100 Irish and Scottish Gaelic Names for Girls

Aifric

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Possibly from Afraicc, the Old Irish name for the continent of Africa
• Pronunciation: EYE-frik
• Variations: Africa
• Namesakes: Aifric Keogh, Aifric Campbell

Aifric is a genuinely old Irish name, worn by noblewomen through the Middle Ages and usually glossed as pleasant or enjoyable.

Onomastic references trace it to Afraicc, the Old Irish name for the continent of Africa, which is why the Anglicized spelling is literally Africa and why people sometimes assume the name landed on the wrong continent. Ireland has warmed to it again after centuries of near silence, and it now reads as heritage rather than history.

Olympic rower Aifric Keogh and novelist Aifric Campbell both carry it. Say EYE-frik, and most people manage it on the second try.

Aila

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: From the strong place
• Pronunciation: AY-luh
• Variations: Ayla

Aila is a short, soft name that turns up in Gaelic, Finnish, Turkish, and Hebrew naming traditions, with the Scottish sense of from the strong place.

In Finland it stands in for Helga or Olga, meaning “bringer of light.” It doubles as a form of the Turkish name Ayla, which points to a halo, and of the Hebrew Eilah, an oak tree.

Scotland took to it first, and American parents have been discovering it steadily since it entered the charts there in 2019. Two syllables, no spelling lesson required, which explains a good deal of the appeal.

Aine

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Radiance, brilliance
• Pronunciation: AWN-ya
• Namesakes: Aine Minogue, Aine Phillips

Aine is a Gaelic female name meaning “radiance.” Reference works give it as radiance or brilliance in Irish, and the sound is as light as the meaning.

In myth she belongs to the sun and to midsummer, and later folklore remembers her as a fairy queen. That double life, goddess and fairy, is part of why the name never really went away in Ireland. English speakers usually meet it spelled Anya, though the two names are not related. Harpist Aine Minogue and installation artist Aine Phillips carry it today. Say AWN-ya, not ay-nee.

Aisling

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Dream, vision
• Pronunciation: ASH-ling
• Variations: Aislinn, Ashling

Aisling means “dream” or vision in Irish, and it started life as a literary term rather than a name.

An aisling is a genre of Irish poetry in which a woman appears to the poet in a vision and foretells the country’s revival. Parents only began using it for daughters in the 20th century, which makes it far younger than it sounds.

It peaked with Irish girls born in the 1990s and has eased off since, so it now lands as familiar at home and genuinely uncommon everywhere else. Ash is the obvious short form.

Alanna

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Child, little one
• Pronunciation: uh-LAN-uh
• Variations: Alana, Alannah

Alanna is a Gaelic, German, Hawaiian, and Celtic girl’s name most often read as child.

The Irish thread runs through the affectionate word alannah, from leanbh, the sort of thing a grandmother says to a small child rather than a formal given name.

Elsewhere it doubles as a German name meaning precious, a Hawaiian name meaning beautiful offering, and a feminine form of the Celtic Alan.

It has held on in Ireland while the American ear drifted toward Alaina and Arianna, so Alanna now sounds warm rather than trendy. Lana and Annie both work as nicknames.

Alba

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: Scotland
• Pronunciation: AL-buh

Alba is the Gaelic name for Scotland itself, which makes it about as patriotic as a Scottish name can get without being a flag.

It is also a word in Spanish and Italian meaning dawn, so it travels well across southern Europe too. That double reading gives it a soft edge that the average place name lacks.

In the United States it has been off the charts for the better part of a century, which is exactly what parents hunting for something unworn tend to want.

Annag

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: Grace, favor
• Pronunciation: AN-ak

Annag is the Scottish Gaelic diminutive of Anna, so it is Anna with a Highland accent.

Anna itself came through Latin from the Greek Hanna and the Hebrew Hannah, which is where the sense of grace comes from. The Gaelic -ag ending is a diminutive, the same suffix behind Morag and Seonag. It stayed a Gaelic-speaking family name rather than a national one, and it barely registers even in Scotland while plain Anna sits high in the rankings. If the spelling feels like a hurdle, Anna or Ann make effortless nicknames.

Aoibheann

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Beautiful sheen, fair beauty
• Pronunciation: EE-van
• Variations: Aoibhinn, Eavan

Aoibheann pairs two old Irish elements: oib, meaning beauty or form, and finn, meaning white or blessed.

That combination gets translated as beautiful sheen, and it fits a name that sounds like water moving. The mother of St. Enda bore it in the early records, and mathematician and broadcaster Aoibheann Ni Shuilleabhain carries it now.

It is well used in Ireland and almost unheard of outside it, because eight letters producing the sound EE-van asks a lot of a stranger. Eavan is the Anglicized spelling if you want the sound without the spelling lesson.

Aoife

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Beauty, radiance
• Pronunciation: EE-fa
• Variations: Eefa, Eva
• Namesakes: Aoife McLysaght, Aoife O’Donovan

Aoife is a Gaelic women’s name meaning “beautiful” and it descends from the Old Irish oiph, beauty.

It gets Anglicized as Eva or Eve out of habit, even though the true Irish form of Eve is Eabha. In legend, Aoife was a warrior who fought the demigod Cu Chulainn to a standstill, so the softness of the sound is doing some misdirection.

Living bearers hold up the standard: geneticist Aoife McLysaght and Grammy-winning singer Aoife O’Donovan. Two syllables, EE-fa, and it is one of the easiest Irish spellings to teach once someone has heard it said.

