Blog

Popular baby names in Northern Ireland (UK), 2024

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

Last year, Northern Ireland — one of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom — welcomed more than 19,400 babies.

What were the most popular baby names among these babies? Grace and James.

Here are Northern Ireland’s top 50+ girl names and top 50 boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Grace, 125 baby girls
  2. Olivia, 109
  3. Fiadh, 104
  4. Aoife, 97
  5. Emily, 96
  6. Charlotte, 95 (tie)
  7. Lily, 95 (tie)
  8. Isla, 91 (tie)
  9. Sophia, 91 (tie)
  10. Freya, 90
  11. Annie, 89
  12. Ella, 85
  13. Eabha, 80
  14. Amelia, 74 (tie)
  15. Sophie, 74 (tie)
  16. Evie, 73
  17. Meabh, 71
  18. Ellie, 69
  19. Anna, 65
  20. Clodagh, 61 (tie)
  21. Mia, 61 (tie)
  22. Aria, 59 (3-way tie)
  23. Maisie, 59 (3-way tie)
  24. Rosie, 59 (3-way tie)
  25. Erin, 58
  26. Croia, 55
  27. Elsie, 54
  28. Bonnie, 53 (tie)
  29. Molly, 53 (tie)
  30. Phoebe, 52 (tie)
  31. Sienna, 52 (tie)
  32. Ava, 51
  33. Cara, 50 (tie)
  34. Daisy, 50 (tie)
  35. Ivy, 49
  36. Clara, 47
  37. Saoirse, 46
  38. Lucy, 45 (tie)
  39. Ruby, 45 (tie)
  40. Cora, 44
  41. Rose, 43
  42. Eva, 42 (tie)
  43. Sadie, 42 (tie)
  44. Isabella, 39 (3-way tie)
  45. Nora, 39 (3-way tie)
  46. Willow, 39 (3-way tie)
  47. Ada, 37 (5-way tie)
  48. Katie, 37 (5-way tie)
  49. Maya, 37 (5-way tie)
  50. Niamh, 37 (5-way tie)
  51. Poppy, 37 (5-way tie)

Boy names

  1. James, 143 baby boys
  2. Cillian, 142
  3. Noah, 139
  4. Jack, 130
  5. Theo, 125
  6. Jude, 124
  7. Luca, 109
  8. Charlie, 106
  9. Oisin, 105
  10. Oliver, 104
  11. Thomas, 96
  12. Leo, 94
  13. Harry, 89 (tie)
  14. Jacob, 89 (tie)
  15. Finn, 84
  16. Arthur, 83
  17. Alfie, 82 (3-way tie)
  18. Daithi, 82 (3-way tie)
  19. Freddie, 82 (3-way tie)
  20. Archie, 77 (tie)
  21. Tommy, 77 (tie)
  22. Rian, 67
  23. Ollie, 65
  24. Conan, 62
  25. Ronan, 61
  26. Caleb, 60 (4-way tie)
  27. Fionn, 60 (4-way tie)
  28. Isaac, 60 (4-way tie)
  29. Patrick, 60 (4-way tie)
  30. Lucas, 57 (tie)
  31. Max, 57 (tie)
  32. Theodore, 55
  33. Rory, 54
  34. Joseph, 53 (3-way tie)
  35. Oscar, 53 (3-way tie)
  36. Reuben, 53 (3-way tie)
  37. Daniel, 52
  38. Adam, 51 (tie)
  39. Alexander, 51 (tie)
  40. George, 50 (tie)
  41. Odhran, 50 (tie)
  42. Ezra, 49 (3-way tie)
  43. Liam, 49 (3-way tie)
  44. Matthew, 49 (3-way tie)
  45. Arlo, 48 (3-way tie)
  46. Cian, 48 (3-way tie)
  47. Henry, 48 (3-way tie)
  48. Daire, 47 (3-way tie)
  49. Jonah, 47 (3-way tie)
  50. Sean, 47 (3-way tie)

Grace and James were also the #1 names in 2022, but both dipped to third place in 2023.

The highest climbers within the girls’ top 100 in 2024 were Maya, Maria, Eliza, and Ayla.

And the highest climbers within the boys’ top 100 were Austin, Rossa, Callum, and Joseph.

