Northern Ireland Baby Names 2018

Posted 6 August 2019

The Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency  has released baby names data for 2018 for Northern Ireland. Data is available for all names.

Female Names

Grace was the most popular girls’ name in 2018, jumping ahead of Emily who drops to second place. Olivia remains in third place, and Sophie moves up two places to fourth. Ella climbs two places to fifth and Amelia also moves up two places to sixth. Isla falls three places to seventh and Anna drops three places to eighth. Lily and Lucy are new entries in the top ten, with Lily moving up two places to ninth and Lucy climbing six places to tenth. Sophia and Charlotte drop out of the top ten.

New entries in the top 100 names include Myla (up 43 places to 67th), Lottie (up 38 places to joint 72nd), Mila (up 50 places to joint 72nd), Pippa (up 30 places to 80th), Aine (up 17 places to 86th), Lola (up 24 places to 86th), Ada (up 98 places to joint 92nd), Fianna (up 30 places to joint 92nd), Julia (up 42 places to joint 92nd) and Savannah (up 20 places to 98th).

Names dropping out of the top 100 include Aoibheann (down 31 places to 108th), Bella (down 56 places to 112th), Matilda (down 23 places to joint 114th), Orlaith (down 23 places to joint 114th), Rachel (down 28 places to 119th), Abbie (down 52 places to 126th), Megan (down 39 places to 130th), Aimee (down 47 places to 138th), Esme (down 52 places to 143rd) and Lauren (down 52 places to 151st).

Male Names

For the fourth year in a row James is the most popular boys’ name, alongside Noah who moves up two places to be in joint first place. Jack drops one place to third, and Charlie remains in fourth. Daniel moves up three places to be joint fifth with Jacob. Oliver climbs up two places to seventh, ahead of Harry who drops two places to eighth and Thomas who drops two places to ninth. Leo is a new entry in the top ten, moving up one place to tenth. Logan drops out of the top ten.

New entries in the top 100 names include Luca (up 43 places to 67th), Zach (up 25 places to 80th), Niall (up 34 places to 83rd), Padraig (up 13 places to joint 90th), Robert (up 75 places to joint 90th), Kai (up 18 places to 96th), Brodie (up 94 places to joint 100th) and Frankie (up 47 places to joint 100th).

Names dropping out of the top 100 include Tiernan (down 27 places to 107th), Toby (down 24 places to 114th), Arlo (down 27 places to 121st), Eoghan (down 45 places to 128th), Connor (down 43 places to 135th), Cole (down 43 places to 141st), Joe (down 73 places to 161st) and Harley (down 81 places to 171st).

Visit the name popularity tables page to view the tables in full, and to view tables for other years.