The most popular baby names in Ireland have been released in Statistical Yearbook 2021

Emily was beaten as the most popular name for a baby girl for the first time since 2011.

The Central Statistics Office’s Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2021 has been released, providing a comprehensive picture of Ireland today. This includes a general overview of business, economy and travel, as well as people, society, and life events - including the most popular baby names. When it comes to baby boy names, Jack takes the top spot as most popular for yet another year running. Jack has been the most popular name for a baby boy since 2007, with the exception of 2016 when it lost out to James. James came second this year, with Noah, Conor and Daniel securing a spot in the top five. And for baby girls, Grace comes in at number one - climbing from second place in 2018 and 2019. Emily, which was Jack's long-running counterpart in girls names and held a spot as most popular since 2011, was knocked off the top spot this year. Fiadh, a new entrant to the top five names in 2019, was the second most popular baby girl name. Emily, Sophie, and Ava were all listed in the top five. The most popular Irish surname was Murphy, with 602 babies registered under the surname. Kelly and O' Brien came in at second and third, followed by Ryan and Byrne. The number of births in 2020 dropped to 55,959. This compares to 65,536 births in 2015, a total decline of 9,577 births (-14.6%). The yearbook also notes that the number of teenage births continued to decline, with 830 mothers under 20 years of age compared to 1,199 in 2015. However, the reverse was the case for the number of mothers over 40, which rose from 4175 in 2015 to 4701 - accounting for 8.4% of all births. The majority of births were to first or second times mothers. Ever wondered how popular your baby's name is? The Central Statistics Office allows you to search the popularity of names from 1964-2020 here.