Finally, here’s a small selection of the names that were given to just three babies each last year:

  • Rare girl names: Aodhla, Cuisle, Doireann, Etain, Neala, Orlagh, Tierna
  • Rare boy names: Ainle, Con, Dualtagh, Eamon, Feilim, Lir, Oilibhear

Cuisle, the Irish word for “pulse,” is thematically similar to the trendy girl name Croia, which is based on croí, the Irish word for “heart.” Croia currently ranks 26th and 16th in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, respectively.

Sources:

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

Where did the baby name Merrial come from in 1920?

Illustration of Merrial Houlton from the Rocky Mountain News (May 1920)
Merrial Houlton (with a suitor)

The rare name Merrial was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in 1920:

  • 1922: unlisted
  • 1921: unlisted
  • 1920: 6 baby girls named Merrial [debut]
  • 1919: unlisted
  • 1918: unlisted

Where did it come from?

My guess is the story “Mice and Men,” which was serialized in various U.S. and Canadian newspapers that year.

The main character was a young American woman, Merrial Houlton — “an amazing wisp of a girl, who was equally at home on the back of a bucking broncho or presiding over the ‘tea things’ in a Boston drawing room” — who had traveled to England to visit her late mother’s family.

The story was written by Katharine Newlin Burt, a prolific author whose novels (mostly Westerns) were published from the 1910s to the 1970s. Originally from New York, Burt spent much of her adult life in Wyoming on her husband’s Bar BC Dude Ranch (which was later incorporated into Grand Teton National Park).

What are your thoughts on the baby name Merrial?

Sources:

Image: Clipping from the Rocky Mountain News (16 May 1920)

Baby born to circus performers, named after circus owner

Harry James in an advertisement (1942)
Harry James ad (1942)

Trumpet-playing bandleader Harry James — in full, Harry Haag James — was one of the most popular trumpeters of the big band era.

His parents were Maybelle and Everette James, “two of the principal performers in the Might Haag Shows,” which was “a traveling circus that only played small towns touring the South and Southeast.” His father, the director of the Mighty Haag band, was both a trumpeter and a cornetist. His mother was an aerialist who also rode horses and played the calliope.

Harry Haag James was born in early 1916 in Albany, Georgia — where the circus happened to be located at the time. His middle name was bestowed in honor of the circus’ owner, Ernest Haag.

Several sources claim that Harry James’ first name was actually “Henry,” but I found no proof of this. In fact, I noticed that his paternal grandfather’s name was also Harry.

P.S. Here’s a New England baby from the 1840s who was also named after a circus…

Sources:

Image: Clipping from Billboard magazine (21 Mar. 1942)

How did Jet magazine’s “Beauties of the Week” influence baby names?

Taren Sims as the "Beauty of the Week" in Jet magazine (Oct. 1981)
Taren Sims in Jet magazine

Jet was a pocket-sized weekly magazine focused on African-American news and entertainment. While it was being published in print (1951-2014), Jet was “a ubiquitous presence in black communities” — particularly in places like barbershops and beauty parlors.

Most issues of Jet included a full-length portrait of an attractive young woman wearing a swimsuit. The accompanying text revealed the woman’s name and location, plus a few other details (e.g., body measurements, occupation, college major, and/or hobbies). In late 1975, Jet began referring to each of these women as the “Beauty of the Week” in the table of contents.

We’ve already discussed several baby name-popularizing “Beauties of the Week” (Annazette, Debraca, Meyosha, Tchanavian, and Tijwana), but how many others had a similar effect?

To find out, I flipped through every single 20th-century issue of Jet, gathered all the “Beauty of the Week” names, and checked these names in the U.S. baby name data. The result? More than two dozen likely cases of influence…

Ouida
Ouida Williams, a dancer from St. Louis, was featured in Jet in July of 1953. The baby name Ouida saw an uptick in usage the same year.

Meiling
Mei Ling Leung, a college student in Los Angeles, was featured in Jet in April of 1960. The baby name Meiling debuted in the data the same year.

Dollicia Holloway as the featured beauty in Jet magazine (Oct. 1961)
Dollicia Holloway in Jet magazine

Dollicia
Dollicia Holloway, a legal secretary from Long Island, was featured in Jet in October of 1961. The baby name Dollicia debuted in the data the next year.

Kaaron
Kaaron Sidney, a keypunch operator from Chicago, was featured in Jet in May of 1962. The baby name Kaaron was a one-hit wonder in the data the same year.

Darien
Darien Daniels, an actress from Los Angeles, was featured in Jet in June of 1968. The baby name Darien saw an uptick in usage (as a girl name) the same year.

