Irish boy names carry more history per syllable than almost any other group. Many were worn by high kings and warrior poets, and the meanings still say something concrete: a rank in battle, a physical trait, the land a family held.
There is no shortage of them, either. Irish parents registered 4,421 different boys’ names in 2024, across 54,060 births for the year (1). The reach goes well past Ireland: Liam, a short form of Uilliam, was the number one boys’ name in the United States in 2025 (2).
The hard part is rarely finding one you like. It is working out how to say it. Irish spelling and English pronunciation agree on almost nothing, which is why Tadhg sounds like tiger without the -er and the s in Oisin turns into a sh.
So every one of the 100 names below comes with a plain phonetic respelling, its origin and meaning, and, where there is a current figure, where it ranks in Ireland and the United States.
Popularity at a Glance
The most popular names on this list in the United States, 1965 to 2025: Liam, Riley, Nolan, Quinn and Ryan.
100 Strong Irish Names for Boys
Check out the best Irish male names for your baby boy below!
Aengus
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: One strength, from the Old Irish roots oen and guss
- Pronunciation: ENG-iss
Aengus is an older form of Aonghus, built from the Old Irish roots oen and guss, a pairing usually read as strength gathered into one point.
In medieval Irish myth, Aengus held an unusually broad portfolio: love, summer, youth and poetry all at once. The name travelled better in Scotland, where it settled into Angus, and most modern ears now reach for beef or the guitarist from AC/DC before they reach for the god.
Neither spelling has caught on with American parents, which is exactly why it works as a unique cottagecore name if the cattle association does not bother you. Gus is the ready-made short form.
Aidan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Little fire, an anglicized form of Aodhan
- Pronunciation: AY-dun
- Popularity: #326 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (1,043 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 69% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Aidan is the anglicized form of Aodhan, a name meaning little fire.
It is the modern face of the Celtic names Aodhan and Aeddan. American parents took to it in the late 1990s largely because it rhymed with the era’s other favorites, Braden and Hayden, and it peaked at #39 in 2003. It has drifted down since, sitting at #326 in 2025, while Ireland keeps it steadier at #82. That slide is good news if you liked the sound but not the crowd. Namesakes include St. Aidan, who founded the monastery on Lindisfarne island, and Irish actor Aidan Gillen, who played Littlefinger in Game of Thrones.
Alistair
- Origin: Scottish Gaelic, from Greek
- Meaning: Defender of men
- Pronunciation: AL-iss-tair
Alistair is the Gaelic answer to the Greek name Alexander, and it carries the same sense of a man who turns enemies away.
Older name books gloss it as the one who repels men, which reads badly on a nursery wall until you remember it was a warrior’s title. The person being repelled is the one attacking. The Gaelic form, Alasdair, has been in steady use across Ireland and Scotland for centuries, but it stayed close to home far longer than Brian and the other Irish boy names that crossed the Atlantic early. Al and Ali both work as short forms.
Allen
- Origin: Irish, Scottish
- Meaning: Harmony or handsome
- Pronunciation: AL-un
Allen is an Irish name usually traced to either ailin, meaning harmony, or the Celtic aluinn, meaning handsome.
It began as a surname and spread through Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales before anyone used it up front. The other spellings, Alan and Allan, are equally old.
Allen is the version to pick if you want Len or Lenny in the mix, since the double L gives you a short form the other spellings do not.
Aodh
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Fire, from Old Irish aed
- Pronunciation: AY or EE
Aodh comes from the Old Irish aed, meaning fire, and it was one of the most common names in early Ireland.
Kings and mythological figures wore it constantly. In myth, Aodh ruled the underworld and led the Daoine Sidhe, a supernatural race of fairy folk. Its four letters hide a sound English spelling gives you no hint of, closer to AY or EE than anything you would guess from the page. The name is also the root of a small dynasty of surnames, including Hughes, McKee, Magee and MacKay. Modern parents usually meet it through Hugh or Aidan, both of which stand in for it.
