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Life

18th Mar 2022

These are the 12 most popular Irish baby names in the UK

Ellen Fitzpatrick

We love to see it.

Irish names have gone global over the last few years, and while we have our own Irish talent making these names well known, they seem to be appearing more and more from non-Irish people.

UK TV shows and films seem to be including characters with Irish names more and more popular outside of the Emerald Isle.

New research from Slingo has found that there has been a huge increase in babies named Fiadh, Maeve, Cillian and Rory over the past five years

Fiadh and Maeve are the two baby names that have grown most in popularity in the UK in recent years, according to new data.

After analysing hundreds of baby names, Slingo managed to narrow it down to find some of the rising Irish names poppin gup in England and Wales.

Fiadh has seen an 878% increase since 2016, while 729% more baby girls have been named Maeve in the same period.

Nora (84%), Orla (36%), Saoirse (27%) and Quinn (25%) are other names that have become more favourable by parents.

When it comes to boys, the name Cillian has seen a 70% increase with Rory (57%), Ronan (30%) and Brodie (28%) also being picked more.

This data has been collected using the latest report from the UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) comparing hundreds of baby names from the year 2016 to 2020.

A spokesperson for Slingo said: “More and more parents in modern times are trying to find new, unique names that not only sound nice, but hold a special meaning.

“Our research has found a handful of names with Irish heritage that are heaped in tradition, which are growing in popularity across the UK.

“Names from the Emerald Isle have often trended in years gone by, but now could be the era of Fiadhs, Cillians and Maeve’s to grow up together.”