James and Isabel were the most popular children's names last year among those announced in the birth columns of The Irish Times.
James, which was also the most popular boy's name in 1999 and 2000, topped the list ahead of David, Jack, Matthew and Luke in the top 10.
For girls, Isabel returned to the No 1 spot after losing her crown in 2000 to Sarah. Anna, Amy and Hannah tied for second place.
A total of 1,181 birth announcements were made in The Irish Times in 2001. This compared to 1,169 the previous year. Boys outnumbered girls by 616 to 565, and there were 23 sets of twins, compared to 21 in 2000.
Among the newcomers to the girls' top 10 were Eva and Ella. They finished ahead of such unusual names as Blaine, Aela, Paloma, Suki, Haille and Réiltín.
Among the less-common names given to boys were Zane, Treve, Eli, Keir, Cal, Kai and Oscar-Blu.
The top 10 list for girls was (2000 position in brackets): 1. Isabel (5); 2. Anna (4), Amy (-), and Hannah (-); 3. Aoife (-); 4. Ellen (-); 5. Emma (5); 6. Rachel (9); 7. Sarah (1); 8. Sophie (2); 9. Emily (-); 10. Eva (-) and Ella (-).
For boys, the list was: 1. James (1); 2. David (6); 3. Jack (4); 4. Matthew (10); 5. Luke (8); 6. Adam (-); 7. Conor (2); 8. Michael (-); 9. Patrick (-); 10. William (5).