THE CENTRAL STATISTICS Office has launched a new online application to search how popular baby names were in any given year in Ireland.

With information from 1964 to 2016, users can follow the popularity of their own name, or the names of family, friends or random names.

Users can log onto the interactive website here.

Once logged on, users will be asked whether the name is that of a boy or girl, what the name is and the year they wish to receive information on.

TheJournal.ie used the name Hayley and the year 1995 as an example. Once the above information was entered, the CSO revealed that Hayley was ranked 73 of all baby girls registered in Ireland in 1995.

It also revealed that, in total, 76 babies were registered with the name Hayley in 1995.

With the name and year entered by users, the application generates a downloadable name certificate.

Source: CSO.ie

The application also provides an interaction graph of how many babies were born with the chosen name and where it ranked in the most popular names in the years between 1964 and 2016.

Source: CSO.ie

Finally, the app allows users to search the top most popular names for any year between 1964 and 2016. If the user types in a name and chooses a year, the application will outline how popular that name was in that year.

Source: CSO.ie

If users are trying to think up a baby name, they can use the “find me a name” function to randomly select a name and the information on its popularity will be provided.

A spokesperson for the CEO told TheJournal.ie that the idea for the application came about due to the stark interest in baby names publications.

“The idea came about because baby names publications are always the ones that get the most attention every year, it’s a very popular publication,” the spokesperson said.

“It’s a great way for people to engage with statistics.”