Sharmeen
Sharmeen Caldwell, a model from Memphis, was featured in Jet in November of 1972. The baby name Sharmeen debuted in the data the same year.

Cherisse
Cherisse Wilson, a model from Detroit, was featured in Jet in September of 1973. The baby name Cherisse saw increased usage the same year.

Cherron
Cher’ron Burrell, a beauty pageant winner from Dallas, was featured in Jet in April of 1974. The baby name Cherron peaked in usage the same year.

Kimara
Kimara Parker, a model from Chicago, was featured in Jet in October of 1974. The baby name Kimara saw increased usage the same year.

Shayla Simpson as the featured beauty in Jet magazine (Apr. 1977)
Shayla Simpson in Jet magazine

Shayla
Shayla Simpson, a model from Washington, D.C., was featured in Jet in April of 1977. The baby name Shayla saw increased usage the same year. (From 1977 to 1991, Shayla Simpson was also the commentator of the Ebony Fashion Fair. Both Jet and Ebony ran photos of her regularly during this period. On her website, Shayla notes that “she has met over 350 babies who were named “Shayla” in her honor.”)

Treina
Treina Booker, a model from Los Angeles, was featured in Jet in March of 1979. The baby name Treina peaked in usage the same year.

Nivia
Nivia Souffront, a model of Puerto Rican descent, was featured in Jet in December of 1979. The baby name Nivia peaked in usage the next year.

Lavasia
Lavasia Butcher, a model from Los Angeles, was featured in Jet in February of 1981. The same year, the baby name Lavasia both debuted in the data and reached peak usage.

Lakaii
Lakaii S. Tae, a singer and dancer from Los Angeles, was featured in Jet in October of 1981. The baby name Lakaii debuted in the data the same year.

Taren
Taren Sims, a flight attendant from Jersey City, was featured in Jet in October of 1981. The baby name Taren saw a spike in usage the next year.

Cassaundra
Cassaundra Anderson, an aspiring model from Richmond, Virginia, was featured in Jet in July of 1982. The baby name Cassaundra saw increased usage the same year.

Chartese
Chartese Berry, a student at Georgetown University, was featured in Jet in February of 1983. The baby name Chartese was a one-hit wonder in the data the same year.

Jakki Davis as the "Beauty of the Week" in Jet magazine (Sept. 1984)
Jakki Davis in Jet magazine

Jakki
Jakki Davis, a Cancerian from Seattle, was featured in Jet in September of 1984. The baby name Jakki saw an uptick in usage the same year.

Fotini
Fotini Williams, a secretary from Chicago, was featured in Jet in October of 1984. The baby name Fotini saw an uptick in usage the same year.

Yoshani
Yoshani Wije, “a native of the island nation Sri Lanka,” was featured in Jet in January of 1989. The baby name Yoshani was a one-hit wonder in the data the same year.

Tai
Tai Keart, a model and dancer from Los Angeles, was featured in Jet in April of 1991. The baby name Tai saw an uptick in usage the same year.

Tonisha
Tonisha Joyner, a nursery school teacher from Chesapeake, Virginia, was featured in Jet in September of 1992. The baby name Tonisha saw increased usage the same year.

Anetra
Anetra Reinhart, a model from Louisville, was featured in Jet in May of 1993. The baby name Anetra saw an uptick in usage the same year.

Najha Phillips as the "Beauty of the Week" in Jet magazine (Aug. 1993)
Najha Phillips in Jet magazine

Najha
Najha Phillips, a model from Washington, D.C., was featured in Jet in August of 1993. The baby name Najha debuted in the data the same year.

Talani
Talani Rabb, a model from Hawthorne, California, was featured in Jet in March of 1996. The baby name Talani debuted in the data the next year. (In 2009, Talani married Wu-Tang Clan member Robert Fitzgerald “RZA” Diggs — whose stage name became a baby name in 2023.)

Irian
Irian Thomas, a college student, was featured in Jet in March of 1999. The baby name Irian saw an uptick in usage the next year.

Which of the above names do you like the most?

P.S. Covergirl Jacy De Souza was also a two-time “Beauty of the Week” in 1961…

Sources:

Images: Clippings from Jet magazine (12 Oct. 1961; 7 Apr. 1977; 29 Oct. 1981; 3 Sept. 1984; 30 Aug. 1993)