Jack, Ava top list of baby names

Jack and Ava were the most popular names for babies born last year, according to data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Ava, which was only ranked sixth in 2007, edged out Sarah as the top choice for baby girls, with 685 registered in Ireland during 2008, while Jack remained the favourite for boys for the second year in a row. More than 1,140 babies were given the name last year.

Little has changed in the list of top five boys' names over the past year, with Jack, Sean, Conor, Daniel and James also accounting for the most popular names in 2007. However, despite Jack coming out on top in seven of the eight regional authority areas last year, it failed to reach number one in Dublin, knocked off the top spot by Sean.

The girls list, however, was more varied. It saw two new entries, with Ava and Emily - at number five - making the list for the first time. The number two choice, Katie, entered the top five in 2003, while Sarah and Emma have been on the most popular list since 1998.

Ava topped the poll in the Dublin region, while Katie was most popular in the midland and mid-east regions. In the mid-west and south-west regions, Sarah was the top name, Emma was number one in Border and West regions, and Emily was the favourite in the South-East region.

Parents appear to be more adventurous with girls names than boys. More than 43 per cent of girls were given a name that did not appear in the top 100, compared with 34.9 per cent of boys.

Some of the more unusal names climbing up the rankings were Jakub, which was the highest new entry in the boys' table at number 63, along with Kacper and Filip, both of which were new to the list of top 100 names.

Maja, Natalia, Zuzanna and Meabh all entered the top 100 girls' names for the first time in 2008.