Art
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Bear
- Pronunciation: ART
Art is an Irish name meaning bear, and it is older than the shortened form of Arthur that most people assume it is.
The Old Irish word art meant bear, and by extension a champion or a hero. The animal was a stand-in for the qualities, not a literal description, so a boy called Art was being handed strength and nerve rather than fur.
Modern reference books file it under Arthur and it has not ranked in the United States since the 1960s, which makes a standalone Art quietly unusual rather than plain.
Barry
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Spear
- Pronunciation: BA-ree
Among the many war-related Irish boy names, Barry means spear.
It had a long American run through the middle of the last century and then aged out, the way most one-generation favorites do. Whether it comes back depends on how fondly the next wave of parents remembers Barry White and Barry Manilow.
If the fruit association is too strong, Barnabas and Bartholomew both give you Barry as a nickname with a more formal name on the birth certificate.
Blaine
- Origin: Irish, Scottish
- Meaning: Slender
- Pronunciation: BLAYN
Blaine means slender in Irish, and it started life as a Scottish and Irish surname before anyone used it as a first name.
Blane, Blain and Blayne are all in circulation, though the ai spelling is the one most people picture. It sits in that useful middle ground where a name is familiar enough to spell over the phone but rare enough that nobody else in the class has it. American illusionist David Blaine is the bearer most people name first.
Bradan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Salmon
- Pronunciation: BRAY-dun
Bradan is an Irish and English name for boys meaning salmon, which is far more flattering than it sounds.
In Irish myth, a salmon falls into the Well of Wisdom and absorbs all the knowledge in the world. The young Fionn mac Cumhaill burns his thumb cooking the fish for his master and licks it, and the wisdom transfers to him by accident. The fish is the smartest creature in the story, not the supper. Brayden, Braden, Bradyn and Bradin are all in play, so you can choose how obvious you want the Irish spelling to be.
Brady
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Spirited or broad
- Pronunciation: BRAY-dee
Brady is an Irish male name read two ways, as spirited or as broad.
It works as a given name and a surname, though the famous Bradys mostly carry it in the second slot: the sitcom family, and quarterback Tom. It has had a long American run and has eased back since, which is often the sweet spot for a friendly B name that still sounds current.
Brian
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Noble or high
- Pronunciation: BRY-un
Brian is an Irish name usually traced to an old Celtic root meaning hill or high, and read as noble by extension.
The etymology is genuinely unsettled, which is unusual for a name this common. What is not in doubt is its most famous bearer: Brian Boru, the high king who broke Viking power in Ireland in 1014 and gave the name its permanent standing there.
American parents wore it out in the 1970s and 1980s and have largely moved on to Bennett and the other B names of the moment. That is precisely what makes Brian feel restful again rather than dated.
Brogan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Possibly little shoe, from the Gaelic brog
- Pronunciation: BROH-gun
Brogan is an Irish name usually glossed as little shoe, from the Gaelic brog.
Its holiest bearer was St. Brogan, St. Patrick’s nephew and scribe. The name has no settled etymology beyond the surname it comes from, and it is used for boys and girls alike.
If you like the sound but want a road already paved, note that Logan is a well-established name in the US top 100. Brogan gets you the same rhythm without the company.
Burke
- Origin: Irish, Anglo-Norman
- Meaning: Fortified manor
- Pronunciation: BURK
Burke is an Irish name meaning fortified manor, and it arrived on the island with an invasion.
It is the settled form of the Anglo-Norman family name De Burgh, brought over when the knight William de Burgh established himself in Ireland in 1185. Nine centuries later it is one of the most recognizable surnames in the country.
As a first name it is newer and rarer, which is the appeal. It is short, hard-edged and impossible to shorten further, so what you write is what he gets called.
Cairbre
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Charioteer
- Pronunciation: KAR-bruh
Cairbre means charioteer in Irish, a job title from an era when the chariot was the fastest thing on the field.
Two semi-legendary high kings of Ireland carried it, and it was in ordinary use through the Middle Ages. It has since gone almost completely quiet, and the anglicized spellings, Carbrey and Carbry, never picked up the slack in the United States either. The upside of a name this dormant is total ownership. Your Cairbre will very likely be the only one in his school, and probably in every school he ever attends.
