James, Emily and Ava most popular names
James, Emily and Ava were the three most popular babies' names with Westmeath parents last year.
That's according to a new report from the Central Statistics Office (CS0) which revealed that while Jack was the most popular boys' name with Irish parents for the seventh consecutive year, in Westmeath James was the favourite with new parents.
Emily and Ava were the most popular girls' name with local parents, while Emily was the most popular name nationally.
The top five boys’ names (Jack, James, Daniel, Conor and Sean) have been the top five since 2007 with the order changing slightly from 2012, when Conor finished in fourth place ahead of Sean. Indeed four of the top five boys’ names (Jack, Sean, Conor and James) have been in the top five since 1998. This is the third consecutive year that Emily has been the most popular name chosen for girls. Emma, Sophie, Ella and Amelia were the next most frequently chosen names to make it to the top five most popular names for girls in 2013.
There were two first time entries to the top 100 for boys: Kai and Kayden. The highest new entry at number 85 was Kai, rising from 103rd place in 2012. The name rising in popularity most was Kayden, up 44 places from 135th place in 2012.
There were four first time entrants to the top 100 for girls: Sadie, Sienna, Fiadh and Poppy. The highest new entry at 77th place was Sadie rising from 139th place in 2012. The name rising in popularity most was Fiadh up 64 places from 146th place in 2012.