Bebinn

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Fair woman
• Pronunciation: be-VEEN
• Variations: Bebhinn, Bevin

Bebinn joins bean, woman, with finn, fair or white, for a meaning of fair woman.

Early Irish myth gives the name to a goddess linked with birth and the otherworld. A later legend hands it to a giantess who sought protection from Fionn Mac Cumhaill when a hostile giant pursued her, which is a lot of story for a name this gentle.

Bevin is the usual Anglicized spelling. Bebe and Binnie both fall out of it naturally.

Bridget

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: The exalted one
• Pronunciation: BRIJ-it
• Variations: Brigid, Brighid, Bridgette
• Popularity: #724 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (385 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 39% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

A strong choice among our Gaelic names for girls, Bridget means “power” and traces to the old Celtic Briganti, the exalted one.

Two figures keep it alive. The first is the Celtic goddess associated with poetry, healing, and the forge; the second is St. Brigid of Kildare, sometimes called Mary of the Gael, whose feast day now anchors an Irish public holiday.

In the United States it has slipped a long way from its mid-century peak and sat at 724th for girls in 2025, which is the sweet spot for a name everyone can spell and almost nobody in the class shares. Bridie, Bee, and Birdie are the nicknames worth knowing.

Bronagh

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Sorrow
• Pronunciation: BROH-nuh
• Variations: Bronach, Brona

Bronagh comes from the Irish bron, sorrow, which is a heavy translation for a name that has been used affectionately for centuries.

The reason is St. Bronagh, a sixth-century holy woman remembered in County Down, where families still name daughters after her. The sorrow in the name is understood the way it is in a lament, as depth rather than gloom.

Outside Ireland it usually appears as Brona, which is simply how the name sounds. If you like meanings with weight to them, this one has earned its keep.

Cadhla

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Beautiful, graceful
• Pronunciation: KY-luh
• Variations: Keily, Kayley

A stylish pick among our Gaelic girl names, Cadhla means beautiful in Irish.

It comes through the surname family of O Cadhla, Ni Chadhla, and Bean Ui Chadhla, the last two being the unmarried and married feminine forms.

Names that arrive by way of a surname often feel stiff; this one does not, because the sound is already soft.

Irish parents have used it steadily in recent decades while the rest of the world took the Anglicized routes of Keily and Kelly instead. Say it KY-luh and it sits right next to Kayla without sharing a single letter pattern with it.

Caireann

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Little friend, little beloved
• Pronunciation: KAR-en
• Variations: Cairenn, Karen

Caireann means little friend or little beloved, and it belonged to the mother of Niall of the Nine Hostages, the high king whose descendants ran much of Ireland for centuries.

That is a serious pedigree for a name most people now meet only as Karen. The internet has done the Anglicized spelling no favors, and plenty of parents who love the sound have quietly gone looking for another route to it.

Caireann is that route. Same warmth, same two syllables, none of the baggage, and a genuinely old Irish story attached.

Cairistiona

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: Follower of Christ
• Pronunciation: kar-ish-TEE-uh-nuh
• Variations: Cairistine, Kirsteen

Cairistiona is the Scottish Gaelic form of Christina, so the meaning is simply follower of Christ.

It has stayed a Highland and Hebridean name rather than a national one, kept in use largely by Gaelic-speaking families. The best remembered bearer is a 14th-century noblewoman of Clan Ruaidhri who supplied ships and men to Robert the Bruce. This elegant name is a long one on paper, but Kirsty, Kirsteen, and Christy all come out of it, so daily life is easier than the birth certificate suggests.

Caoimhe

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Dear, beloved, gentle
• Pronunciation: KEE-va
• Variations: Keeva, Keavy
• Namesakes: Caoimhe Butterly, Caoimhe Archibald

Caoimhe comes from the Irish caomh, which covers dear, beloved, and gentle all at once.

It has been a fixture in the Irish top ranks since the late 1990s and still sits inside the country’s most popular hundred names for girls. Outside Ireland it barely travels, because seven letters producing KEE-va is a bridge too far for most registrars.

Human rights activist Caoimhe Butterly and politician Caoimhe Archibald are the best known bearers. Keeva is the Anglicized spelling if you want the sound to survive the trip.

Cara

• Origin: Irish, Italian
• Meaning: Friend, beloved
• Pronunciation: KAR-uh
• Variations: Caragh, Kara
• Namesakes: Cara Delevingne, Cara Black
• Popularity: #1,326 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (168 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 46% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Cara arrives twice over: from the Irish cara, friend, and from the Italian cara, beloved, which is an unusually tidy coincidence.

The Latin thread runs back to carus, loved, and in Greek it shortens Katherine. Versions of it turn up in Turkey, Japan, Vietnam, and Scandinavia, so it crosses borders without needing a translation.

In the United States it last appeared in the top 1000 in 2020, at 907th, which puts it in the rare category of a name everyone recognizes and almost nobody is using. Model Cara Delevingne and tennis player Cara Black keep it visible.

Cassidy

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Curly-haired
• Pronunciation: KAS-i-dee
• Variations: Cassidi, Kassidy
• Popularity: #541 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (558 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 38% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Cassidy comes from the Irish Caiside, a byname for someone with curls, so it is one of the few names on this list that describes hair.

American parents took to it in the 1990s and early 2000s, helped along by the Grateful Dead song.

It has settled since and sat at 541st for US girls in 2025, which is comfortably familiar without being everywhere.

Cass reads sporty, Cassie reads sweet, and Sid reads like a name in its own right. Few names give you three genuinely different options.

