For six years in a row, Liam has reigned as the top baby name for boys in the United States. In Ireland, Jack has held the No. 1 spot since 2007, with the exception of 2016, when James was the most popular moniker, according to the country's Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Jack is followed by Noah, James, Rían and Charlie in Ireland's Central Statistic Office's top five boy names, while Tomás was dubbed a "top riser," jumping 42 places to 77th place in 2022. That same year, Blake and Cody made the top 100 Irish boy names for the first time ever.
Baby names inspired by Irish culture have a rich history in the United States.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 31.5 million residents and 9.7% of the total population say they are of Irish ancestry.
And many people hold that heritage "very dear," evident by the popularity of Irish boy names, Laura Wattenberg, creator of Namerology, tells TODAY.com
"America has a long-running love affair with Irish names," Wattenberg says.
In each decade, there was often an "Irish name of the moment" for boys, she says. In the '70s there was Brian, Sean in the '80s, Ryan in the '90s and in the 2000s, Aidan.
These trends also reflect another prominent baby-boy-naming convention over the last generations: names that end in the letter "n."
There is no clear top Irish baby boy name in the United States at the moment, Wattenberg said, but some of the contenders include Finn and Declan.
Like Irish girl names, some of the top baby boy in Ireland names are not actually Irish in origin, such as Jack and Noah, which take the top two.
136 Irish Boy Names
According to the most recent data from the Ireland Central Statistics Office, here are the top 100 Irish boy names from 2021, with pronunciation from IrishCentral.com and BabyNamesofIreland.com.
Wattenberg noted that pronunciation of these names can vary based on geography.
- Jack
- Noah
- James
- Conor
- Rían (ree-an)
- Liam
- Charlie
- Daniel
- Cillian (kill-ee-an)
- Tadhg (ty-ge)
- Michael
- Oisín (o-sheen)
- Finn
- Fionn (finn)
- Thomas
- Seán
- Darragh (darra)
- Luke
- Patrick
- Harry
- Alex
- Adam
- Cian (kee-an)
- Theo
- Oliver
- Dylan
- Jamie
- John
- Leo
- Oscar
- Ollie
- Ben
- Tom
- Bobby
- Ryan
- Tommy
- Matthew
- Max
- Callum
- Sam
- Danny
- Aaron
- Alexander
- Jake
- Alfie
- Mason
- David
- Joseph
- Jacob
- Ethan
- Kai
- Shay
- Donnacha (done-acka)
- Luca
- Sonny
- Senan (she-nawn)
- William
- Evan
- Archie
- Freddie
- Lucas
- Nathan
- Leon
- Joshua
- Hugo
- Benjamin
- Louis
- Arthur
- Billy
- Jayden
- Logan
- Theodore
- Aidan
- Rory
- Samuel
- Teddy
- Frankie
- Daithí (da-hee)
- Páidí
- Jaxon
- Odhran (orin)
- Zach
- Eoin (owen)
- George
- Robert
- Brody
- Isaac
- Shane
- Cathal (ka-hal)
- Ted
- Hunter
- Tiernan
- Sebastian
- Tadgh (tie-g)
- Andrew
- Martin
- Ronan
- Edward
- Eli
- Arlo
While outside the official top 100 list, other popular Irish boy names include:
- Rian
- Caelan
- Killian
- Dara
- Ruairí (rory)
- Paddy
- Hugh
- Lorcan
- Riley
- Cormac
- Niall
- Rowan
- Ciarán (keer-awn)
- Conn
- Caolan (keelin)
- Pádraig (paw-drig, or paw-rick)
- Brian
- Finley
- Oran
- Kieran
- Owen
- Keelan
- Kian
- Keegan
- Aiden
- Seamus
- Lennon
- Lochlann
- Flynn
- Carson
- Brendan
- Conan
- Colm
- Declan
- Connell
- Colin
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