Read more: Top baby names in Ireland during 2010

Read more: Top Irish baby names in America

James came out as the most popular boys baby name for 2010 with the most popular girls names including Anna, Grace, Lucy and Lilly, according to birth announcements in the Irish Times.

The weekend edition of the newspaper was home to more than 700 birth announcements in 2010, including 26 sets of twins.

The name James witnessed a dramatic increase in popularity; it topped the polls in 2008 but was beaten off the top spot in 2009 by Matthew. The latter, didn’t make it into the top ten this year.

Max came in as the second most popular name for boys in the birth announcement column, followed by Hugo, Patrick and Oliver.

Lucy had been the most popular girls name in 2009, along with Anna, Grace and Lilly.

The most uncommon girl’s names were Peaches, Ayana, Mealla, Asha, Cayleen and Tegan.

Parents of boys opted for eclectic names such as Prosper, Kester, Mingus, Hunter, Osian and Aldus.

Perhaps taking the lead from Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Suri appeared as a middle name on one occasion.

Irish names continue to be less popular with few making it into the top 20 most popular names.

Patrick was joint third on the boys list, but other Irish names such as Fionn, Cian, Seán and Eoin did not make it.

Similarly no Irish girls name appeared on the top ten of the list, but names such as Aoife, Aoibhinn, Róisín and Síofra featured further down.

BOYS
1 James
2 Max
3 Hugo and Patrick
5 Oliver
6 Tom, Thomas, Daniel, Harry, Peter, Benjamin and Luke

GIRLS
1 Anna, Lucy, Grace and Lilly
5 Alice
6 Emily and Sarah
8 Emma and Chloe
10 Rebecca and Sophie

Source: Irish Times birth announcement columns January-December 2010

Read more: Top baby names in Ireland during 2010

Read more: Top Irish baby names in America