Ciara

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Dark, black
• Pronunciation: KEER-uh
• Variations: Kiera, Kiara, Keara

Ciara is the feminine form of Ciar, from the Irish ciar meaning dark, and it began as the name of an Irish saint.

Pronunciation is where it splits. The Irish say KEER-uh; American bearers, including the singer, generally say see-AIR-uh, and both are now correct in their own countries.

In the United States the spelling peaked at 149th in 2005 and dropped out of the top 1000 after 2016, while Kiara and Keira carried the sound forward. That leaves the original Irish spelling wide open again.

Cliodhna

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Uncertain, traditionally read as shapely
• Pronunciation: KLEE-uh-na
• Variations: Cliona, Clidna

Cliodhna is one of the names whose meaning the reference books honestly mark as unknown, though shapely is the traditional gloss.

The story is better than the etymology. Cliodhna was the queen of the fairies who left the otherworld for a mortal named Ciabhan and was carried off by a wave, which is why one of the great waves of Ireland still carries her name. It had a run with Irish parents in the 1990s and has quietened right down since. In the United States it is effectively undiscovered, which is the whole point if you want myth without a match in the class register.

Clodagh

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: From the River Clodiagh
• Pronunciation: KLOH-da
• Variations: Cloda

Clodagh is named for the Clodiagh, a small river in County Waterford, and the reference works list no meaning beyond that.

River names age well because they never sound dated, and this one has been a steady favorite with Irish parents for decades while staying almost entirely unknown elsewhere.

The spelling looks harder than it is. Two syllables, KLOH-da, silent g and h, and you are done.

Daireann

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Possibly daughter of the fair one
• Pronunciation: DAR-ren
• Variations: Doireann, Darina

Daireann sits in the same family as Doireann, which reference works read as the Old Irish der, daughter, joined to finn, fair or blessed.

In myth she asked Fionn Mac Cumhaill to take her as his only wife for a year and share himself the rest of the time, which is a sharper bargain than most legendary women get to strike.

Darina is the usual Anglicized spelling, and Dara falls out of it easily. The name is rare enough that most people will hear the story before they hear the name.

Deirdre

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Uncertain, possibly daughter
• Pronunciation: DEER-druh
• Variations: Deirdra, Dierdre

Deirdre comes from the Old Irish Derdriu, and its meaning is genuinely uncertain, though der, daughter, is the usual suggestion.

Her legend is the one every Irish schoolchild learns. Promised to Conchobar, king of Ulster, she ran off with the warrior Naoise instead; the king had him killed and she died of grief, and the phrase Deirdre of the Sorrows stuck to Irish literature ever after.

The name carries all of that quietly. It reads as grown-up rather than sad, it shortens to Dee, and it has been out of fashion long enough to sound new again.

Eabha

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Life
• Pronunciation: AY-va
• Variations: Eubha, Eve
• Popularity: #7,590 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (14 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 100% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Eabha is the Irish form of Eve, so the meaning is “life.”

It is no longer a hidden pick at home: Eabha was the second most popular girls’ name in Ireland in 2024, with 293 babies given it that year. That puts it ahead of nearly every English import on the Irish charts.

It sounds like Ava and looks nothing like it, which is the whole appeal for parents who love the sound but not the ubiquity. Outside Ireland almost nobody will guess the spelling, so decide now whether that is a feature.

Eibhlin

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Hazelnut
• Pronunciation: AYV-leen
• Variations: Eileen, Evelyn, Aibhlin

Eibhlin is the Irish form of Aveline, the Norman French name that later gave English both Eileen and Evelyn.

Aveline traces back through the Italian town of Avella to the hazel, Corylus avellana, which is how a name this delicate ends up meaning hazelnut. Its place in Irish memory comes from the 17th-century song Eibhlin a Ruin, written by the harper Cearbhall O Dalaigh to persuade his love to leave her own wedding with him. She did. Few names come with a better opening line at a christening.

Eilidh

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: Light, bright one
• Pronunciation: AY-lee
• Variations: Ailie
• Popularity: #8,503 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (12 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 77% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Eilidh is a Scottish Gaelic diminutive of Eilionoir, and it is also read as the Gaelic answer to Helen, which carries the sense of light.

The Eleanor route runs through the Old French name Alienor, so either way you land on a name with a long European tail.

It is genuinely mainstream at home: Eilidh ranked 38th among girls born in Scotland in 2024. It has not travelled much past the border, mostly because six letters spelling AY-lee stops people cold, but that is exactly what makes it feel found rather than chosen from a list.

Eimear

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Uncertain, traditionally linked with swiftness
• Pronunciation: EE-mer
• Variations: Emer, Eimhear, Eimhir
• Namesakes: Eimear Quinn

Eimear is the modern spelling of Emer, and the older meaning is not settled, though swiftness is the traditional reading.

What the legends are sure about is her resume. Emer, the wife of Cu Chulainn, was said to hold the six gifts of womanhood: beauty, a sweet voice, sweet speech, needlework, wisdom, and chastity. Cu Chulainn had to complete a set of near impossible tasks before her father would let him near her.

Singer Eimear Quinn won Eurovision in 1996 with The Voice, which is still the clip most people find first. Emer is the shorter spelling if you want to spare your daughter a lifetime of corrections.

Eithne

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Kernel, grain
• Pronunciation: ETH-nuh
• Variations: Ethna, Enya, Etney

Eithne is a Gaelic name for girls with two possible meanings: a kernel or little fire.

Reference works favor the first, from the Old Irish etne, a kernel or grain, while the fire reading comes from treating it as a feminine Aidan.

