Childrens names - a means of identity or class/culture asperations?

who the fug

Why are the CSO collecting this information ?

smokingman

who the fug wrote: »

Why are the CSO collecting this information ?

They're beaming it to the secret planet just outside the solar system so de aliens can pick their names when they start operation body-snatch! :pac:

implausible

who the fug wrote: »

Why are the CSO collecting this information ?

They're the Central Statistics Office - it's their job to collate statistics! All the Births, Deaths and Marriages info ends up somewhere. You can also find out the average age of first-time mothers, the death rate, amount of marriages.... Besides, I, for one, find it interesting.

who the fug

deemark wrote: »

They're the Central Statistics Office - it's their job to collate statistics! All the Births, Deaths and Marriages info ends up somewhere. You can also find out the average age of first-time mothers, the death rate, amount of marriages.... Besides, I, for one, find it interesting.

Does this have a practical application for the state?

Ayla

I can't think of any real benefit for knowing most popular names, but I'd imagine it's (like deemark said) for public interest.

The rest of the stats are very important for state applications.

implausible

who the fug wrote: »

Does this have a practical application for the state?

I'd imagine it helps to paint a sociological picture of Ireland in 2011 e.g. are we influenced by trends in the U.K. and elsewhere? Some people would deem that a practical application, some wouldn't.

It's not like they had to pay someone to stand with a clipboard in every maternity hospital in Ireland! The info is there and someone merely collated the more interesting aspects of it.

who the fug

deemark wrote: »

I'd imagine it helps to paint a sociological picture of Ireland in 2011 e.g. are we influenced by trends in the U.K. and elsewhere? Some people would deem that a practical application, some wouldn't.

It's not like they had to pay someone to stand with a clipboard in every maternity hospital in Ireland! The info is there and someone merely collated the more interesting aspects of it.

Somebody had to be paid to collate this information which only use so far is as an article in a newspaper, and yes I am that annoying bar steward at every meeting asking how much will this cost?

Cat Melodeon

who the fug wrote: »

Somebody had to be paid to collate this information which only use so far is as an article in a newspaper, and yes I am that annoying bar steward at every meeting asking how much will this cost?

The statistics are based on statistical returns by the Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages of each of the regional authorities, they are not part of the Census. It is the job of the Registrar to provide information on many aspects of life and death in the State. This way regional differences can be noted in things like mortality and birth rates, which are essential to the planning and provision of public services. Adding lists of names to these statistical returns may seem a waste of resources to you, but to others it provides an interesting insight into social trends in the country. As the Registrars are paid to do their job anyway, why not include a public interest aspect to it too?

who the fug

Cat Melodeon wrote: »

The statistics are based on statistical returns by the Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages of each of the regional authorities, they are not part of the Census. It is the job of the Registrar to provide information on many aspects of life and death in the State. This way regional differences can be noted in things like mortality and birth rates, which are essential to the planning and provision of public services. Adding lists of names to these statistical returns may seem a waste of resources to you, but to others it provides an interesting insight into social trends in the country. As the Registrars are paid to do their job anyway, why not include a public interest aspect to it too?

Fair enough, we must agree to differ

implausible

who the fug wrote: »

Somebody had to be paid to collate this information which only use so far is as an article in a newspaper, and yes I am that annoying bar steward at every meeting asking how much will this cost?

I very much doubt that it is ONE person's job to collate info that is already at hand. Now, I'm no computer genius, but I reckon it can't be difficult to select the Names heading for all babies born in 2010, organise them alphabetically and/or by gender and get the computer to count them up. I doubt it would take more than a few hours.

The press release every year highlights the work of the CSO and gives them some free PR.

andala

Both Zuzanna and Maja (pronounced Maya) are on top of the list of most popular names in Poland so it doesn't really surprise me to see lots of Polish people choose them for their children. Choosing a name is a tricky thing, choose a name that's very popular and the chance is they'll end up as fifth John in the class and will have to have a nickname they may hate. Or choose a unique name and risk your child being a laughing stock (children are cruel). When I was choosing names for my boys, I was looking for something pronounceable in both English and Polish (my native language), something with simple spelling and something not very common (my name is very common and I always regretted that my parents hadn't been a tad more creative) and, most importantly, something both my husband and I liked. I think we did a good job

deisemum

My name is not common and doesn't make any top 100 list and it was very unusual back in 1964. I like that I've got an unusual name.

