List of Overused Names for Babies.

For those that want to see what potential "West Brits";) are naming their babies, here's an article from the Irish Times detailing the most popular names in their birth announcements.

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There's an Elodie mentioned but not an Eloise.
 
The [broken link removed] publish the most popular baby names in the summer for the year preceding.

This is the top 25 for 2008.

Top 25 Girls' Names
Ava
Katie
Sarah
Emma
Emily
Sophie
Grace
Aoife
Chloe
Kate
Lucy
Ella
Leah
Ciara
Hannah
Amy
Caoimhe
Niamh
Anna
Lauren
Ruby
Jessica
Mia
Saoirse
Molly

Surprised at Leah, Saoirse, Hannah and Caoimhe. While certainly not uncommon, I wouldn't have put them on the most popular list . I would have thought Jessica had had its day as well.
 
I agree too. In England William is shortened to Will, Bill, Billy or Willy not Liam which is the Irish version of William.

Plenty of Irish Williams called Bill too, my Da for example, it's quite common down Cork way.

It's interesting to see how names changed. If I go back to the 1911 census and look up my ancestors, I find
Patrick x 2
Noria
John x 2
Batt
Katie
Maggie
Hanora
Julie
Jeremiah
Bridgit
William
Mary
Daniel

Funny also how some names only seem to crop up in certain regions. Within 2 miles of where I grew up I know 6 Jeremiahs/Jerrys or the Irish version, Dermot/Diarmaid, all from unrelated families

We called our daughter Maire (with a fada over the a, don't know how to type it). It's from her mothers side of the family and I like the idea of keeping family names going, as opposed to whatever is the fashion at the minute
 
My parents gave me a very popular name at the time (there were three girls with the same name in my class) which now totally dates me. My sister, on the other hand, was given a very unusual name which most people had barely heard of. It is now incredibly popular and kids all over the place answer to it.
 
I always thought Batt was a very unusual name, is it short for something? Bartholemew?

The most popular names when i was in school were Ciara, Laura and Lisa if memory serves. I haven't heard of any babies being named Lisa or Laura in a long time, they seem to have gone out of fashion.
 
Funny also how some names only seem to crop up in certain regions. Within 2 miles of where I grew up I know 6 Jeremiahs/Jerrys or the Irish version, Dermot/Diarmaid, all from unrelated families

Is this not something to with saints or prominent church figures and their association with an area though?

I have come across only a handful of Jeremiahs in my life but I think all of them were from Cork.

Finbarr is a classic one too - have never met a Finbarr that wasn't from Munster. Prominent Cork bishop at some stage I think?
 
My parents gave me a very popular name at the time (there were three girls with the same name in my class) which now totally dates me. My sister, on the other hand, was given a very unusual name which most people had barely heard of. It is now incredibly popular and kids all over the place answer to it.

Kathleen? (for you)
Britney? (for your sister :))
 
Is this not something to with saints or prominent church figures and their association with an area though?

I have come across only a handful of Jeremiahs in my life but I think all of them were from Cork.

Finbarr is a classic one too - have never met a Finbarr that wasn't from Munster. Prominent Cork bishop at some stage I think?

Jeremiah was an old testament prophet and a long way from Cork at the time( I presume). Finbarr is the patron saint and founder of Cork if you believe the legend

Another poster asked about Batt, yes, it short for Bartholomew, again, strange to say, I know a few Batts and Batties in the area I grew up in
 
I think names can become popular very quickly so parents don't realise (until it's too late) that they've picked a very popular name. Also, until your first child starts school, parents won't necessarily know what other people are calling their babies. When I was at school, we had 4 Susans, 3 Barbaras and 3 Lorraines in a class of about 30! Now it seems to be Conor and Katie that have multiples in each class.
 
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