Callahan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Bright-headed
- Pronunciation: KAL-uh-han
One of several Irish boy names lifted from a surname, Callahan means bright-headed.
It is the anglicized form of O Ceallachain, and it remains a common last name in Ireland, which is exactly why Irish parents rarely use it up front. Americans have no such hesitation and have given it to boys steadily, if never in large numbers.
Cal is the obvious nickname and Han is the more interesting one.
Caolan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Slender one, from caol plus a diminutive
- Pronunciation: KEE-lawn
- Popularity: Last listed among U.S. boys’ names in 2023 at #11,057 (6 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data, and below the five-births-a-year cutoff since. Rising in the United States, up 75% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Caolan comes from the Irish caol, meaning slender, plus the affectionate ending -an. Older name lists sometimes hand it a warrior meaning it does not have.
The pronunciation is the thing most guides get wrong. It is KEE-lawn, not kay-lun, because the ao is a single long vowel rather than two.
Northern Ireland has kept it in circulation, where it ranked #99 in 2025, and it has yet to register with American parents at all. Sound-wise it sits comfortably beside Kayden and Camden, so it is familiar without being taken.
Carson
- Origin: Scottish
- Meaning: Uncertain, from a Scottish surname
- Pronunciation: KAR-sun
- Popularity: #124 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (2,883 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, down 10% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Carson comes from a Scottish surname whose original meaning has been lost, despite the confident son of the marsh dwellers gloss you will see repeated.
That has not slowed it down. It ranked #124 for American boys in 2025 and #401 in England and Wales, a solidly used name that has never tipped into overexposure. The frontier scout Kit Carson supplied most of its early appeal.
It reads as a first name and a surname with equal ease, and it is spelled the way it sounds, which spares him the usual round of corrections.
Cashel
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Stone fort
- Pronunciation: KASH-ul
Cashel means stone fort in Irish and comes straight off the map.
The town in County Tipperary is best known for the Rock of Cashel, the fortified limestone outcrop that served as the seat of the kings of Munster for centuries. That is a lot of history for a name that sounds this soft.
It has never registered with American parents, which makes it a genuinely fresh choice for an Irish-American boy. It is also one of the few names on this list that a non-Irish speaker can read correctly on sight, which is no small thing.
Cathal
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Battle rule, from cath and fal
- Pronunciation: KA-hul
- Popularity: Last listed among U.S. boys’ names in 2015 at #12,385 (5 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data, and below the five-births-a-year cutoff since.
Cathal is an Irish name built from the words for battle and rule.
Most lists shorten that to great warrior, but the second element matters: fal means rule, so the name describes command rather than combat. It belonged to a 7th-century Irish saint and to several Irish kings, and English speakers have sometimes swapped it for Charles on the grounds that both start with a hard C and nothing else.
It ranked #90 in Ireland in 2025 and has never reached the American top 1000, in any of its spellings. Note that the th is a breath, not a th sound, so it lands as KA-hul.
Cavan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Hollow
- Pronunciation: KAV-un
Cavan is an Irish name meaning hollow, borrowed from the county of the same name.
It works as an alternative to Kevin for parents who want the sound without the 1990s baggage, and it has the softer landing of a place name rather than a saint’s name. Neither Ireland nor the United States has taken it up in any numbers.
Writer Cavan Scott, known for his Star Wars and Doctor Who work, is the bearer most likely to come up.
Cian
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Ancient, long-lasting
- Pronunciation: KEE-un
- Popularity: #1,310 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (148 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, up 7% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Cian means ancient or long-lasting in Irish, and it has the mythology to back the claim up.
In Irish legend, Cian was the father of Lugh Lamfada and the ancestor the Ciannachta traced themselves back to. A traditional Gaelic name that never went away, it ranked #33 in Ireland and #72 in Northern Ireland in 2025, with the English spelling Kian following behind it.
