The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today revealed the most popular names for babies born in Donegal in December 2021.
For new boys here, James came top of the pile while it was Grace for the little girls.
Last Christmas, there were 89 babies born around Ireland on Christmas Day 2021 – of which 51 were boys and 38 were girls.
While it is not possible to reveal the names chosen on Christmas Day, there seems to be a Biblical reference for four of the five names in the list of top five boys names in December 2021. The most popular names chosen for baby boys born throughout December 2021 were: Jack (58); Noah (42); Michael (38); James (37); and Daniel (36).
The most popular names chosen for baby girls in December 2021 were: Holly (45); Ellie (34); Grace (33); Emily (32); while Ava and Ella were joint fifth with 29 names each.
Ten year comparison
Comparing last year with ten years ago, we can see some differences, most notably in the number of babies born on Christmas Day. In 2011 there were 130 babies born on Christmas Day with 70 boys and 60 girls.
For boys born throughout the whole of December 2011, the most popular names were: Jack (79); Sean (65); Daniel (63); Conor (58); and Adam and James were joint fifth with 55 names each.
The most popular names choses for baby girls in December 2011 were: Holly (99); Emily (62); Sophie (47); Ella (40); and Lucy (39).
In terms of the whole of 2021, the most popular name for girls was Fiadh, while Jack topped the chart for boys’ names not only in December, but for the whole of 2021.
Parent’s nationality
Jack was the most popular name where both parents were Irish nationals, while William was the most popular choice with parents of UK nationality. Where both parents were from the EU14 (excluding Ireland) Liam was the most favoured boys’ name. Leon was the name chosen most often by parents from the EU15 to EU27. Muhammad was the highest ranked name of baby boys born where both parents were from outside the EU.
Fiadh was the most popular girls’ name where both parents were Irish nationals. Emma ranked first with parents from the EU14 (excluding Ireland) and Mia took the top spot with parents from the EU15 to EU27. Sarah was the main choice where both parents were from outside the EU.
John and Mary
In 1971, the most popular name for boys was John.
Fifty years later, John ranked 28th in popularity in 2021 for baby boys.
The top five boys’ names in 1971 were John, Michael, Patrick, David and James. The only name in this top five which was still in the top five by 2021 was James.
Mary was the most popular girls’ name in 1971. In 2021, Mary has slipped out of the top 100 for the first time and is ranked 127th. None of the top 10 most popular names for girls in 2021 appeared in the top 100 girls’ names in 1971. The first name to appear in both top 100’s was Anna who ranked 52nd in 1971 and 21st in 2021.
For more on the full list of most popular Irish Baby Names in 2021 see: https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-ibn/irishbabiesnames2021/
The most popular Irish Baby Names in 2022 will be published in February 2023.
