According to data from Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO), the most popular baby names in the country last year were Fiadh and Jack.
Here are Ireland’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2021:
Girl Names
- Fiadh, 424 baby girls
- Grace, 412
- Emily, 388
- Sophie, 336
- Éabha, 288
- Lucy, 287
- Mia, 279
- Ava, 272
- Lily, 271
- Ella, 268
Boy Names
- Jack, 667 baby boys
- Noah, 475
- James, 442
- Conor, 360
- Rían, 357
- Liam, 353
- Charlie, 345
- Daniel, 325
- Cillian, 322
- Tadhg, 318
In the girls’ top 10, Éabha and Lily replaced Amelia and Hannah. (In both 2019 and 2020, Éabha was the fastest-rising girl name in Ireland.)
In the boys’ top 10, Rían, Cillian, and Tadhg replaced Finn, Fionn, and Harry.
Newbies to the girls’ top 100 were Indie, Ayla and Lottie; newbies to the boys’ top 100 were Teddy, Daithí, Páidí, Jaxon, Brody, Ted, Hunter, Tadgh, Tiernan, and Arlo.
The fastest-rising names in the top 100 in terms of numbers of babies were:
- Croía (+60 baby girls), Emily (+59), Fiadh (+58), Éabha (+54), Isla (+52)
- Rían (+72 baby boys), Jack (+70), Danny (+57), Theo (+53), Ollie (+51)
The fastest-rising names in terms of rank were:
- Croía (+43 spots), Indie (+28), Ayla (+28), Fíadh (+24), Daisy (+21)
- Ted (+49 spots), Hunter (+38), Hugo (+35), Brody (+35), Teddy (+31)
Rían (which was already on the rise) and Croía have both given a boost recently by Irish MMA fighter Conor McGregor, who welcomed a daughter named Croía Mairéad at the start of 2019 and a son named Rían in May of 2021.
Here’s what writer and Irish language activist Darach Ó Séaghdha’s had to say about the rise of Rían (and Éabha):
Given that the first name Ryan started to decline in popularity in the 2010s around the time Rian and Rían began to ascend it is reasonable to see Rían as an update or replacement to Ryan, much as Éabha has climbed in popularity as Eve, Ava and Aoibhe have wavered.
He also noted that “Rían and Rian would be the [most popular] Gaeilge-origin boy name if counted together, edging ahead of Conor.”
Sources: Irish Babies’ Names, Irish Babies’ Names 2021, The Irish For: The rise of Rían – the latest baby names in Ireland
P.S. To follow up on Friday’s post about the free lighthouse tour…the name Patrick is currently ranked 19th in Ireland, but none of the other three names (Paddy, Pat, or Patricia) rank anywhere near the top 100. That said, one of the names new to the boys’ top 100 last year was Páidí (pronounced paw-dee) — a pet form of Pádraig, which is an Irish form of Patrick.