Irish rugby player Cian Healy and showjumper Cian O’Connor are the names most often attached to it now.
Cillian
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Little church, from Old Irish cell
- Pronunciation: KILL-ee-un
- Popularity: #507 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (595 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 470% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Cillian probably comes from the Old Irish cell, meaning church, with a diminutive ending, so it reads as little church rather than the war strife some lists assign it.
The original bearer was a 7th-century Irish saint who took the faith into Franconia and was martyred at Wurzburg for it. The name has since become a genuine Irish favorite, ranked #9 there in 2025 and #11 in Northern Ireland.
Americans found it later, largely through the actor, and it reached #507 in the United States in 2025. The Killian spelling is the more common one there, though the nickname it hands you is not ideal, so most families use the full name or reach for Ian instead.
Clooney
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Green pasture or intriguing rogue
- Pronunciation: KLOO-nee
Clooney is an Irish name read either as green pasture or as an intriguing rogue, depending on which branch of the surname you follow.
Naming your son Clooney will not hand him George’s jawline, but the association does no harm. Like a lot of the Irish boy names here, it spent centuries as a family name and only recently started appearing up front, which is why it is still almost entirely unused.
Clue and Clo are the workable short forms. Loo and Looney are the ones to head off early.
Colin
- Origin: Irish, Scottish
- Meaning: Cub or young pup
- Pronunciation: KOL-in
Colin is the anglicized form of the Gaelic names Cuilen and Cailean, both built on the word for a young animal.
The modern spelling has been in use in Ireland since the 14th century, which makes it far older than its clean, contemporary sound suggests. Colin covers both roots, because it also served as a medieval short form of the French name Nicolas. Collin with two Ls is the common variant spelling, and it is the one usually filed with the Nicholas line rather than with the Gaelic cub.
Colm
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Dove, from Latin columba
- Pronunciation: COL-um
Colm is a variant of Colum, and it traces back to the Latin columba, meaning dove.
The dove connection is not decorative. It links the name to St. Columba, the missionary who left Ireland for Iona and carried Irish Christianity into Scotland, which is why the name carried so much weight in Ireland for so long.
Colum and Colom are the other spellings. It last ranked #82 in Ireland in 2007 and has gone quiet since, and it has never once reached the American top 1000.
Conan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Little wolf or little hound, from cu
- Pronunciation: KOH-nun
- Popularity: #1,678 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (98 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 94% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Conan means little wolf or little hound, from the Irish cu with an affectionate ending. The little warrior gloss you will find on other lists is a mistranslation.
Before the Barbarian arrived in 1932 the name belonged mostly to saints, including a 7th-century bishop of the Isle of Man, and to Arthur Conan Doyle, who gave the world Sherlock Holmes. Between the swordsman and the late-night host, it now carries a much lighter charge than it used to. It ranked #61 in Northern Ireland in 2025 and has stayed off the American charts, so it works as an unusual route to the same sound as Connor or Colin.
Conor
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Lover of hounds, from Conchobar
- Pronunciation: KON-ur
- Popularity: #845 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (292 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 51% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Conor is the anglicized form of Conchobar, built from cu, meaning hound, and cobar, meaning desire, so it describes a man devoted to his dogs.
It belonged to a legendary king of Ulster in Irish mythology, and it has never really left Irish life since. It ranked #16 in Ireland and #44 in Northern Ireland in 2025.
The American picture is stranger. Conor itself sat at #843 in 2025, while the double N Connor has been a fixture for decades. Fighter Conor McGregor and singer Conor Oberst both use the Irish spelling.
Corey
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: In a hollow
- Pronunciation: KOR-ee
Corey is a Gaelic name meaning in a hollow, and it works as a given name and a surname alike.
The variants pile up quickly: Cory, Coire, Correy, Kory and Kori. It had a big American run either side of 1980, carried along by the two Corey teen idols of that decade, and has been sliding gently ever since.
That slide has done it a favor. A name that was inescapable forty years ago now reads as friendly and slightly retro rather than overused.
