Jack and Sarah Most Popular Names

Jack and Sarah were the most popular babies' names registered last year, according to new figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

There were 1,073 boys named Jack in 2007 and 656 girls named Sarah. The second most popular names were Sean and Emma.

Jack topped the poll across the country, with the exception of Dublin where Sean was the most popular. Sarah was the most popular girls' name in the Border and South-West regions. Emma was the most popular in the West and Mid-West regions. Ella was the most popular in the Mid-East and South-East regions. Katie was the most popular name in the Midland region and Sophie in the Dublin region.

Four of the top five boys' names - Jack, Sean, Conor and James - have been in the top five since 1998, with only their order changing from year to year. Daniel is a new entry to the top five names at number four.

There has been more change in girls' names. While Emma and Sarah have been in the top five since 1998, Katie has only been in the top five since 2003, Sophie since 2006 and Ella is in the top five for the first time.

There were six first time entries to the top 100 for boys: Rhys, Oliver, Jayden, Louis, Lucas and Jacob. Also, Edward returned to the top 100 after a 2-year absence and Reece returned after a 3-year absence.

There were also six first time entries to the top 100 for girls: Brooke, Millie, Taylor, Muireann, Freya and Maya. Also, Sara returned to the top 100 after a 2-year absence and Lara returned after a 4-year absence.

In general, the statistics show that girls are given a wider variety of names than boys are, with 42.3% of girls given a name not in the top 100, compared with 32.8% of boys.

Posted Monday 1st September 2008