Emily for a girl and James or Matthew for the boys

Emily, James and Matthew were among the names most frequently chosen by parents who announced their babies' arrival in the columns…

Emily, James and Matthew were among the names most frequently chosen by parents who announced their babies' arrival in the columns of The Irish Times last year.

While James makes a regular appearance in lists of favourite boys' names, Matthew's joint first position in the boys came as a surprise as the name barely made it into the 10 most popular names in birth announcement columns in the previous year.

Then, Harry was in joint first position with James. Last year, Harry slipped to third, after Jack. Andrew was chosen as frequently as Harry last year, followed by Daniel, David and Max.

Emily was also a surprise number one choice for baby girls last year as it failed to make a showing in the top 10 names in 2004. Then, Anna was the most popular name, but last year it slipped to fifth on the list, after Sarah, Lucy and Grace.

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Other popular girls' names included Sophie and Rachel. Both Katie and Kate appeared in the top 10 names, but if both versions were counted as one, the name would have been the most popular of all. Similarly, variations of Isabel, including Isobel, Isabelle and Isabella, made it one of the most popular names in the birth announcements.

The list of more than 1,000 names shows a slight swing towards Irish names.

Both Cillian and Conor made it into the top 10 boys' names while Aisling and Aoife both appeared in the top 10 girls' names. However, Róisín fell off in popularity last year, as did Gráinne and Ciara.

Other popular Irish names included Finn, Cian, Liam and Eoin.

The birth announcements column often hosts some rare names and last year was no exception. Girls' names included Freya - which appeared on several occasions - Líadan, Scarlett, Cosette, Lazara and Safia.

Parents of boys also showed some originality, picking names such as Ajay, Ardán, Breón, Cosmo, Dashiell and Luca. Overseas adoptions and the State's growing multi-culturalism were reflected in names such as Mei-Shen, Ke, Omar, Yiorgos and Gergely.

Meanwhile, some parents saved their creativity for their babies' middle names, with Zircon, Ptolemy, Loveday and Atticus all sure to provide an interesting talking point for their children someday.

The birth announcements also show the growing trend of adding Rose to a girl's name, with Bláthna-Rose, Lola-Rose, Anna-Rose and Claudia-Rose all making their debut.

The Central Statistics Office has not yet released national data on last year's most common baby names, but in 2004, Seán and Emma were the most popular names.

What's in a name: top 10s

BOYS

1= James

Matthew

3   Jack

4= Andrew

Harry

6= Daniel

David

7= Cillian

Conor

Joseph

Tom

GIRLS

1 Emily

2 Sarah

3 Lucy

4 Grace

5= Anna

Sophie

7= Katie,

Kate

Rachel

10= Aisling

Aoife

Source: Irish Times birth notices