It was everywhere in early Ireland, worn by three saints and a run of noblewomen, and mythology gives it to the mother of Lugh, one of the most powerful figures in the whole cycle. Enya is the same name in a modern coat, which is how most of the world has heard it without knowing.

Etain

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Possibly jealousy or passion
• Pronunciation: AY-teen
• Variations: Eadaoin, Aideen

Etain is usually translated as jealous, which sounds like a strange thing to hand a daughter until you hear why.

In the Wooing of Etain she is so lovely that she becomes the standard other women are measured against, and one of them, a jealous rival, turns her into a pool of water, then a worm, then a fly. She is eventually reborn and marries a high king. Reference works trace the name to the Old Irish et, jealousy or passion, which fits the story rather than the woman.

It faded from Irish records in recent years, so it is now a myth name with almost no competition. Eadaoin is the modern Irish spelling and Aideen is the Anglicized one.

Fallon

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Leader
• Pronunciation: FAL-un
• Variations: Falon, Fallyn

A strong choice among our Gaelic female names, Fallon means leader.

It comes from O Fallamhain, descendant of Fallamhan, which itself is built on a word for supremacy or leadership. In Ireland it stayed a surname and nothing else.

The first name is an American invention, and a specific one: Fallon Carrington of Dynasty put it on birth certificates in the 1980s. It has held on quietly since, which makes it one of the few 1980s television names that never became a punchline.

Fiadh

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Wild, deer; also respect
• Pronunciation: FEE-uh
• Variations: Fia

Fiadh means wild or deer in Irish, and in older usage it also carried the sense of respect.

The word is ancient; the name is not. It was barely registered in Ireland before the 2000s and then climbed at a speed almost nothing else has matched, reaching fifth place among Irish girls born in 2024 with 286 babies given it.

The short spelling Fia is starting to appear abroad, and it lands close enough to Mia to travel well. If you want a name that is unmistakably Irish but still one syllable in practice, this is the one to look at first.

Fidelma

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Uncertain, traditionally read as constant
• Pronunciation: fi-DEL-muh
• Variations: Fedelm, Feidelm

Fidelma is the Latinized version of the older Irish Fedelm, and the traditional readings are beauty or constancy.

Fedelm was a prophet and poet in the Ulster cycle, the one who tells Queen Medb she sees her army “crimson, red,” which is exactly the sort of answer nobody wants before a war.

A second Fedelm, daughter of the king Conchobar, was remembered as the Nine-Times-Beautiful.

The Latin coat gives it a convent-school steadiness that the Irish original does not have. Delma and Fi both work as short forms.

Fiona

• Origin: Scottish
• Meaning: Fair, white
• Pronunciation: fee-OH-nuh
• Variations: Fionna, Ffion
• Namesakes: Fiona Apple, Fiona Shaw
• Popularity: #470 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (654 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, down 5% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Fiona is the feminine form of Fionn, from the old element finn, meaning fair or blessed.

It is the best known Scottish name on this list and also one of the youngest. It was popularized in the 18th and 19th centuries by writers reaching for something that sounded Gaelic, rather than handed down through generations of Highland families.

Singer Fiona Apple and a certain green ogre’s wife kept it in the air through the 2000s. It has cooled since and sat at 470th for US girls in 2025, which is about as close to timeless as a name gets: recognizable, spellable, and nowhere near the top of the class list.

Gormlaith

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Illustrious princess
• Pronunciation: GORM-lee
• Variations: Gormla, Gormflaith

Gormlaith joins gorm, illustrious or splendid, with flaith, ruler, the same second element behind Orlaith.

Queens wore it. Between the eighth and 16th centuries the name belonged to a run of Irish royal women, including the formidable Gormlaith who was married in turn to a king of Dublin, a king of Leinster, and Brian Boru.

Today it is a relic, and so is Barbara, its old Anglicized stand-in. Say it GORM-lee and it turns out to be far softer than it looks on paper.

Grainne

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Possibly grain
• Pronunciation: GRAW-nya
• Variations: Grania, Granya

Grainne is traditionally tied to grán, grain, which is why she is remembered as a harvest figure, though reference works also raise a second and much darker root meaning hatred or fear.

Her legend is a chase. Promised to the ageing Fionn Mac Cumhaill, she ran instead with his young warrior Diarmuid, and the two were pursued the length of Ireland, never sleeping twice in the same place. Dolmens all over the country are still called the bed of Diarmuid and Grainne.

The name also belonged to Grace O’Malley, the 16th-century sea captain the Irish call Granuaile. Between the two of them, this is not a passive name.

Ide

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Thirst
• Pronunciation: EE-da
• Variations: Ita, Ida, Meeda

Ide is traced to the Old Irish itu, thirst, and it belonged to one of the great female saints of Ireland.

St. Ide founded a monastery at Killeedy in County Limerick and ran a school there; the thirst in her name was read as a thirst for divine knowledge, and a holy well at the site still carries her name. Ita is the usual Anglicized spelling. At three letters it is one of the shortest names here, and it works nicely as a middle name for a longer first.

Iona

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: From the island of Iona
• Pronunciation: eye-OH-nuh
• Variations: Ione, Ioua
• Popularity: #2,667 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (65 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 56% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Iona takes its name from the small island off the west coast of Scotland where St. Columba founded his monastery in the sixth century.

The island was originally recorded as Ioua, and the modern form is generally credited to a medieval scribe misreading a u as an n. A copying error turned into one of Scotland’s prettiest names.

It is properly popular at home, ranking 83rd among Scottish girls born in 2024, and it travels better than most Gaelic names because the spelling matches the sound. If you want a place name with real substance behind it rather than a map pin, this is the one.