Cormac
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Uncertain, possibly son of the chariot
- Pronunciation: KOR-mak
- Popularity: #1,298 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (150 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 25% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Cormac comes from the Old Irish Cormacc or Corbmac, and its meaning is honestly unsettled.
The most-cited reading pairs corb, meaning chariot or wagon, with macc, meaning son, which would make it son of the chariot and point at a warrior who fought from one. A second reading takes corb in a much darker sense. The raven meaning that circulates online has the least support of the three.
What is certain is the company.
Cormac mac Airt was the semi-legendary high king said to have ruled in the 3rd century, in the era of Fionn mac Cumhaill, and bishops and princes carried the name for centuries after. It ranked #78 in Northern Ireland in 2024.
Cullen
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Holly tree or holy man
- Pronunciation: KUL-un
Cullen is an Irish, Scottish and English name read as either holly tree or holy man, depending on which family line you trace.
It comes from the Gaelic surname O’Cuileannain, a powerful clan rooted in eastern Ireland, and it is still common enough as a surname there that Irish parents rarely use it first. Americans had no such reservation after 2008, when the Twilight film gave the name a vampire attached to it. It last ranked #901 in the United States in 2022, so the surge has passed and left behind a cool name that is no longer crowded. Whether the Edward association still registers for a child born now is genuinely doubtful.
Daithi
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Swiftness, nimbleness
- Pronunciation: DAW-hee
- Popularity: Last listed among U.S. boys’ names in 2024 at #11,226 (6 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data, and below the five-births-a-year cutoff since.
Daithi means swiftness or nimbleness in Irish, and it is the name Irish families reach for instead of David.
The two are not actually related. Daithi belonged to a semi-legendary high king of Ireland also recorded as Nathi, and the David substitution came later, on sound alone.
The spelling gives English speakers no help: the th is a soft breath, so it lands as DAW-hee. It ranked #67 in Ireland and #28 in Northern Ireland in 2025, and barely registers anywhere else. Given the meaning, it is fitting that so many of its bearers are hurlers and footballers.
Darragh
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Oak
- Pronunciation: DAR-uh
- Popularity: #8,405 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (9 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, up 9% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Darragh is the anglicized form of Daire or Darach, the Irish word for oak.
It is one of the most heavily used Irish boy names in its own country, ranked #19 in Ireland and #32 in Northern Ireland in 2025, and it has stayed there for years rather than spiking and fading. Dara and Daire are the common alternatives.
The oak was the most important tree in early Irish law, protected by statute and tied to kingship and judgment, which gives the name a weight its friendly sound does not advertise.
Declan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Uncertain, likely built on dag, good
- Pronunciation: DEK-lun
- Popularity: #139 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (2,570 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 83% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Declan is the anglicized form of Irish Deaglan, and its meaning is genuinely unknown. Scholars will only commit to the likely opening element dag, meaning good, which is where the full of goodness gloss comes from.
It belonged to the saint who was preaching in Ireland before Patrick arrived and who founded the monastery at Ardmore, in what is now County Waterford.
Ireland has been slowly setting the name down since the 1960s. America has been picking it up at the same time, and it ranked #139 there in 2025, which is the rare case of a name getting fresher as it crosses the Atlantic.
Desmond
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: From south Munster
- Pronunciation: DEZ-mund
- Popularity: #376 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (839 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 18% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Desmond is the anglicized form of Deasmhumhain, meaning south Munster, a region of southern Ireland that was once a kingdom in its own right.
It is a place name doing duty as a personal name, and it wears the formality well. Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave it moral weight, and Desmond Llewelyn gave it forty years of gadgets as Q in the Bond films.
It ranked #376 in the United States in 2025, which is the useful middle ground: recognizable, spellable, and not repeated three times in a classroom. Ireland treated it as a modern choice in the 1960s and has largely moved on since.
Devlin
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Descendant of the unfortunate one
- Pronunciation: DEV-lin
Devlin comes from the surname O’Dobhailein, meaning descendant of the unfortunate one, which is a bracing thing to hand a newborn.
