NORTHERN Ireland's most popular baby names for 2022 have been revealed as James and Grace.
The figures released by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) show Grace has retained the title of the top name for girls since 2018, staying in the top three for 17 consecutive years.
Making a comeback after six years, James was the most popular choice for boys born last year after taking the top spot in 2015 and finishing third in 2021.
Some of the more unusual names lised for boys in 2022 were King, Great and Art.
Less common names for baby girls included North (the name of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's daughter), Angel and Pearl.
Place names inspired other choices in the top 100, including Rome, Vienna, Brooklyn, Dallas and India while nature inspired names incuded Poppy, Willow, Lily, Meadow, Ocean, Bear, River, Forest and Storm.
Fairy-tales also sparked the imagination of some parents who named their children Aurora, Anastasia, Merida, Jasmine, Belle, Sebastian, Eric and Robin.
Jack finished second for boys after coming first in 2021 and a close second in 2020 while Noah returned to third place after finishing second last year.
For the first time since the recording of first names began in 1997, Oisin made the top ten list for boys while Thomas re-entered the top ten after narrowly missing out in 2021.
@NISRA has revealed the most popular first names given to babies in Northern Ireland in 2022.
— Dept of Finance (@dptfinance) March 27, 2023
Watch our video below to see if your name made the list and read more here➡️https://t.co/3TzTmxm35G pic.twitter.com/kEVrwjzKMH
Looking at the top 100 for boys, the biggest climbers in popularity between 2021 and 2022 were Hugo, Luca and Hudson.
With Grace proving to be unmovable as the top name for girls, Emily remained the second most popular girls' name after holding the spot for the last five years, with Fiadh finishing third after entering the top 10 for the first time in 2020.
Looking at the girls' top 100, the highest climbers in popularity between 2021 and 2021 were Pippa, Nevaeh and Lucia.
In total, 20,929 births were registered in Northern Ireland for 2022, with slightly more boys (10,687) than girls (10,242).