Traditional Irish Girl's Names

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Most popular Names in Ireland | Traditional Girl's Names | Traditional Boy's Names

While names like Erin, Colleen and Shannon are often thought of as Irish names, they are very rarely encountered in Ireland. They became popular instead in places to which many Irish people emigrated, particularly the USA.

The names listed on these pages are mainly of Irish origin, some of them very old and dating back to pre-Christian Celtic times. Others are commonly encountered Irish versions of well known English names.

Where meanings are known they are given, but the reality is that many names in use for centuries have no clear meaning.

Irish Girl's Names A-C

Girl's Names D-I | Girl's Names M-S

	Say	English	Origin/History
Afric	Africk		Though it sounds like it should mean Africa, it doesn't. It has been recorded as an Irish name as far back as the 11th Century and is still quite popular to-day.
Aibreann	av-rawn	April, Avril	Aibreann is the Irish word for the month April.
Aideen	ay-deen		This is a variation of Etain. It is also sometimes used for girls whose fathers are called Aidan - the -een ending is a diminutive. Aidan comes from the old Irish aed which means 'fire' with the -een meaning small, so 'little fire'
Ailbe	al-vah	Alva	From a translation into Irish of the Latin Alba meaning 'white'.
Aileen	ay-leen		From the old Irish 'ail' meaning 'noble.'. The -een is a diminutive, so little noble one. It is a variation of Eileen.
Ailis Eilis	ay-lish	Alice, Elizabeth	Irish version of both Alice and Elizabeth
Aine	awn-ya	Anya Anne	Two origins: 1. An old Gaelic name meaning 'radiance' or 'joy'. 2. Also used as the Irish equivalent of Anne.
Alannah	ah-lan-ah	Alana	From 'leanbh' the Irish word for child, this is an affectionate usage of 'child', often translated as 'darling child'.
Alma			An early Irish name, used for both boys and girls, meaning 'all good'.
Aoibheann	eve-een	Eavan	Aoibhinn means 'lovely', the name is also sometime a diminutive of Eve - 'little Eve'.
Aoife	ee-fa	Eve	A very old Irish name meaning 'beautiful or radiant'. May also come from Eve.
Ashling Aislinn	ash-ling		In Irish means 'a vision or dream'.
Aurnia	our-nia	Orla	A variation of Orla, meaning 'Golden Lady'. The 12th century Irish chieftain Donal Óg MacCarthy had a daughter of this name.
Banba			An old name used for Ireland. I have never heard it used as a girls name in Ireland, but it has been suggested as one.
Betha	bay-thah		From the Irish word for 'life'.
Bláthnaid, Blánaid, Bláthnat	blaw-nid blaw-nat		Blath means 'flower', the name is generally understood to mean 'little flower'. In Irish legend she was rescued by the hero Cuchulainn from an unhappy marriage but later killed by her husbands servant.
Briana, Brianna	bree-a-nah		The female version of Brian meaning 'hill' though often said to be indicative of 'noble or virtuous'.
Brigid, Bridget	bridge-id	Brigit	The name comes from the Irish 'brigh' meaning 'powerful' or 'high one'. While mostly associated with St Brigid, it is actually a much older Celtic name. In fact St Brigid predates Christianity too, and was the most important goddess of Celtic times. The stories told of saint and goddess are so intermingled as to be impossible to separate. Could it be they are one and the same?
Bronagh	brone-ah	Brona	'bronach ' means 'sad or sorrowful' in Irish. Maudlin name to give a child one would think!
Caitlín	kate-lyn	Katherine	Irish versions of the English name.
	cat-rio-nah
Caoilfhoinn	key-lin	Keelin	From the Irish words for 'slender' and 'fair'. Quite a few Irish saints had this name.
Caoimhe	qwee-vuh or key-vuh	Keva	From the Irish word 'caomh' which can variously mean 'gentle, beautiful or graceful'.
Cara	car-ah	Kara	In Irish 'cara' means 'friend.' - Do Chara means Your Friend and thus the name of this site!
Cathleen	kath-leen	Kathleen	Irish variant of Katherine. Note that in Irish there is no letter K, so it will always be spelt with a C.
Catriona	cat-rio-nah	Katherine	Another Irish variant for Katherine.
Ciara	keyrah	Keera	Feminised version of Ciaran, meaning 'dark'.
Cliona Clíodhna	klee-un-ah		From the Irish clodhna meaning 'shapely.' In Celtic myth Clíodhna was an Irish Goddess who fell in love with Caibhan (Kevin) a mortal.
Clodagh	klodah		Thought to be related to the name of a river in Tipperary (The Clody). Many Irish rivers were named after Celtic Gods and Goddesses, but if there was a Goddess known as Clodagh nothing is known of her.
Colleen	kolleen		A phonetic pronunciation of the Irish word 'cailín', meaning girl. Rarely used as a name in Ireland, but popular in Irish communities in the USA and elsewhere.