A devilish alternative to Devin or Declan, it reads darker than it is. Unlucky in the original sense meant ill-starred rather than wicked, and plenty of Irish names carry a rueful streak like this.
It has never reached the American top 1000, so it stays genuinely uncommon, and it has the crisp two-syllable shape that most surname names lack.
Diarmuid
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Without envy
- Pronunciation: DEER-mid
Diarmuid is a variant of Diarmaid, usually read as without envy.
In the Fenian Cycle he is the warrior who runs off with Grainne on the eve of her wedding to the aging Fionn mac Cumhaill, and the pursuit that follows takes the pair across most of Ireland. It is the closest thing Irish myth has to Tristan and Iseult, and it ends about as well.
English speakers have long swapped in Jeremiah or Jeremy, which share nothing with it but a first letter.
Diarmuid last ranked #97 in Ireland in 2008 and has never made the American top 1000, so it stays rare in both countries. Dermot is the anglicization that actually works.
Dillon
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Flash of lightning
- Pronunciation: DIL-un
Dillon is an Irish surname and given name, and it is the quiet cousin of the Welsh name Dylan.
The two sound identical and have separate roots, which is the whole appeal. Dylan ranked #41 in the United States in 2025 and has been near the top for a generation. Dillon has never been anywhere close.
So if you love the sound but not the frequency, the second L solves the problem without anyone needing an explanation.
Donald
- Origin: Irish, Scottish
- Meaning: Ruler of the world
- Pronunciation: DON-uld
Donald comes from the Gaelic Domhnall, meaning ruler of the world, and it has one of the steepest falls of any name on this list.
It was a top-ten American choice for decades. Then it picked up a bad-tempered Disney duck, and more recently a set of political associations strong enough that most parents now hear the politics before they hear the name. Its American ranking has been setting new lows.
The Scottish spelling Domhnall sidesteps most of that, and Don, Donnie and Donny remain perfectly usable on their own.
Donovan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Dark brown
- Pronunciation: DON-uh-vun
Donovan means dark brown in Irish, and it comes from the surname O’Donovan.
The family traced itself to Donnubán mac Cathail, the 10th-century ruler who ranks among the more complicated figures of the period, having sided against Brian Boru’s brother. The name outlived the politics.
It shares its nicknames with Donald, Don and Donny, which makes it an easy swap for parents who want the familiar short form without the full name attached to it. Donovan was also a favorite in Jamaica through the 1960s and 1970s, and several well-known athletes and a notable reggae producer carry it.
Duncan
- Origin: Irish, Scottish
- Meaning: Brown-haired warrior
- Pronunciation: DUN-kun
Duncan is the anglicized form of the Gaelic Donnchadh, from donn, meaning brown-haired or chief, and cath, meaning battle.
King Duncan I of Scotland supplied Shakespeare with the murdered king in Macbeth, though the real Duncan died in battle rather than in his sleep, and Macbeth ruled competently for seventeen years afterward. The play is not history.
As a name it does something rare: it is instantly familiar, impossible to misspell, and still almost never used. Dunc is the only short form on offer, and most Duncans simply go by the whole thing.
Eamon
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Guardian of riches
- Pronunciation: AY-mun
Eamon is a variant of Eamonn, built from the old roots ead, meaning wealth or fortune, and mund, meaning protection.
It is the Irish form of Edmund, and its most consequential bearer was Eamon de Valera, who fought in the 1916 Rising, led the country for most of the 20th century and served as its president into the 1970s. Few names on this list are so closely tied to one man.
It still ranked #89 in Ireland as recently as 1987 and has never reached the American top 1000, which makes it an unworn choice for an Irish-American family.
Emmet
- Origin: English, from the Germanic Emma
- Meaning: Often glossed as truth, after the unrelated Hebrew emet
- Pronunciation: EM-it
Emmet is an English surname from the Germanic Emma, often glossed as truth after the unrelated Hebrew emet, and it earned its Irish standing rather than inheriting it.
