The island of Ireland, located in the North Atlantic Ocean, happens to be the third-largest island in Europe (after Great Britain and Iceland).
Last year, the Republic of Ireland — which covers five-sixths of the island — welcomed over 57,000 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Emily and Jack.
Here are Ireland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:
Girl Names
- Emily, 349 baby girls
- Grace, 342
- Fiadh, 320 – pronounced FEE-a
- Sophie, 292
- Lily, 291
- Éabha, 271 – pronounced EY-va
- Ava, 269
- Mia, 262
- Ellie, 259
- Olivia, 258
- Amelia, 250 (tie)
- Emma, 250 (tie)
- Hannah, 248
- Ella, 240
- Freya, 234
- Lucy, 232
- Isla, 228
- Saoirse, 212 – pronounced SEER-sha or SAYR-sha
- Millie, 206
- Sadie, 201
- Sophia, 200
- Molly, 195
- Chloe, 191
- Caoimhe, 190 – pronounced KEE-va or KWEE-va
- Anna, 186
- Evie, 181
- Isabelle, 178
- Robyn, 177
- Alice, 160
- Aoife, 158 – pronounced EE-fa
- Róisín, 157 – pronounced ROH-sheen
- Sadhbh, 153 – pronounced siev (rhymes with the number “five”).
- Cara, 152
- Katie, 151
- Erin, 150
- Kate, 147
- Willow, 145
- Croía, 140 (3-way tie) – pronounced KREE-a
- Ruby, 140 (3-way tie)
- Sofia, 140 (3-way tie)
- Bonnie, 135
- Holly, 129 (tie)
- Zoe, 129 (tie)
- Sienna, 126
- Isabella, 125 (tie)
- Maya, 125 (tie)
- Sarah, 121
- Ada, 119
- Rosie, 111
- Leah, 109
Boy Names
- Jack, 641 baby boys
- Noah, 485
- James, 412
- Rían, 372
- Charlie, 348
- Oisín, 340 – pronounced UH-sheen or OH-sheen
- Tadhg, 324 – pronounced tieg (like the first three letters of “tiger”)
- Liam, 323
- Cillian, 316 – pronounced KIL-ee-an
- Daniel, 303
- Fionn, 287
- Michael, 278
- Conor, 275
- Finn, 269
- Patrick, 250
- Thomas, 246
- Darragh, 245
- Harry, 242
- Seán, 239
- Luke, 233
- Theo, 232
- Adam, 230
- Leo, 225
- Alex, 216
- Oliver, 201
- Ryan, 190
- Max, 189
- Cian, 185 – pronounced KEE-an or keen
- Tommy, 184
- Luca, 179
- Bobby, 170
- Mason, 167
- Dylan, 163 (3-way tie)
- Jamie, 163 (3-way tie)
- Kai, 163 (3-way tie)
- John, 160
- Ollie, 159
- Oscar, 156
- Shay, 152
- Alexander, 149 (tie)
- Ben, 149 (tie)
- Matthew, 146
- David, 143 (tie)
- Tom, 143 (tie)
- Ethan, 141
- Donnacha, 140 – pronounced DUN-uh-ka or DUN-uh-kha (the kh represents a guttural H-sound)
- Alfie, 139
- Jacob, 131
- Billy, 128
- Sam, 125
New to the girls’ top 100 were the names Hailey, Phoebe, Ayda, and Éala.
New to the boys’ top 100 were the names Blake and Cody.
The fastest-rising names in the top 100 in terms of numbers of babies were:
- Millie (+58 baby girls), Olivia (+39), Éala (+32), Ellie (+31), Isabelle (+31)
- Luca (+58 baby boys), Oisín (+38), Leo (+33), Kai (+33), Tomás (+30)
The fastest-rising names in terms of rank were:
- Éala (+86 places), Phoebe (+45), Mary (+40), Hailey (+38), Ayda (+29)
- Tomás (+42 places), Anthony (+31), Christopher (+29), Joey (+25), Kayden (+25)
Home to more than five million people, the Republic of Ireland is divided into four provinces. (One of these provinces, Ulster, lies largely within Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK.) The top baby names within each of the four provinces last year were…
| Top Girl Name | Top Boy Name | |
| Leinster (56% of the population) | Emily | Jack |
| Munster (27% of pop.) | Emily | Jack |
| Connacht (11% of pop.) | Éabha | Jack |
| Ulster [ROI portion] (6% of pop.) | Grace | Jack |
And what about the names at the other end of the spectrum? The following were given to just 3 babies each in Ireland last year:
| Rare Girl Names | Rare Boy Names |
| Ananya, Beatriz, Cliona, Dina, Eilidh, Faela, Fianna, Isadora, Joan, Khadija, Líadh, Luisne, Miruna, Morrigan, Nala, Orlagh, Prunelle, Réiltín, Saffie, Scotia, Tilda, Vamika, Zoha | Ailbe, Brooklyn, Caoilte, Denzel, Eamonn, Féidhlim, Geoffrey, Henrik, Isa, Josiah, Kamal, Lúan, Manus, Nilan, Ógie, Pio, Rokas, Séadhna, Tiernán, Viraj, Wayne, Yousuf, Zoraiz |
Finally, here are Ireland’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
P.S. If you’re interested in seeing more Irish name pronunciations, just click that link.
Sources: Irish Babies’ Names – CSO (Irish Babies’ Names 2022), Births, Deaths and Marriages – CSO (Vital Statistics Yearly Summary 2022), Data – CSO, Provinces of Ireland – Wikipedia
Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Provinces of Ireland location map by Ssolbergj under CC BY-SA 4.0.
[Latest update: Feb. 2024]