Iseabail

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: God is my oath
• Pronunciation: ISH-uh-bel
• Variations: Ishbel, Isobel

Iseabail is the Scottish Gaelic form of Isabel, which arrived from Spain in medieval times as a version of Elisabeth, from the Hebrew name Elisheva, meaning God is my oath.

The Gaelic spelling stayed local while Isabel, Isabelle, and Isabella conquered the English-speaking world.

So you get a top-tier familiar name in a spelling almost nobody uses, and Ishbel and Isobel are there as gentler compromises. Bel and Ishy handle the day to day.

Iseult

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Traditionally read as she who is gazed upon
• Pronunciation: ih-SOOLT
• Variations: Isolde, Yseult, Isolt

Iseult belongs to the Irish princess at the center of the Tristan legend, the one better known as Iseult the Fair.

Her story ran through medieval French and German romance and ended up as Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde, which is a long way from Ireland for a name that started there. The traditional reading is she who is gazed upon.

It still turns up on Irish birth certificates in small numbers, and the spellings Isolde and Yseult give you a choice between the opera house and the manuscript. Izzy handles the playground either way.

Kyla

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: Slender, narrow
• Pronunciation: KY-luh
• Variations: Kylah, Kila
• Namesakes: Kyla Pratt, Kyla Ross
• Popularity: #580 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (512 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 42% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Kyla is usually treated as the feminine of Kyle, a Scottish surname from the Gaelic caol, meaning narrow or slender.

It ranked 579th for US girls in 2025, which is the useful middle ground: people can spell it after hearing it once, and there probably will not be a second one in the class.

Actress Kyla Pratt and Olympic gymnast Kyla Ross give it a bit of range. Next to Kayla it is the quieter of the two, and next to Cadhla it is the same sound with a far easier spelling.

Kyna

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Wild goose
• Pronunciation: KEE-na
• Variations: Kina

Kyna traces to cadhan, the wild goose, which sounds ordinary until you know what the Irish did with the phrase.

The Wild Geese were the Irish soldiers who left for continental armies from the 16th century onward, and generations of families kept the image alive as a symbol of exile and loyalty. That gives a small, soft name an unexpectedly long shadow.

It is the feminine counterpart to the Gaelic boy’s name Kyne, and it offers a way into the K sound that Kyla and Kayla have not already worn down.

Liban

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Paragon of women
• Pronunciation: LEE-bawn
• Variations: Libane

Liban joins the Old Irish li, beauty, with ban, of women, for a meaning that lands somewhere near paragon of women.

Her legend explains Lough Neagh, the largest freshwater lake in these islands.

When the water rose and drowned her family, Liban survived a year in a cave beneath it and was then transformed into a creature half woman, half salmon. Sailors eventually caught her and she was baptized as Muirgen, sea-born.

It is a lot of story for two syllables. The name is vanishingly rare, even in Ireland, which is either the drawback or the entire attraction.

Liusaidh

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: Light
• Pronunciation: LOO-see
• Variations: Lucia, Lucy

Liusaidh is the Scottish Gaelic form of the Latin Lucia and the English Lucy, so the meaning is light.

Here is the trick: it is pronounced LOO-see. A name that looks like a puzzle turns out to be the most familiar sound on the whole list, which is a rare combination.

Lucia and Lucy are used everywhere and Liusaidh is used almost nowhere, so you can have the sound your grandmother recognizes with a spelling nobody else in the school will have.

Maeve

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Intoxicating one
• Pronunciation: MAYV
• Variations: Meabh, Meadhbh, Mave
• Namesakes: Maeve Binchy, Maeve Higgins
• Popularity: #76 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (3,153 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 299% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Maeve means intoxicating one, and it belonged to the warrior queen of Connacht who started a war over a bull and never once apologized for it.

It is no longer the insider pick it was a decade ago. Maeve ranked 76th among US girls in 2025, up from 953rd in 1997, one of the steepest sustained climbs of any name on this list.

That still leaves it far below the Emmas and Olivias, and it has the rare quality of reading as both very old and very current. Novelist Maeve Binchy and comedian Maeve Higgins carry it now, and Meabh is the Irish spelling if you want the harder version.

Mairead

• Origin: Irish, Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: Pearl
• Pronunciation: muh-RAYD
• Variations: Maighread, Margaret

Mairead is the Gaelic form of Margaret, which comes from the Greek word for pearl.

Ireland and Scotland spell it slightly differently, Mairead and Maighread, and both say it roughly muh-RAYD. The nicknames are the surprise: Peig and Peigi, which sound nothing like the full name and everything like a Gaelic grandmother. Margaret itself is climbing back up the American charts, so Mairead is well placed as the version that gets you the same heritage without the same class register.

Mairi

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: Beloved; bitter
• Pronunciation: MAH-ree
• Variations: Mhairi, Maire
• Namesakes: Mairi Campbell, Mhairi Black

Mairi is the Scottish Gaelic form of Maria, so it belongs to the enormous family of names descended from the biblical Mary, whose meaning is argued over between beloved and bitter.

The Mhairi spelling is the vocative form, the one used when addressing someone directly, which is a very Gaelic reason for a spelling to exist. It was traditionally said VAH-ree; most speakers now say MAH-ree.

Folk singer Mairi Campbell and politician Mhairi Black, elected to Parliament at 20, are the two bearers people find first.

