Top 10 girls' names in 1997
1. Sophie - (5)
2. Emily - (4)
3. Hannah - (-)
4. Ellen - (-)
5. Lucy - (-)
6. Emma - (3)
7. Isobel - (-)
8. Rachel - (1)
9. Aoife - (-)
10. Sarah - (2)
Top 10 boys' names in 1997
1. Andrew - (2)
2. Patrick - (9)
3. Jack - (4)
4. David - (5)
5. Conor - (1)
6. John - (-)
7. Mark - (-)
8. Daniel - (3)
9. Robert - (10)
10. Eoin - (-)
Rory - (-)
(1996 positions in brackets)
It has to be a first for the birth announcements in The Irish Times. Cyberbaby of 1997, Stephanie Patricia Glennon, born on September 24th, has her very own website on the Internet. Visit her world at http://indigo.ie/-glennond/ baby.htm
The 1997 list of top 10 girls' names has some surprises. Sophie takes the crown for the first time, moving up five places from last year. The two 1996 leaders, Rachel and Sarah, have plummeted to eighth and tenth places, while the popular Irish name Aisling does not figure at all. Aoife, however, missing since 1994, is back in favour.
Competition was keen in the boys chart, particularly for the top three slots. These three were neck and neck right up to the end of the year. A surprise here was Patrick in second place. With the inclusion of Eoin and Rory in the top 10, Irish names comprise an unusually high 40 per cent of the total. As in previous years, however, the list maintains a biblical orientation, though it is surprising to find longtime favourites James and Matthew missing.
Among the unusual names for girls we have Asurnai, Aisric, Cialli, Djinn, Oprah, Kappa, Faymic and Hanella. Creative parents, perhaps? Of
the hundreds of names invented over the centuries, only a handful has established permanency, and all these have had literary connections - Miranda, Pamela, Lorna, Thelma, Wendy, Fiona.
Some unusual names for boys included Asa, Sinan, Tertius, Ruairc, Roghan, Cole, Talboid, Ritchie, Keegan and Cahill. From that list it would appear that surnames figure routinely as first names in Ireland, a tradition long established in the US and Britain - in Britain the use of the maternal family name spread to commoners in the 19th century, having previously been a practice in noble families. Irish emigrants initially started using Irish surnames as first names.
The 1997 names struck a sporting note more than once. Aaron Conor Donegan is all set to be "a future Tiger Woods". Colm de Buitleir is hailed as `'a new crew for the Star of the West". John Charles will be an additional swimmer for the "McCarthy dream swimming team". Little Sally Twomey-Tracey remains on the sidelines, however, as "another Celtic supporter".
The lucky parents of Oisin Carroll have little to fear from the future - "Oisin is looking forward to supporting them in their old age from his income as President of Ireland and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize".
Congratulations are once more in order for the Irish Times great grandmother of 1996, Daisy Phelan. Her 28th great grandchild, Georgia Margaret Geoghegan, was born on November 11th.
Probably the most exotically named baby of the year was Berangere Segolene, born on September 2nd to Francoise and Fergus Brotelande-Dunleavy.
There were 1320 birth announcements this year (1244 in 1996), with girls outnumbering boys for the first time since 1992 by 672 (571 in 1996) to 648 (673 in 1996). There was one set of triplets and 30 sets of twins, including Harry Mulchrone-Hennessy, who staged a "spectacular arrival at home . . . while his sister Sally made a more ladylike entrance a little later at Mount Carmel".