Top baby names for Derry and Strabane revealed

Ella and Eva were the most popular names given to girls born in the local council area in 2015 whilst for boys it was Noah.

The results reveal a change locally as the most popular girls’ and boys’ names in Derry and Strabane in 2013 and 2014 respectively were Emily and Jack.

The findings were published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) in a report titled ‘Baby Names 2015’.

Throughout the North, the most popular names for the same period were Emily and James.

Emily has been the most popular girls’ name in each of the past three years, albeit jointly with Grace in 2013. However, this is the first time James has held the top spot, even though James has been in the top five, since records began in 1997.

In terms of boys’ names, Jack (which held the top spot for 12 consecutive years between 2003 and 2014) comes a close second to James in popularity with Noah in third place. Jackson however climbed the greatest number of places to join the top 100 names for boys, rising from rank 145 in 2014 to rank 75 in 2015. Jake and Matthew were new entries into the boy’s top 10, replacing Ethan and Jacob.

The top climbers for boys in 2015 were Jackson, Arthur and Cody and for girls they were Rosa, Harper and Gracie.

Top 10 baby names in the North, 2015:

Boys: 1. James – 300 babies; 2. Jack – 261 babies; 3. Noah – 225 babies; 4. Charlie – 213 babies; 5. Daniel – 188 babies; 6. Oliver – 186 babies; 7. Matthew – 168 babies; 8. Harry – 166 babies; 9. Thomas – 157 babies and 10. Jake – 141 babies.

Girls: 1. Emily – 233 babies; 2. Ella – 197 babies; 3. Grace – 192 babies; 4. Sophie – 179 babies; 5. Olivia – 153 babies; 6. Anna – 152 babies; 7. Amelia – 149 babies; 8. Aoife – 147 babies; 9. Lucy – 146 babies and 10. Ava – 141 babies.