THERE WAS no contest for the most popular boy's name in the birth columns of The Irish Timeslast year with James a clear winner but the most popular girl's name was evenly split between Anna, Grace, Lucy and Lily/Lilly.
More than 700 birth announcements were made in the Saturday column of this newspaper in 2010. It was a bumper year for twins, with the birth of 26 sets announced.
Whether it was inspired by the actor James Franco, singer James Blunt or man of mystery James Bond, the name James saw a dramatic increase in popularity last year. It previously held the top spot in 2008 but fell out of favour in 2009 when it was replaced by Matthew.
The latter name suffered a similar fate last year, and didn’t feature in the top 10.
Max made a surprise appearance as the second most popular name in the birth announcements column last year, followed by Hugo, Patrick and Oliver. However, if Thomas and Tom were taken as one name, it would be the second most popular choice of name.
Parents of girls took a more eclectic approach to naming their babies. Lucy had been the most popular name in 2009 but last year she had to share the spoils with Anna, Grace and Lily/Lilly. Other popular girls’ names included Alice, Emily and Sarah.
As always, many unusual names appeared in the birth columns. Some uncommon girls’ names included Peaches, Ayana, Mealla, Asha, Cayleen and Tegan.
Parents of boys were also adventurous in their choices, opting for names such as Prosper, Kester, Mingus, Hunter, Osian and Aldus.
Suri, perhaps inspired by the daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, appeared as a middle name on one occasion.
Irish names have fallen out of favour in recent years with few appearing in the 20 most popular names last year.
Our patron saint’s name was joint third on the boys’ list but one had to look much further down the list to find Irish names such as Fionn, Cian, Seán and Eoin.
No Irish name appeared in the top 10 of girls’ names but names such as Aoife, Aoibhinn, Róisín and Síofra were further down the list.
The names
BOYS
1 James
2 Max
3 Hugo and Patrick
5 Oliver
6 Tom, Thomas, Daniel, Harry, Peter, Benjamin and Luke
GIRLS
1 Anna, Lucy, Grace and Lilly
5 Alice
6 Emily and Sarah
8 Emma and Chloe
10 Rebecca and Sophie
Source:Irish Times birth announcement columns January-December 2010
