Popular baby names in Northern Ireland (UK), 2012

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

The most popular baby names in Northern Ireland were announced a little while ago.

According to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, the #1 names were Jack for boys and Sophie for girls.

Here are Northern Ireland’s provisional top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2012:

Baby Girl NamesBaby Boy Names
1. Sophie
2. Emily
3. Grace
4. Amelia
5. Jessica
6. Lucy
7. Sophia
8. Katie
9. Eva
10. Aoife
11. Chloe
12. Lily
13. Ella
14. Mia
15. Ellie
16. Anna [tie]
16. Emma [tie]
16. Olivia [tie]
19. Erin
20. Sarah
1. Jack
2. James
3. Daniel
4. Harry
5. Charlie
6. Ethan
7. Matthew
8. Ryan
9. Riley
10. Noah
11. Adam
12. Joshua
13. Jacob
14. Thomas
15. Conor
16. Jake [tie]
16. Oliver [tie]
18. Dylan
19. Alfie
20. Mason

The highest climbers within the top 20 lists were Aoife (15th to 10th) and Riley (18th to 9th).

Other high climbers were Bobby (124th to 59th), Blake (111th to 71st) and Olly (131st to 93rd) for boy names, and Miley (135th to 79th) and Layla (135th to 83rd) for girl names.

[Very curious about Bobby! Can anybody explain that one?]

Names that decreased in popularity include Calum (down 93 spots), Padraig (-49) and Conan (-28) on the boys’ list, and Ciara (-53), Victoria (-49) and Julia (-48) on the girls’ list.

Finally, here are some of the more unusual names registered in 2012:

Girl NamesBoy Names
Aibhailia, Anna-bell, Blathnait, Cait-erin, Caollaidhe, Clodagh-rose, Clover-leoni, Connemara, Haianabragadiska, Iretenevesho, Napsugar, Poppyanna, Scarlett-imogen, Shammahwisdom, TuleighzaBoen-rua, Caelum, Conghaile, Connlaodh, Everley-eric, Gavin-og, Iarfhlaith, Iggi, Kekeli, Kyzler, McCoist, Naoise, Rolex, Sean-og, Setanta, Shea-pearse, Somhairle, Steven-og, Uate, Ugnius

Those “og” endings on some of the boy names are the Irish word Óg, which means “young” or “junior.” It can be used after girl names, too.

Here are Northern Ireland’s top baby names of 2007, if you’d like to compare.

Source: NISRA

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)

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