NI's Most Popular Baby Names Revealed

James, Noah, Grace and Emily have been revealed as the four most popular baby names chosen by new parents last year.

The trend was revealed by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency in the baby name statistics for 2018.

A total of 22,983 births were registered in 2018, with slightly more males (11,691) than females (11,292), accounting for 50.9% and 49.1% respectively.

James and Noah were the joint top names for baby boys, with 217 new babies given the monikers, while 221 baby girls were named Grace and 203 sets of new parents opted to name their daughter Emily.

Other popular boys names include Jack, Charlie, Daniel, Jacob, Oliver and Harry, while there was a notable amount of little girls named Olivia, Sophie, Ella, Amelia, Isla and Anna.

Logan fell from the top 10 most popular boys' names after reaching it for the first time in 2017, while Lily and Lucy replaced Charlotte and Sophia respectively in the list.

The research found that names are diversifying, with only 14% of babies given one of the top ten names, compared to 22% in 1998.

2018 marks the thirteenth consecutive year Grace has been in the top three. It was previously number one in 2013.

In terms of boys, this is the fourth consecutive time James has maintained the number one spot, and the name has been ranked in the top five every year since the reporting of baby names began in 1997.



(JG/MH)