd. Rían was a new entrant to the top five in 2021 and rises one place to 4th in 2022. Charlie enters the top five for the first time, rising from 7th in 2021 to 5th in 2022. Conor leaves the top five last year, falling from 4th in 2021 to 13th in 2022.

Jack was the most popular name for baby boys in all provinces in 2022. Noah was the second most favoured name for boys in 2022 and held the top or joint top spot in 10 locations including Donegal and Cork City.

Some counties picked names outside the top five. Muhammad was ranked 86th nationally yet was most favoured in Galway City. Harry and James were the joint most popular boys’ names in Waterford county, ranking 18th and 3rd respectively on a national basis.

For parents of UK nationality, Oliver was the most popular name for boys.

Top girls names in Ireland in 2022

While Emily came in at number one for most popular girl names the next most popular were: Grace; Fiadh; Sophie and Lily, in that order.

These have been the top five baby girl names in Ireland since 2016, it's just their order that changes.

Last year Emily has been the most popular name chosen for girls, rising from 3rd in 2021 to 1st in 2022. Grace remains at 2nd in 2022. Fiadh falls two places, from 1st in 2021 to 3rd in 2022. Sophie is the 4th most popular name for the fifth year in a row while Lily rises from 9th place in 2021 to 5th place in 2022, returning to the top five for the first time since 2012.

Emily was the most chosen girls' name or joint-first in five areas including South Dublin. Grace was the second most popular name nationally but was the top girls' name in Ulster. Grace also held the top or joint top name in nine counties and shared first place with Saoirse in Roscommon, while in Kerry Grace shared first place with Ellie, Freya, Croiá and Siún.

Names outside the top five were chosen for girls in several counties. Olivia was the most popular girls' name in three counties, namely, Cavan, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Fingal while ranking 10th nationally. Mia and Millie were joint first choice in Sligo while ranking 8th and 19th respectively on a national basis.