My younger son doesn't make the top 100 names for the year he was born, the older one is in the top 10 for his year and every year since.

Is it possible to see past the top 100 names? I can only find top 100 for any year.

stovelid

who the fug wrote: »

Does this have a practical application for the state?

Not everything has to have a practical box-checking justification.

It's interesting social information.

who the fug

stovelid wrote: »

Not everything has to have a practical box-checking justification.

It's interesting social information.

Granted, but a 17 page report is a bit OTT to curry favour with the press, if the journalists want a nice ickle story then give them the basic data and make them do the effing work, at their companies expense

implausible

who the fug wrote: »

Granted, but a 17 page report is a bit OTT to curry favour with the press, if the journalists want a nice ickle story then give them the basic data and make them do the effing work, at their companies expense

Am I detecting some "public servants wasting my money" sentiment here? The information has been gathered elsewhere, is easy to collate and people find it very interesting. If saving public money on things that don't have a practical application for the state is your concern, you'd be better off discussing shutting down RTÉ, locking up playgrounds or closing our art galleries, theatres and museums.

LegacyUser

I'm interested - does Galway city have a large Czech population relative to the rest of the country? I doubt many fully Irish couples would name their daughter Zuzanna.

Cat Melodeon

G-G-G-Galway wrote: »

I'm interested - does Galway city have a large Czech population relative to the rest of the country? I doubt many fully Irish couples would name their daughter Zuzanna.

I don't think there is a particularly big Czech or Slovak population in Galway. Looking at the stats, about 17% of Galway's population is estimated to be foreign born, with about half of those being Eastern European and the biggest groups within them being Polish, Latvian and Lithuanian. What probably does skew the data though is that most of the immigrant population are in their fertile years. Of the 83% Irish in Galway, a high proportion are either too young or too old to have kids, whereas most of the immigrant population are adults who came here to work and who have since settled down and started to raise families. Thus baby names unfamiliar to us might make an impact on trends beyond what the actual proportion of immigrants might suggest. Kacper was very popular in 2009 among Polish parents. I doubt every baby girl born to a Czech or Slovak parent will be called Zuzanna, and according to the CSO, there were only 96 Zuzannas born in the whole of Ireland in 2010 anyway. It is funny how it tops the list in Galway city though, ahead of the Emmas and Emilys and Sophies in the rest of the country!

Das Kitty

who the fug wrote: »

Granted, but a 17 page report is a bit OTT to curry favour with the press, if the journalists want a nice ickle story then give them the basic data and make them do the effing work, at their companies expense

It looks like an automatically generated report to me. All the stats need to be entered into the Database but they'd be doing this anyway. This was probably one of the reports they set up when their system was set up and they run it once a year.

I run similar reports myself (on very different data) and it literally takes about 20 minutes between running it reviewing it and sending it to the appropriate persons.

implausible

G-G-G-Galway wrote: »

I'm interested - does Galway city have a large Czech population relative to the rest of the country? I doubt many fully Irish couples would name their daughter Zuzanna.

Reading through this thread, I think it's a Polish name. I wonder does Galway City refer to parents who registered their babies in an office in Galway City. Most emigrants chose to settle in towns and big cities, so you could have quite a concentration of Polish parents registering in a city centre office as opposed to Irish-born parents who might go to an office outside of the city.....just a thought.

Triangla

Eimear makes it to number 78.

Incidentally, the correct Irish spelling of the name is Emer - not on the list at all.

LegacyUser

deemark wrote: »

Reading through this thread, I think it's a Polish name.

Yes, I realised my mistake after I submitted the comment for moderation. Someone earlier in the thread said it was a Czech name, but then most others subsequently said it was Polish. Cat-Melodeon said Polish, Latvian and Lithuanian have high enough numbers of child-bearing age in Galway, so I guess that explains it! Very interesting though!

implausible

Triangla wrote: »

Eimear makes it to number 78.

