Jack has wrestled back the top spot as the most popular baby boys’ name in 2017, a position it has held since 2007, with the exception of 2016 when James was the most popular choice.
James came in second place last year followed by Daniel, Conor and Seán as the top five choices, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.
Back in 1967, John, Michael, Patrick, James and Paul were the names most favoured by parents of baby boys. While there were 2,981 baby boys named John 50 years ago, the five most popular boys’ names in 2017 accounted for 2,765 baby boys.
Emily was once again the top choice for girls, followed by Emma, Amelia, Grace and Sophie.
None of these five names appeared in the top 100 names for girls a half century earlier. Mary, Margaret, Catherine, Ann and Anne were the most popular names for baby daughters in 1967.
In 2017, there were 459 baby girls named Emily, which was almost 17 per cent of the 2,591 girls given the name Mary in 1967.
Girls are given a wider variety of names than boys, with 4,493 girls’ names registered compared to 3,472 boys.
Theo and Jackson were new entrants into the top 100 names for boys in 2017. Theo jumped 33 places in the rankings since 2016, up from 106 to 73 in 2017. Jackson was ranked 128 in 2016 and took 99th position in 2017, a jump of 29 places.
There were four new entrants to the top 100 names for girls: Aoibhin, Nina, Pippa and Esma.
Aoibhin and Nina showed the most growth in popularity in girls’ names between 2016 and 2017. Aoibhin was ranked 68th in 2017 up 82 places from 150 in 2016. Nina also improved position, up from 140 in 2016 to a rank of 99 in 2017, a jump of 41 places.
In 2017, Jack was the top name for boys in Kildare, Louth, Meath, Wexford, Wicklow, Clare, Cork City and County, Kerry, north Tipperary, Waterford County and Mayo.
It also shared top spot in south Dublin with Adam and James. In Limerick city, Jack shared the honours with Adam, while Jack along with Conor was the most popular in Laois.
Emily proved most popular for baby girls in Carlow, south Dublin, Fingal, Kildare, Longford, Westmeath, Limerick county, Galway city and Mayo. Emily shared the top spot with Chloe in Galway county and with Amelia and Aoife in Clare.
Where both parents were Irish, Jack was the most popular name for boys and Emily was the most popular for girls. Charlie and Hannah took the top spot for boys and girls respectively where both parents were UK nationals in 2017.
Some less popular names for boys included Saul, Seaghan and Marley. Less popular girls’ names included Everly, Teegan and Romi.
