The Central Statistics Office of Ireland has recently released the most popular Irish babies’ names of 2014, and records show not much has changed in the past few years.

Jack has been the top choice for boys' names in Ireland since 2007, while Emily has retained the number one position for girls since 2011. In fact, the top five boys’ names have remained at the top since 2007, with only a change in order in 2012, when Conor finished in 4th place ahead of Sean.

Jack, Sean, Conor, and James have been in the top five since 1998.

The five most popular names for boys in 2014 were:

1. Jack

2. James 

3. Daniel 

4. Conor

5. Sean

For girls, the most popular names in 2014 were:

1.Emily

2.Sophie

3.Emma

4.Grace

5.Ava

An analysis of baby names registered fifty years ago shows that in 1964 the most popular names were John, for boys, and Mary, for girls.

In order, the top five boys’ names in 1964 were John, Patrick, Michael, Paul and James. James is the only name that is still in the top five names registered for boys fifty years later in 2014.

Mary, the most popular girls’ name in 1964, is still among the top 100 names for girls, ranking 77. Top five girls’ names in 1964 were Mary, Catherine, Margaret, Ann and Anne, none of which featured in the top five names for girls in 2014.

Except for Mary, none of the other four names featured anywhere in the top 100 names for girl in 2014. Likewise, none of the top 10 most popular names for girls in 2014 show up anywhere in the top 100 girls’ names of 1964.

In 1964, there were 1,103 girls’ names registered, compared to 4,586 in 2014,  and 614 boys’ names registered, versus 3,486 in 2014.