Incidentally, the correct Irish spelling of the name is Emer - not on the list at all.

I would've gone with Eimear as the original spelling and Emer as the simplification of it. Both are correct.

I think they've merged all possible spellings of names. I know lots of baby girls named Eva, Ava and Éabha, but it's only Ava that is on the list.

The Big Red Button

deemark wrote: »

I think they've merged all possible spellings of names. I know lots of baby girls named Eva, Ava and Éabha, but it's only Ava that is on the list.

Eva is 44 and Eabha is 55

Triangla

[/QUOTE]

I would've gone with Eimear as the original spelling and Emer as the simplification of it. Both are correct.

I think they've merged all possible spellings of names. I know lots of baby girls named Eva, Ava and Éabha, but it's only Ava that is on the list.[/Quote]

In Irish folklore there was a heroine named Emer, spelt Emer. The Irish naval service named ships after ancient Irish heroines hence LE Emer.

I think the other spellings came about by overcomplicating the spelling to make them seem more Irish.

I've seen Emer spelt Eamhair also.

Just like Eva and it's alternate spellings it would be interesting to see where they would come on the list if they were clustered together.

implausible

chatterpillar wrote: »

Eva is 44 and Eabha is 55

D'oh! Did a search and all and never saw it:o

Triangla wrote: »

In Irish folklore there was a heroine named Emer, spelt Emer. The Irish naval service named ships after ancient Irish heroines hence LE Emer.

I think the other spellings came about by overcomplicating the spelling to make them seem more Irish.[/QUOTE]

I always assumed that the longer was the original, thanks for that. Lots of Irish names and words have lost letters and entire syllables over the centuries, in a simplification effort I suppose. They're on about getting rid of the poor oul' tuiseal ginideach now!

(Jeez, I'm on a roll with getting stuff arseways these days:rolleyes:!)

Chocolate fiend

I am just amazed that people look at their newborn and *still* say "I know let's call him Jack"

I have two boys neither of their names are in the top 100, and if I am very honest I am glad of that. There is a world of names out there and if 60 odd % of Irish parents only pick from 100 names well then originality surely is on the wane.

Grawns

Chocolate fiend wrote: »

I am just amazed that people look at their newborn and *still* say "I know let's call him Jack"

I have two boys neither of their names are in the top 100, and if I am very honest I am glad of that. There is a world of names out there and if 60 odd % of Irish parents only pick from 100 names well then originality surely is on the wane.

I agree and disagree Jack is often a family name and there is a stronger tradition in boys to have their fathers or grandfathers name. ( my husband was named for his Dad and my Dad for his Dad etc.) Doesn't apply to girls so much so nothing explains the fixation with emma, emily. Nice names but too popular for me.

I know so many couples with both Jacks and Emmas/Emily.

Cat Melodeon

Grawns wrote: »

I agree and disagree Jack is often a family name and there is a stronger tradition in boys to have their fathers or grandfathers name. ( my husband was named for his Dad and my Dad for his Dad etc.) Doesn't apply to girls so much so nothing explains the fixation with emma, emily. Nice names but too popular for me.

I know so many couples with both Jacks and Emmas/Emily.

My own name has been in the top 10 for a while now and I find it very annoying - there was no one with my name when I was growing up, now they are everywhere! There have been 5 Jacks born in our village so far this year - it's going to be very confusing when they all start school - there are usually only about 15 kids starting in any given year, so far 1 in 3 of them will have the same name! I also have a friend with 3 girls under 5, Sophie, Emma and Lucy. All top 5 names. They ARE pretty names, but I couldn't follow trends that closely. Don't know if that makes me aspirational - I'm definitely a working class girl - I prefer to think I'm just a bit contrary.

lynski

does anyone understand the Max/Sam connection? I have come across at least 3 families with boys named Max/Sam - no idea why they go together

nesf

lynski wrote: »

does anyone understand the Max/Sam connection? I have come across at least 3 families with boys named Max/Sam - no idea why they go together

There's a computer game called Sam & Max...