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22 Oct 2025
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22 Oct 2025
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The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has released statistics on Irish Babies’ Names 2022, with the most popular boys name remaining unchanged while there is a new most popular girls name.
Commenting on the trends in Irish baby names, Seán O’Connor, Statistician in the Vital Statistics Section of the CSO, said: “Jack has retained the top spot as the most popular baby boys’ name in 2022, a position it has held for every year since 2007, except for 2016, when James was the most popular choice of name. Jack and James have been in the top five boys’ names since 1998. Noah and James are the other two boys’ names which make up the top three in 2022.
Emily once again occupied the number one position as most popular girls’ name in Ireland for the first time since 2019. Grace, Fiadh, Sophie, and Lily were the other four girls’ names which made up the five in 2022.
In 2021, Fiadh claimed the top spot for baby girls for the first time, followed by Grace, Emily, Sophie, and Éabha. Grace, Emily, and Sophie have been permanent fixtures in the top five names for baby girls for every year since 2016.
Blake and Cody are the two new entrants into the top 100 boys’ names for 2022. Looking at new entrants for girls, four new entrants appeared, which were Hailey, Phoebe, Ayda, and Éala.
Regional Breakdown
Noah was the top or joint top boys’ name in 10 locations which includes areas such as Donegal and Cork City. While Muhammad was ranked 86th nationally in 2022 with a total of 72 births registered, in Galway City it was the most favoured.
Emily was the most chosen girls’ name in five areas which were South Dublin, Dublin City, Westmeath, Cork County, and Donegal. Mia and Millie were joint first choice in Sligo while they ranked 8th and 19th nationally.
Comparison with 50 years ago
While John was the most popular boys' name in 1972, in 2022 it occupied the 36th position. For girls, Mary was the most popular name 50 years ago, whereas in 2022 it ranked 87th. There were 64 babies given the name of Mary in 2022. Interestingly, James is the only name which appears in the top five boys’ names in both 1972 and 2022.
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