Jack, Conor and Grace are Westmeath's favourite baby names

Jack and Emily remain nation's most popular names

Jack, Conor and Grace were the most popular baby names in Westmeath last year, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Jack has been Ireland’s most popular name for newborn boys since 2017, with the exception of 2016 when James topped the charts, while Emily has been the nation’s favourite name for baby girls since 2011.

The top five boys names in Ireland in 2019 were: 1. Jack, 2. James, 3. Noah, 4. Conor, 5. Daniel. The top five girls names were: 1. Emily, 2. Grace, 3. Fiadh, 4. Sophie, 5. Hannah.

Jack, James, Conor and Daniel have been in the top five boys' names since 2007. Three of these names - Jack, Conor and James have been in the top five since 1998. Noah was new to the top five in 2018 and remained there in 2019. This is the ninth consecutive year that Emily has been the most popular name chosen for girls. Emily, Grace, Fiadh, Sophie and Hannah, were the top five names for girls in 2019. Fiadh and Hannah were new entrants to the top five in 2019. Amelia dropped out of the top five this year having been there since 2015.

Eli, Joey, Odhrán and Ruairí were new entrants to the top 100 for boys in 2019. Odhrán was also the boys' name that increased most in popularity between 2018 to 2019, he moved up the ranks from 138th place in 2018 to 97th in 2019.

Jack was the most popular name for boys where both parents were Irish nationals, while Oliver was the most popular choice with parents of UK nationality. Where both parents were from the EU15 (excluding Ireland and the UK) Leonardo was the most favoured boys name. David was the name chosen most often by parents from the EU28 excluding EU15. Muhammad was the highest ranked name of baby boys born where both parents were from outside the EU

Grace was the most popular girls' name where both parents were Irish nationals. Georgia, Isla and Sarah were the names most often chosen by parents of UK nationality. Alice and Olivia ranked first with parents of the EU15 (excluding Ireland and the UK) and Amelia took the top spot with parents of the EU28 excluding EU15 countries. Emily was the main choice where both parents were from outside the EU.

Names go in and out of fashion

James is the only boys name in the top five this year that was also in the top five 50 years ago.

In 1969, the most popular name for boys was John with 2,811 parents choosing this name. Fifty years later, John ranked 30th in popularity in 2019 with the name chosen for 209 babies. The top five boys’ names in 1969 were John, Patrick, Michael, James and Thomas.

Mary was the most popular girls name in 1969, when it was chosen by 2,182 parents. In 2019, Mary was given to 62 baby girls and was ranked in 92nd place. None of the top 10 most popular names for girls' in 2019 appeared anywhere in the top 100 girls' names in 1969. The first name to appear in both the top 100 in 2019 and 1969 was Anna. Anna was 19th most popular in 2019 and 48th most popular in 1969.