Robert Emmet led the failed Dublin rising of 1803 and was executed at twenty-five, and his speech from the dock became one of the most quoted pieces of Irish political writing. The name has stood for Irish nationalism ever since, which is why so many Irish-American families use it without any Gaelic ancestry in the word itself.
It is short, clean and easy to spell, and Em works as a short form for a boy just as well as it does for a girl.
Eoghan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Born of the yew tree
- Pronunciation: OH-un
- Popularity: #5,087 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (19 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, up 12% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Eoghan possibly means born of the yew tree, from the Old Irish eo, yew, and the ending gan, born. A second theory routes it through the Latin Eugenius instead, which would make it well-born.
The yew reading fits the culture better. Yews lived for a thousand years and marked burial grounds and assembly sites, so a name built on one was a claim about the family, not the tree.
It is anglicized as Owen, Ewan, Euan or Eugene, none of which prepare you for OH-un. Two Irish kings carried it, as did the saint who founded the monastery at Ardstraw, and it ranked #99 in Northern Ireland in 2024.
Eoin
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: God is gracious
- Pronunciation: OH-in
- Popularity: #2,810 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (45 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, up 15% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
One of the most quietly religious Irish boy names, Eoin means God is gracious.
It is the Irish form of John, taken from the Latin name Iohannes. Because it sounds almost exactly like Eoghan, people assume the two are the same name. They are not: Eoghan comes from a Celtic root, Eoin comes from Hebrew by way of Latin, and they arrived in Irish from opposite directions.
It ranked #86 in Northern Ireland in 2025 and has never troubled the American charts, so it is a genuinely fresh route to the same territory as Owen and John.
Faolan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Little wolf, from Old Irish fael
- Pronunciation: FAY-lawn or FEE-lawn
Faolan is an Irish Gaelic name meaning little wolf, from the Old Irish fael with a fond diminutive ending.
It belonged to an Irish saint who did missionary work in Scotland, and it seeded a whole family of surnames on the way out, including Whelan and McClellan. Fillin and Phelan are the anglicized given-name forms.
Two pronunciations are current, FAY-lawn and FEE-lawn, so pick one early and be consistent. Either way it is a strong option for parents drawn to the animal names without wanting anything as literal as Wolf.
Felim
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Ever good
- Pronunciation: FEH-lim
Felim is an Irish name meaning ever good, drawn from the old form Feidlimid.
Feilmy and Phelim are the alternative spellings, and it gets casually folded into Felix even though the two have nothing in common beyond the opening syllable. Several ancient kings and saints carried it, and it is rare enough now that most people meet it for the first time in a history book.
Fergus
- Origin: Irish, Scottish
- Meaning: Man of vigour, from fer and guss
- Pronunciation: FUR-gus
- Popularity: #5,092 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (19 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 60% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Fergus is an Irish name built from the words for man and strength.
In the Ulster Cycle, Fergus mac Roich is tricked out of the kingship by Nessa, who persuades him to hand the throne to her son Conchobar for a single year and then never gives it back. Fergus spends the rest of the cycle on the other side, helping Queen Medb invade the province he used to rule. It is one of the great grudges in Irish literature. The modern name is far cheerier, thanks largely to King Fergus in Brave. It ranked #396 in England and Wales and #91 in Scotland in 2025. Ferg and Gus both work.
Ferris
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Rock
- Pronunciation: FEH-ris
Ferris is an Irish and English boy’s name meaning rock.
Even Ferris Bueller’s Day Off could not push this cute first name into wide use, in Ireland or the United States. Forty years on, the film has aged into a classic and the name is still sitting there unclaimed.
It has the two things most rare names lack: it is easy to say and easy to spell on the first try. The carnival wheel is a bonus association rather than a problem.
Finnian
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: White, blessed, from Old Irish finn
- Pronunciation: FIN-ee-un
Finnian comes from the Old Irish finn, meaning white or blessed, and it is the longer, softer cousin of every Finn name in circulation.
Two 6th-century saints carried it, and between them they founded the monasteries at Clonard and Movilla, which trained a generation of Irish missionaries. That makes it a religious name that does not announce itself the way Adam or Noah does.
