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Island's most popular baby names revealed

Tue, 18 Jun 2019

The Civil Registry has revealed its births, deaths and marriages statistics in the Isle of Man for 2018. The most popular first names given to baby boys and girls this year were Harry and Grace/Gracie.

Harry, Alexander, Charles, George and Theodore have taken over the top spots from Oliver, Freddie, Edward, Noah and Arthur which were the most popular boy’s baby names in 2017. In terms of baby girls, Grace took over top spot from Olivia which was the most popular name in 2017 with Sophia, Amelia, Isla, Ava and Phoebe falling closely behind.

The 2018 Report from Civil Registry has also revealed there were 235 civil marriages, with 126 of them taking place at a Registry Office. There were also 11 civil partnership ceremonies. Outside of the Registry Offices, the most popular places to get married last year were Castle Rushen and St Brendan’s Church in Braddan.

Other key findings:

• In line with worldwide figures, more boys than girls were born in 2018 and similar to 2017 statistics, the most popular month for registrations was October
• Overall, there was a small decline in the number of births registered and an increase in the number of deaths
• There were children born to mothers from 46 different countries
• There were 351 marriages on the Isle of Man, of which 6 were same sex couples
• The highest ever number of civil partnerships were recorded

Ed Clague, Director of Central Registry, commented:

‘It is fantastic to see the statistics reveal the diversity of places that people are choosing to have their special day celebrated in the Isle of Man. With the introduction of approved places in 2011, we have made it possible for people to have their celebration in their own homes, open spaces, castles, hotels and many more places; thus meaning that we truly provide an all Island service tailored to everyone’s individual needs’.

 

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