Names / Where / Northern Ireland

Baby names in Northern Ireland

In 2025 the most popular baby names in Northern Ireland were Grace for girls (127 babies) and Noah for boys (170), according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). These figures count births registered in Northern Ireland in the year, so they are shown beside England and Wales, never added to it. (NISRA, Baby names 2025)

Top 10, 2025

NISRA

Girls

  1. 01Grace (not in the England and Wales top 10)127
  2. 02Fiadh (not in the England and Wales top 10)105
  3. 03Olivia101
  4. 04Isla97
  5. 05Lily96
  6. 06Emily (not in the England and Wales top 10)94
  7. 07Annie (not in the England and Wales top 10)91
  8. 08Aoife (not in the England and Wales top 10)85
  9. 09Meabh (not in the England and Wales top 10)81
  10. 10Freya78

Boys

  1. 01Noah170
  2. 02Jack (not in the England and Wales top 10)150
  3. 03James (not in the England and Wales top 10)135
  4. 04Charlie (not in the England and Wales top 10)123
  5. 05Leo115
  6. 06Oisin (not in the England and Wales top 10)108
  7. 07Theo (not in the England and Wales top 10)106
  8. 08Luca104
  9. 09Arthur101
  10. 09Jude (not in the England and Wales top 10)101

* Not in the England and Wales top 10 for 2025 (Grace, Fiadh, Emily, Annie, Aoife, Meabh, Jack, James, Charlie, Oisin, Theo and Jude). Northern Ireland counts births registered in the year and England and Wales counts births in the year, so this is a rough comparison. Names link to their England and Wales figures. Names with the same count share a rank.

Source: NISRA, Baby names 2025; ONS, Baby names for girls in England and Wales; ONS, Baby names for boys in England and Wales.

Every number one since 1997

Girls

  1. Chloe1997 to 2002
  2. Emma2003
  3. Katie2004 to 2009
  4. Sophie2010 to 2012
  5. Emily and Grace2013
  6. Emily2014 to 2017
  7. Grace2018 to 2022
  8. Isla2023
  9. Grace2024 to 2025

Boys

  1. Matthew1997 to 2000
  2. Jack2001
  3. Matthew2002
  4. Jack2003 to 2014
  5. James2015 to 2017
  6. James and Noah2018
  7. James2019 to 2020
  8. Jack2021
  9. James2022
  10. Noah2023
  11. James2024
  12. Noah2025

Source: NISRA, Baby names 2025.

Number ones by district, 2025

11 districts
Most popular names by district in Northern Ireland, 2025
DistrictGirlsBoys
Antrim & NewtownabbeyCharlotte 14Jude 14
Ards & North DownPoppy 13Henry 13
Armagh City, Banbridge & CraigavonLily 21Harry and Noah (joint) 21 each
BelfastFiadh 24Noah 28
Causeway Coast & GlensFreya and Grace (joint) 10 eachNoah 16
Derry City & StrabaneEabha and Fiadh (joint) 15 eachCillian 16
Fermanagh & OmaghFiadh 13James 21
Lisburn & CastlereaghGrace 12James 16
Mid & East AntrimElsie and Freya (joint) 10 eachJude 13
Mid UlsterGrace 16Jack 25
Newry, Mourne & DownGrace 20Jack 21

NISRA publishes the most popular name in each district for 2025. Where names tie, NISRA lists them together and both are shown. Numbers are small, so they move a lot from year to year.

Source: NISRA, Baby names 2025.

Other nations

The number ones for every English region are on names by region and nation.

Source: Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), Baby names, 1997 to 2025, and Baby names 2025 tables (local government districts). Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. NISRA counts births registered in the year, to mothers living in Northern Ireland or elsewhere. Exact spellings are counted separately.

OM

Oliver Mackman

Editor, BabyData

Oliver Mackman is the named editor of BabyData and a director of Best Business Loans Ltd (Companies House 16833937), the company that operates the site. He is accountable for its editorial standards, sourcing and corrections, and requires every number to cite the underlying rule and the official UK dataset behind it, with pregnancy tools written using NHS and gov.uk guidance.

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