Jack, Sophie top baby names in 2010

Jack and Sophie remain the most popular babies' names in Ireland, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

There were four new entries included in the top 100 names for boys in 2010 and three for the girl's list.

However, Jack, which has been the most popular boy's name since 2007, and Sophie, which has remained the top girl's since 2009, still reign supreme.

The figures show there were 914 boys were named Jack in 2010, 102 more than the number of boys named Sean, the second-most popular boy's name in Ireland. Rounding out the top five boy's names are Daniel, James and Conor.

In 2010, 599 girls were given the name Sophie, just one more than the second most popular name Emily. Emma, Sarah and Lucy round out the top five girls' names in Ireland.

The most popular boy's names recorded in 2010 have made up the top five since 2007, while four of the names have been among the leading names since 1998.

There has been more variation in the popularity of girls' names over the past few years. Emma and Sarah have been in the top five since 1998, but 2010 marked the first time Lucy appeared in the list.

In general, the figures show that girls tend to be given a wider variety of names than boys. Last year 4,710 girls' names were registered compared to 3,866 boys' names.

There were four first-time entries to the top 100 for boys in 2010 with Tyler, Sebastian, Daithí and Alfie. Lilly, Sofia and Lena also made their first appearance in the top 100 list for girls last year.

Regional difference were recorded with Alex the most popular boy's name in South Dublin and Limerick city, Adam in Sligo and Michael and Connor shared the top spot in Galway city. Ryan was the most popular name in Louth and was joint first in Kerry.

For girls, Zuzanna, which ranked 71st overall, took the number one spot in Galway city. Grace was most popular in Mayo, and in Sligo, Saoirse shared the top ranking with Emma. Ellie was the most popular name in Limerick city, while the number one spots in Cavan and Donegal went to Aoife and Chloe respectively. Holly shared the top spot with Emily in Carlow, and Katie ranked first in Leitrim and Monaghan.

For boys and girls where both parents were Irish, Jack, Emily and Emma were the most popular names. For babies with parents of UK nationality, Jessica and Alexander were the preferred choices.

James was the most popular boy's name in the birth columns of The Irish Times last year with the most popular girl's names evenly split between Anna, Grace, Lucy and Lily, Lilly.

Most popular babies' names by regional authority

Regional Authority     Boys     Girls
Border                          Jack      Emma
Midland                        Jack      Sarah
West                            Conor    Sarah
Dublin                           Daniel    Sophie
Mid-East                      Sean      Emily
Mid-West                     Jack      Emma
South-East                    Jack      Sophie
South-West                  Jack       Emily