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Wee Ones
Mia or Mary? What would you name a newborn baby girl?
An analysis of data has revealed that a girl today is five times more likely to be called Mia – as opposed to Mary.
MIA OR MARY? Chloe or Catherine? Noah or Niall? Mason or Martin?
Which of those names do you prefer?
The first options given are all names that are considered to be ‘trendy’ right now, whilst the latter were all previously popular among Irish parents.
According to data analysis by Dublin-based company Dataconversion.ie, celebrity baby names have had some influence but not a huge amount.
The names currently becoming more common include Kayden, which moved up 44 places in this year’s Top Names list compiled by the CSO, and Fiadh (for a girl) which rose 64 places.
Shay, Kai, Leo, Anthony, Sadie, Poppie, Lexi and Sienna all saw jumps in popularity. Those mothers with little Sadies may have been influenced by a certain Mr and Mrs O’Driscoll and Huberman, of course.
Today, as more names come into the fold, young girls are five times more likely to be called Mia than Mary and three times more likely to be called Chloe over Catherine.
Boys are 11 times more likely to be called Fionn rather than Francis and five times more likely to be a Noah and not a Niall.
There were a total of 68,930 babies born last year. For every 100 boys, there were 95 girls. The most popular male name in every region of the country – bar two (the West and Dublin) – was Jack. In the Mayo/Galway area, James was the winning name.
For girls, Emma and Emily won out throughout the country, with Sophie and Grace both doing well in Ulster and the border counties.
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