Expecting? These Are The Most Popular Non-Traditional Baby Names In Ireland Right Now

So it’s no surprise to hear that Irish people have veered away from traditional baby names in recent years. How many Marys and Johns are there really being born these days anyway?

But now we have actual figures being released of how many babies have been born in Ireland in the past year and what names their doting parents have bestowed on them. In a celeb world of  little girls named Apple and baby boys called Saint, just how much of this culture is rubbing off on new parents over here?

As of 2016, the five most popular boys names given to newborns were:

James

Jack

Daniel

Conor

Sean

All totally normal right? However the eye catching statistic is the huge increase in non-traditional, or ‘Hipster’ baby names. The pick of the bunch being Fiadh, the Irish for deer, Hugo, with a whole 82 baby boys christened the name last year, and bizarrely, both the names Leo and Oscar appeared in the top 100 most popular… Is this a shoutout to DiCaprio FINALLY taking home the coveted golden statue?

The top names chosen for girl’s born around Ireland in 2016 were:

Emily

Grace

Ava

Lucy

Amelia

Nothing too shocking here either, but what names have been crawling their way up the rankings? Title character of everyone’s favourite (at least it should be!) 90s movie Matilda made it in there, climbing up a huge 49 spots from 146th to 97th compared to the previous year. There’s also a pretty obvious nod to 2016’s augmented reality phenomenon ‘Pokemon Go’ with the name Evie coming in at 39th. And finally, does anybody know a little baby girl Willow? Well you might in a few years, as the nature-inspired name is the 72nd most popular name give to babies born last year. Gas.

Take note of the names of the future, we may well be welcoming a President Harper in 30 years!

• baby names
• Hipster