Flood of Noahs sees namerise to top in North West

Ava, a recurrently popular choice, meanwhile, was the most popular name for girls in the city.

A new bulletin published by the Northern Ireland Research and Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) has presented the most popular names given to babies whose birth was registered in Northern Ireland during 2015.

It’s based on all live births to resident and non-resident mothers and gives a breakdown for the old Council districts as well as the new ‘supercouncils.’ While for Londonderry’s new mothers and fathers the most popular names were Noah and Ava, in Strabane they were Harry and Ella/Grace.

When the old Councils were combined to get the results for the new Derry City and Strabane District Council the top names came out as Noah and Ava/Ella.

In Limavady, Noah and Grace topped the charts and this was reflected across the broader Causeway Coast and Glens Council area.

And when the Western Trustwas surveyed as a whole there were further variations.

The top five boys’ names in the Trust were James (46), Jack (43), Noah (41), Charlie (34) and Oisín (31).

The top girls’ names were Ella (38), Grace (35), Ava (33), Emily/Sophie (30) and Aoife (29).

Across Northern Ireland as a whole James was the most popular first name given to baby boys. Jack followed a close second, followed by Noah. Emily was the most popular first name given to baby girls. Ella came in second in 2015, closely followed by Grace.

Interestingly, Noahclimbed from sixth in 2014 to third in 2015, was the most popular choice for mothers under twenty years of age, and is becoming more and more popular. The greatest changes over the decade within the top 10 include the increases in popularity of Oliver (up 58 places to rank 6 in 2015) and Noah (up 52 places to rank 3 in 2015).