Maria continues to be the most popular name for a girl and Luke rose to top the list of the most favourite boy's name.

There were 4,143 births last year, a slight increase of 0.4 per cent over 2008. The majority, 51.8 per cent, of the total live births were boys. When compared to 2008, the number of girls born grew by 1.1 per cent and dropped by 0.2 per cent in the case of boys.

Following a drop in popularity in 2008, the names Luke and Luka saw a surge of 22.7 per cent, which seems to have come at the cost of the name of another evangelist, Matthew, which saw an equivalent drop of 22.9 per cent and was relegated to second place.

Although the popularity of Jake decreased by 16.9 per cent, it still kept third place.

The most popular names overall remain classic biblical ones but there are more contemporary alternatives making headway with names such as Denzel or its variant Danzil, possibly popularised by the famous American actor Denzel Washington.

There are other names that are not so common in society at large and which have seeped into the top 20 most popular names. Liam, for instance, technically a variant of William, which is in 12th place, Aiden, in seventh, or Jaden, fifth place.

Girls' names follow similar patterns. Although some of the most popular names like Maria, Christina, and Elizabeth remain traditional Christian ones, names from the show business feature among the top 20.

Rihanna, for instance, the name of the popular R&B singer, stepped up to ninth place, up from 15, in line with the surge in the singer's own fortunes. Shania, after the country singer Shania Twain, fell from 16th place and ranked 19th.