Last year, the Republic of Ireland — which covers five-sixths of the island of Ireland — welcomed roughly 55,000 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Grace and Jack.
Here are Ireland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:
Girl Names
- Grace, 339 baby girls
- Fiadh (pronounced FEE-a), 300
- Emily, 297
- Sophie, 283
- Lily, 270
- Ellie, 252
- Mia, 242
- Amelia, 241 (tie)
- Éabha (pronounced EY-va), 241 (tie)
- Ella, 231
- Isla, 227
- Hannah, 226
- Sophia, 218
- Lucy, 214
- Ava, 207
- Sadie, 200
- Olivia, 199
- Freya, 188
- Emma, 183
- Chloe, 181
- Robyn, 180
- Molly, 176
- Anna, 166 (tie)
- Croía (pronounced KREE-a), 166 (tie)
- Evie, 165
- Caoimhe (pronounced KEE-va or KWEE-va), 158
- Saoirse (pronounced SEER-sha or SAYR-sha), 157 (tie)
- Cara, 157 (tie)
- Sofia, 156
- Millie, 150
- Aoife (pronounced EE-fa), 148
- Isabelle, 132
- Bonnie, 130
- Maya, 128 (tie)
- Ada, 128 (tie)
- Róisín (pronounced ROH-sheen), 127
- Ruby, 126
- Kate, 123 (tie)
- Alice, 123 (tie)
- Holly, 120 (3-way tie)
- Erin, 120 (3-way tie)
- Sadhbh (pronounced siev; rhymes with “5”), 120 (3-way tie)
- Leah, 119
- Isabella, 118 (3-way tie)
- Ailbhe (pronounced AL-va), 118 (3-way tie)
- Méabh (pronounced mayv), 118 (3-way tie)
- Zoe, 115
- Annie, 112
- Ivy, 111
- Willow, 110
Boy Names
- Jack, 561 baby boys
- Noah, 473
- James, 369
- Rían (pronounced REE-an), 339
- Oisín (pronounced UH-sheen or OH-sheen), 330
- Fionn (pronounced fyun or fyoon), 306
- Tadhg (pronounced tieg, like the first part of “tiger”), 301
- Liam, 289
- Cillian (pronounced KIL-ee-an), 275
- Daniel, 256
- Finn, 251
- Conor, 244 (tie)
- Charlie, 244 (tie)
- Seán (pronounced shawn), 240
- Michael, 239
- Leo, 237
- Theo, 233
- Thomas, 227
- Patrick, 221
- Luke, 215
- Tommy, 214
- Oliver, 211
- Adam, 201
- Harry, 198
- Luca, 197
- Darragh, 195
- Alex, 175
- Bobby, 157
- Cian (pronounced KEE-an or keen), 156
- Oscar, 154
- John, 152 (tie)
- Max, 152 (tie)
- Ryan, 151
- Páidí (pronounced PAW-dee), 150
- Jamie, 149
- Ben, 147
- Kai, 141 (tie)
- Ollie, 141 (tie)
- Tom, 135
- Matthew, 134
- Dylan, 132
- Callum, 131
- Sonny, 130
- Sam, 129
- Ethan, 127 (tie)
- Alfie, 127 (tie)
- David, 122
- Alexander, 118
- Mason, 116
- Caelan, 114
New to the girls’ top 100 were Lucia, Cadhla (pronounced KIE-la) and Síofra (pronounced SHEE-fra).
New to the boys’ top 100 were Caelan, Jude, Paddy, Éanna (pronounced EY-na) and Dáithí (pronounced DAH-hee).
The fastest-rising names in the top 100 in terms of numbers of babies were:
- Éala (increased by 41 baby girls), Ailbhe (+40), Méabh (+36), Zara (+33), Croía (+26)
- Caelan (increased by 58 baby boys), Páidí (+41), Arlo (+35), Tommy (+30), Mark (+28)
And the fastest-rising names in terms of rank were:
- Síofra (rose 57 spots on the girls’ list), Lucia (+43), Éala (+38), Lottie (+36), Zara (+31)
- Caelan (rose 58 spots on the boys’ list), Mark (+46), Ruairí (+41), Eoin (+37), Arlo (+31)
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) | Grace | Jack |
Munster (27% of pop.) | Grace | Jack |
Connacht (11% of pop.) | Fiadh | Jack |
Ulster [ROI portion] (6% of pop.) | Lily | Jack |
And what about the baby names at the other end of the spectrum?
Here’s a selection of the names that were given to just 3 babies each in Ireland last year:
Rare Girl Names | Rare Boy Names |
Adara, Brídín, Cushla, Dottie, Eilidh, Féile, Gillian, Hezlin, Iona, Jolene, Kalina, Lorna, Maliha, Natasha, Ocean, Philomena, Ríonach, Saffie, Tuiren, Vedika, Yasmine, Zadie | Alby, Bram, Conal, Douglas, Elvis, Finnian, Gerald, Igor, Jonnie, Keenan, Lughaidh, Maitiú, Nathanael, Orin, Patryk, Rylan, Séadhna, Téidí, Ultán, Viktor, Wren, Yohan, Zachariah |
Finally, here are Ireland’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
Sources: Irish Babies’ Names – CSO (Irish Babies’ Names 2023), Births, Deaths and Marriages – 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.