Malvina

• Origin: Scottish
• Meaning: Smooth brow
• Pronunciation: mal-VEE-nuh
• Variations: Malwina, Melvina
• Namesakes: Malvina Hoffman, Malvina Reynolds

Malvina is the one name here that was invented outright. The 18th-century poet James Macpherson coined it for a character in his Ossian poems, then presented the whole cycle as ancient Gaelic verse he had merely translated.

The poems were a literary sensation across Europe before the scholarship caught up with them, and the name went along for the ride. The Polish spelling Malwina was still popular well into the 20th century.

Sculptor Malvina Hoffman and songwriter Malvina Reynolds gave it a real 20th-century life. Mally and Vina are the obvious short forms.

Mckenna

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Beloved of Aodh
• Pronunciation: muh-KEN-uh
• Variations: McKenna, Makenna
• Namesakes: Mckenna Grace
• Popularity: #410 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (758 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 19% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Mckenna comes from the Irish surname Mac Cionaoith, which joins cion, respect or love, to Aodh, the old fire name, and lands on beloved of Aodh.

It only became a girls’ first name in the late 20th century, and it did well: 410th for US girls in 2025, with Makenna and McKenna splitting the total between them.

Actress Mckenna Grace is the bearer most families will recognize. Kenna is the nickname, and it is strong enough to stand alone, which is a useful thing to know before you commit to four syllables.

Meara

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Sea
• Pronunciation: MEER-uh
• Variations: Mara, Meira

Meara is traditionally read as the sea, through the Irish Mara.

The sound is the selling point.

MEER-uh sits in the same family as Myra and Mira without being either of them, and it has none of their competition.

It also works as a surname name, from O Meadhra, which gives it the slightly formal quality that suits a middle name.

Mor

• Origin: Irish, Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: Great
• Pronunciation: MORE
• Variations: More, Maura

Mor means great, and for centuries it was one of the most common women’s names in Ireland.

Queens carried it: Mor Ni Tuathail, queen consort of Leinster, and Mor Ingen Donnchadha among them. It later got swapped out for Agnes, Martha, and Mary as English names took over the registers, and the Anglicized Maura kept a piece of it alive.

Three letters, one syllable, and a thousand years of history behind it. Short names are having a long moment, and this is one almost nobody has picked up yet.

Morag

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: Great one
• Pronunciation: MOR-ak
• Variations: Morach

Morag is the diminutive of Mor, so it means something like little great one, and it is often used as the Scottish stand-in for Sarah.

It far outlived the medieval name it came from, becoming one of the standard Highland names of the 20th century before easing off.

It has stayed local, largely because the final consonant is a soft Gaelic sound that non-natives flatten. Bearers range from Hogwarts student Morag MacDougal to Morag the sheep, the first mammal cloned from differentiated cells.

Morven

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: The big gap
• Pronunciation: MOR-ven
• Variations: Morvern, Morvyn

Morven takes its name from the peninsula on Scotland’s west coast, and reference works read the Gaelic behind it as the big gap.

It is one of those landscape names that sounds like the place it describes: bare hills, sea on three sides, nothing much in between. The novel and film Morvern Callar attached it to a very modern character, which stopped it from turning into a heritage relic. Outside Scotland it is close to unknown, and the spelling is straightforward, which is a rare pairing on this list.

Muirenn

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Sea fair, sea white
• Pronunciation: MWIR-en
• Variations: Muireann, Muirinn

Muirenn is built on muir, the sea, and the fair or white element that ends so many Irish names, so it reads as sea fair.

It was borne by abbesses and queens in the early Irish annals and has come back into real use in Ireland in the last few decades. The closely related Muirne belonged to Fionn Mac Cumhaill’s mother, whose father forbade her to marry after a prophecy that the match would cost him everything. He was right.

Murna and Myrna are the Anglicized descendants of that second name, so the sound has been quietly present in English all along. Muireann is the spelling you will see most often today.

Neala

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Champion, hero
• Pronunciation: NEE-la
• Variations: Neila, Nyla

Neala is the feminine form of Niall, a name reference works link to an old word for hero or champion.

Niall of the Nine Hostages is the reason it matters. He was the high king whose descendants, the Ui Neill, dominated Ireland for centuries, and genetic studies have since traced a striking share of Irish male lineages back toward that dynasty.

Neala keeps all of that in three quiet syllables. It sounds close enough to Nyla and Layla to feel current, and it is used rarely enough to feel like yours.

Nessa

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Uncertain; traditionally not gentle
• Pronunciation: NESS-uh
• Variations: Neasa, Nesa

Nessa comes from the Old Irish Ness, whose meaning the reference books mark as uncertain, and she was the mother of Conchobar, king of Ulster.

The legend supplies its own etymology. She was born Assa, the gentle one, until an enemy killed her foster fathers; after she hunted him down she was called Ni-assa, not gentle, and the name stuck.

It doubles as a short form of Vanessa – a name Jonathan Swift invented in the 1700s. Either way you get two syllables that sound soft and a backstory that is anything but.

Niamh

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Bright, radiant
• Pronunciation: NEEV
• Variations: Neve, Neave, Nieve

Niamh is a Gaelic female name meaning “radiance” or “brightness.”

In the legend she is Niamh of the Golden Hair, daughter of the sea god, who carried the poet Oisin off to Tir na nOg on a white horse. He stayed three hundred years and aged all of them the moment his foot touched Irish soil again. It has been a fixture in Ireland since the 1960s and has barely moved abroad, because five letters producing NEEV is a hard sell at a school gate. Neve is the Anglicized spelling that solves it, at the cost of the look.

Nuala

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: White shoulder
• Pronunciation: NOO-la
• Variations: Fionnuala, Finola
• Namesakes: Nuala O’Faolain

Nuala is the short form of Fionnuala, which joins finn, white or blessed, to guala, shoulder.

