Top Names articles

Yesterday we had a look through Ireland's top boys' names and compared them to our own. While there was definitely some overlap, there were a couple of new names, a few unexpected appearances, and some surprising omissions! Today it's the turn of the girls, so without much further ado: here's the top 10 Irish girls' names of 2016, plus a few honorable mentions! Emily has been in America's top 10 for nearly 30 years, so we weren't particularly surprised to see it top Ireland's list.

Here at Nameslist, we are always on the lookout for cute name-spiration, and monitoring global as well as national trends. While we're still busy trawling through the SSA's statistics, we spotted that Ireland has just released its 2016 figures and thought we should compare! After all: America loves Irish names, so we might just 2017's hottest name! The number one name in Ireland last year was America's #5, so clearly James has a huge amount of appeal across the English speaking world, and beyond.

The results are in and we have 2016's top 1000 baby names! And we've trawled through them all to find each letter's top pick! A is for Alexander – just outside the top 10, a name associated with strength and power over the ages and now seeing an added boost in response to the increased interest in the Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton.

Yesterday we brought you the A to Z of boys' names, but of course we didn't forget the girls! Here are the 24 (ahem, U and Y!) names that made their way to the top last year: A is for Ava – #3 overall in 2016, Ava now far outranks its original form Eve in popularity. It's simple, but beautiful and also extremely powerful: its meaning is 'life'.