Junior infants classrooms will be populated by children called Lucy, James, Daniel and Sophie in 2010 if last year's birth notices in The Irish Timesare anything to go by.
James and Lucy were the most popular names chosen by parents who announced their babies' arrivals in the birth announcement columns last year.
James has held the top spot in recent years, sharing it with Matthew in 2005 and Harry in 2004. However, Matthew was usurped by names such as Ben, Hugh, Max and David last year. Lucy has also been in the list of favourite names in recent years but the name saw a surge in popularity last year. Lucy was followed in popularity by Grace, Sophie, Kate, Rachel, Aoife, Emily and Anna.
After James, the most frequently chosen boys' names were Daniel, Michael, Charlie, Jack, Sam, Patrick and Callum/Calum.
The list of the 15 most popular boys' names could have come from any English-speaking country, with only one Irish name, Seán, listed. Our patron saint's name, Patrick, remained in the 10 most popular names while Paddy and Paddie both appeared once, near the end of the list. Cian appeared just outside the top 15 names and was followed by Liam, Ruairí, Eoghan and Oisín lower down the list.
Aoife and Ciara were the only Irish names to feature in the top 15 girls' names. Names such as Aisling, Éimear, Niamh and Caoimhe appeared further down the list.
The Central Statistics Office will not be releasing data on last year's most common names for some months, but in 2005, the most popular boys' name was Jack, followed by Seán, Adam, Conor and James. Conor fell in popularity in The Irish Timesnotices last year, and was bypassed by William, Andrew, Rory, Peter and Cian.
Emma was the most popular girls' name in the CSO list in 2005 but hardly featured in last year's birth notices. As always, the birth announcement columns brought a generous crop of unusual names with parents of girls showing the greatest originality. Unusual girls' names included Arwen, Zahra, Tegan, Aelfreda, Trinity, Effie, Joia and Annest.
But parents of boys did not disappoint, choosing names such as Bamford, Jago, Damir and Sky. Some parents chose to express their creativity in the choice of boys' middle names such as Beau, Ultimo and Gregor.
The list of girls' names show the growing popularity of choosing Rose as a middle name or part of a hyphenated first name. Examples include Olivia Rose, Ella-Rose, Sophia Rose, Ruby Rose and Brooke Rose. Grace was also a popular choice for middle names.
The use of surnames for first names is also evident in this list of boys' names, which included Harrison, Strachan and Quinn. The arrival of 20 sets of twins was announced in the list of more than 860 birth notices placed in The Irish Timeslast year.
TOP 10: names in 'The Irish Times'
Boys
1 ...James
2 ...Daniel
3 ...Michael
4 ...Charlie
5 ...Jack
6 ...Sam
7 ...Patrick
8 ...Callum/ ... Calum
9 ...Ben
10 ...David
Girls
1 ...Lucy
2 ...Grace
3 ...Sophie
4 ...Kate
5 ...Rachel
6 ...Aoife
7 ...Emily
8 ...Anna
9 ...Olivia
10 ...Laura