Fionnuala was the daughter of the sea god Lir, turned into a swan by a jealous stepmother along with her brothers and left on the water for nine hundred years. It is the saddest story in Irish myth and one of the best known.

The short form has none of that weight. It is two easy syllables, spelled the way it sounds, and writer Nuala O’Faolain gave it a distinctly modern voice. If you like Fionnuala but not the paperwork, this is the answer.

Orlaith

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Golden ruler
• Pronunciation: OR-la
• Variations: Orla, Orlagh, Orfhlaith

Orlaith joins or, meaning “gold”, to flaith, ruler, so golden ruler is the literal reading rather than a flattering gloss.

It belonged to Orlaith ingen Cennetig, sister of the high king Brian Boru, and was widely used in 12th-century Ireland before fading and returning in the 20th.

The short Anglicized form Orla now outsells the original in both Ireland and Scotland, which is a fair trade if you would rather not spell it out at every appointment. Singer Orla Fallon and actress Orla Fitzgerald carry that version.

Raghnailt

• Origin: Irish, Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: Counsel and rule
• Pronunciation: RAN-ult
• Variations: Raghnaid, Ragnhild

Raghnailt is the Gaelic form of the Norse Ragnhild, from regin, counsel, and hildr, battle, and it is a reminder that Ireland and the Hebrides spent centuries trading names with Scandinavia.

It went to royalty on both sides of that exchange: Raghnailt ingen Amhlaibh was a 12th-century princess of the Isle of Man, and Raghnailt Ni Conchobair a 13th-century princess of Connacht.

The Scottish spelling is Raghnaid. Neither version is in general use today, which makes this a genuine deep cut for parents who want Norse and Gaelic in one name.

Rionach

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Queenly
• Pronunciation: REE-uh-nakh
• Variations: Rioghnach, Riona

Rionach comes from rioghan, queen, and is a variant of the older Rioghnach.

The first Rionach on record was the wife of Niall of the Nine Hostages, which puts her at the head of the dynasty that ran Ireland for the next four hundred years. Not many names can claim a founding mother. Riona is the shorter form and the easier one to carry around, and it doubles as a short form of Caitriona. The full spelling is for parents who want the ch sound and are willing to teach it.

Roisin

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Little rose
• Pronunciation: roh-SHEEN
• Variations: Rosheen, Rosaleen
• Namesakes: Roisin Murphy

Roisin is the diminutive of Rois, the Irish rose, so it means little rose.

Its place in Irish culture comes from Roisin Dubh, the Dark Little Rose, a 17th-century song in which the rose stands for Ireland itself under English rule. James Clarence Mangan’s 19th-century translation, My Dark Rosaleen, is still the version most people know.

So the name works twice: as Rose with an Irish accent, and as one of the country’s oldest political metaphors. Singer Roisin Murphy carries it now, and it stays firmly inside Ireland’s most used names.

Rona

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: From the island of Rona
• Pronunciation: ROH-nuh
• Variations: Rhona, Ronagh

Rona takes its name from two small Hebridean islands, and the Norse root behind them is generally read as rough island.

It is the plainer sister of Rhona and a much less worn alternative to Fiona and Mona, which share its shape and most of its sound.

Four letters, no silent consonants, and a landscape behind it rather than a saint or a battle. Names this compact usually have to give something up; this one does not.

Sadhbh

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Sweet, good
• Pronunciation: SIVE
• Variations: Sive, Saibh, Sadb

Sadhbh is the modern spelling of the Old Irish Sadb, traditionally read as sweet or good.

In legend she is Fionn Mac Cumhaill’s love, turned into a deer by a druid she refused, and the mother of the poet Oisin, whose own name means little deer. It is one of the tenderest stories in the cycle.

It is also six letters that produce a single syllable rhyming with hive, which is why it has stayed inside Ireland while remaining a long-running favorite there. Sive is the Anglicized spelling, and it is the sensible choice if the family lives anywhere else.

Saoirse

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Freedom, liberty
• Pronunciation: SEER-shuh
• Variations: Seersha
• Namesakes: Saoirse Ronan
• Popularity: #1,089 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (222 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 281% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Saoirse means freedom, and unlike most names here it is not ancient at all. It was created in the 20th century, during and after the Irish War of Independence, when parents wanted the word itself on a birth certificate.

It is still one of Ireland’s most used names, ranking 24th there in 2024 with 164 babies given it. In the United States it has hovered at the edge of the top 1000, last appearing in 2023 at 957th, which says a lot about how far a pronunciation can hold a name back.

Actress Saoirse Ronan has spent a career explaining that it rhymes roughly with inertia. If you want the meaning without the lifelong correction, that is the trade to weigh.

Saorlaith

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Free ruler
• Pronunciation: SEER-lah
• Variations: Saorla, Searlaith

Saorlaith joins soer, free, to flaith, ruler, giving a literal free ruler, and it sits in the same family as Orlaith and Gormlaith.

It is an early name, worn by abbesses in the Irish annals, and it has been picking up quietly again with Irish parents over the past two decades. Saorla is the short spelling, and it is the one most people can manage on a first attempt.

Shannon

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Old and wise
• Pronunciation: SHAN-un
• Variations: Shannen, Shanon

Shannon belongs to Ireland’s longest river and to Sionann, the woman in the legend who went to the well of wisdom against instruction and was carried away by the water that became the river.

The traditional reading of her name is the old wise one, which suits a story about knowledge that costs something.

