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Holly and Noah were the most popular names for babies born in December 2022, according to data published by the Central Statistics Office.
There were 65 babies born on Christmas Day last year, of which 34 were boys and 31 were girls, compared 89 babies born on Christmas Day 2021.
The CSO said that while it was not possible to reveal the names chosen on Christmas Day, there seemed to be a Biblical reference for four of the five names in the list of top five boys’ names in December 2022.
The most popular names chosen for baby boys born throughout December 2022 were Noah (48); Jack (43); Rían (32); Oisín (30); and James (28).
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The most popular names chosen for baby girls were Holly (45); Robyn (33); Grace (27); Fiadh (27); Sadie (22); while 21 babies were each called Mia, Lily, Hannah and Sophia.
“Comparing last year with 10 years ago, we can see some differences, most notably in the number of babies born on Christmas Day,” said the CSO. “In 2012 there were 113 babies born on Christmas Day of which 54 were boys and 59 were girls.”
For boys born throughout the whole of December 2012, the most popular names were James (68); Daniel (64); Jack (54); Seán (48); and Ryan (45).
The most popular names chosen for baby girls in December 2012 were Holly (83); Emily (55); Ella (51); Ava (46); and Aoife (45).
CSO statistician Seán O’Connor said: “Looking at the most popular names for babies born in December 2022, we can see a clear Christmas influence when it comes to naming girls.
“Throughout the whole of 2022, there were 124 girls who were named Holly, which ranked 43rd in terms of popularity. But it was the top name for girls born in December with 83 baby girls given the name Holly.
“Overall, in 2022, the most popular name for baby girls was Emily, and while Jack topped the chart for boys’ names over the whole year, Noah was the most popular name for boys born in December.”
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