It was an American staple through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and has been overtaken since by fresher S names such as Sophie and Sadie. Shortened to Shan it loses thirty years instantly.

Shauna

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: God is gracious
• Pronunciation: SHAW-nuh
• Variations: Shawna, Seana

Shauna is the feminine form of Sean, which is the Irish John, so the meaning is God is gracious.

It had a strong run in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s and then went quiet, which is roughly where Jenna and Dana are sitting too.

Sinead is the more traditional Irish route to the same root if you want the heritage rather than the era. Shay is the modern short form, and it is doing a great deal of work these days.

Shona

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: God is gracious
• Pronunciation: SHOH-nuh
• Variations: Seonag, Seonaid, Sheona

Shona Anglicizes Seonag and Seonaid, the Scottish Gaelic forms of Joan and Janet, so it belongs to the vast family of names built on the Hebrew for God is gracious.

It was a Scottish staple for much of the 20th century and has now almost vanished from the birth registers there, which is what tends to happen to a name a whole generation shared.

That makes it available again, and it is a good deal fresher to an American ear than Shauna. Two syllables, spelled the way it sounds, and no explaining required.

Sile

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Traditionally read as heavenly
• Pronunciation: SHEE-la
• Variations: Sheila, Shelagh, Sheelagh

Sile is the Irish form of Cecilia, a name that came down from the Roman clan name Caecilius and has long been read as heavenly.

The Anglicized spelling Sheila went so far so fast that in Australia it turned into a common noun, which is a fate very few names survive. The Irish original is a different proposition entirely: four letters, said SHEE-la, and rare enough now that almost nobody will connect it to the 1940s. If you like a name that hides in plain sight, this is one.

Sinead

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: God is gracious
• Pronunciation: shin-AID
• Variations: Sine, Jeannette, Shinead
• Namesakes: Sinead O’Connor

Sinead is the Irish form of Jeannette, the French feminine of John, so the meaning that travels with it is God is gracious.

It arrived in Ireland with the Normans and has been thoroughly at home there for centuries. In English it is often swapped for Jane, Jennifer, or Jean, none of which sound remotely like it.

Singer and activist Sinead O’Connor made it internationally recognizable, and fiddler Sinead Madden keeps it in the traditional music world. Say shin-AID.

Skye

• Origin: Scottish
• Meaning: From the Isle of Skye
• Pronunciation: SKY
• Variations: Sky, Skhye
• Popularity: #532 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (569 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, up 10% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Skye is taken from the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides, the largest island of the group and the one with the mountains on every postcard.

The spelling with the e is the Scottish place name; the spelling without it is the weather. American parents prefer the island version by a wide margin, and it ranked 529th for US girls in 2025.

At home it does considerably better, coming in 45th in Scotland in 2024. It is short, unmistakable, and one of the few nature names that also has a real address.

Sloane

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Raider, expedition
• Pronunciation: SLOHN
• Variations: Sloan, Sloanne
• Namesakes: Sloane Stephens, Sloane Crosley
• Popularity: #141 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (2,077 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 253% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Sloane comes from the Irish Slughadhan, from sluaghadh, a raid or hosting, which makes it far less genteel than it sounds.

It ranked 141st for US girls in 2025, which puts it well inside the mainstream while still feeling like a decision rather than a default.

Tennis champion Sloane Stephens and writer Sloane Crosley cover both ends of its range. One syllable, hard consonants, and it ages into a boardroom without any effort at all.

Sorcha

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Radiant, bright
• Pronunciation: SUR-uh-kha
• Variations: Sorca, Sarah, Clara

Sorcha is an Irish name for girls meaning radiant or bright, and it came into use in the late medieval period.

It is usually swapped for Sarah or Clara in English, and Clara is the better match, since it carries the same sense of brightness.

The pronunciation genuinely splits by region between SUR-uh-kha and SOR-kha, so pick one and be consistent. One thing worth knowing: despite the similar look, it has no connection at all to Saoirse.

Tierney

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Lord, master
• Pronunciation: TEER-nee
• Variations: Tiernan, Tierny

Tierney Anglicizes Tighearnach, from tigerna, a lord, and it is worn across Ireland, Britain, and the United States as a surname.

As a first name it is genuinely uncommon, which is unusual for an Irish surname with this shape. Riley, Reagan, and Quinn all made the jump; this one has not, and there is no obvious reason why. That leaves it sitting there, easy to say, easy to spell, with a strong meaning and no crowd attached to it.

Tiree

• Origin: Scottish Gaelic
• Meaning: Land of corn
• Pronunciation: ty-REE
• Variations: Tyree, Tirey

Tiree is an island in the Inner Hebrides, and the Gaelic behind the name is usually read as land of corn, a nod to soil good enough to feed the surrounding islands.

It is also one of the sunniest places in Britain, which is not a sentence anyone expects about the Hebrides, and a windsurfing destination because of it.

Place names are having a long run, from Dakota to Aspen to Carolina. Tiree fits the pattern and has yet to be discovered by anyone outside Scotland.

Una

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Lamb
• Pronunciation: OO-na
• Variations: Oona, Oonagh, Uny

Una probably comes from the Old Irish uan, a lamb, and it was one of the standard women’s names of medieval Ireland.

Spenser gave it a second life in The Faerie Queene, where Una personifies truth, and Irish legend hands it to the wife of Finvarra, king of the fairies. Not bad for three letters.

It had an American moment in the early 1900s and is close to unused now. If Nora and Ava are too familiar, this cute baby name gets you the same sound with none of the traffic, and Oona is there if you prefer the softer look.