It shortens to Finn without effort, and it gives you an alternative to the much-used Finlay and Finley.
Fintan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: White fire or white ancient
- Pronunciation: FIN-tan
Fintan possibly means white fire, though white ancient has just as much support.
Both readings suit the legend. Fintan was the only Irishman to survive the great flood, and he did it by spending centuries as a salmon, then an eagle, then a hawk, before returning as himself to tell the country its own history. He is Ireland’s memory in person.
Many Irish saints carried the name afterward.
Fionntan and Fiontan are the alternative spellings, and it delivers the fashionable Finn nickname by a less-travelled road.
Flynn
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Descendant of the red-haired one
- Pronunciation: FLIN
Flynn comes from the surname O’Floinn, meaning descendant of Flann, itself a word for reddish.
Most American parents met the sound through Disney’s Tangled and its charming, light-fingered lead. Celebrity parents took it up around the same time, with Orlando Bloom and Colleen Ballinger both choosing it for their sons.
It is one syllable, unmistakably Irish, and needs no nickname, which is a rarer combination than it sounds.
Gallagher
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Foreign help
- Pronunciation: GAL-uh-her
Gallagher means foreign help in Irish, a name from the era when help arrived by longship and nobody was entirely sure about it.
It is still overwhelmingly a surname, which is exactly why it is available. Noel and Liam Gallagher gave it a swagger it did not previously have, and actor David Gallagher gave it a gentler one.
Four syllables is a lot to carry, so it may suit the middle-name slot better than the first. Gal is not a workable short form, but Gally is.
Glenn
- Origin: Irish, Scottish
- Meaning: Valley, from gleann
- Pronunciation: GLEN
Glenn is a surname and given name from the Gaelic gleann, meaning valley.
This nature-inspired name had its American run in the middle of the last century and has been quiet with parents since.
That is a shame, because the meaning is lovely and the sound has aged better than most of its generation. If it feels a little old-fashioned, the single-N Glen and the Welsh Glyn both freshen it slightly.
Grady
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Noble, illustrious, from the byname Grada
- Pronunciation: GRAY-dee
- Popularity: #373 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (851 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, down 7% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
One of many Irish male names taken from a surname, Grady comes from the byname Grada, meaning noble or illustrious.
The O’Gradys were a powerful clan out of Limerick and Clare, and the family name is common enough in Ireland that Irish parents almost never use it up front. Irish-American families have used it as a first name for over a century.
It ranked #373 in the United States in 2025, tracking just behind the similar-sounding Brady. Whether that is a point in its favor depends entirely on how much company you want your son’s name to have.
Keegan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Son of Aodhagan, a little fire
- Pronunciation: KEE-gun
- Popularity: #621 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (449 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 48% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Keegan is the anglicized form of Mac Aodhagain, and the root is worth following: Aodhagan is a double diminutive of Aodh, the Old Irish word for fire. So Keegan is, at two removes, son of the little fire.
It ranked #621 in the United States and #953 in England and Wales in 2025, which puts it in an unusual sweet spot. It sounds like it belongs beside Liam and Connor, and yet almost nobody is using it. That is the whole argument for it. Your son gets a current-sounding name without ever being Keegan number three in his class.
Keenan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Descendant of the ancient one
- Pronunciation: KEE-nun
Keenan comes from the Gaelic surname O’Cianain, meaning descendant of the ancient one.
The O’Cianain family were hereditary historians to the Maguires and produced a long line of senior churchmen through the Middle Ages, so the ancient in the name did real work. It shares its root with Cian, higher up this list.
It has been fading in both Ireland and the United States since the early 2000s without ever having been common in the first place, which leaves it sitting comfortably beside Keegan and Kieran without competing with them.
Kellen
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Slender one
- Pronunciation: KEL-un
Kellen is the modernized, Americanized spelling of the Irish Caolan, and it solves that name’s one real problem: nobody can guess how to say it.
Where Caolan lands as KEE-lawn, Kellen says exactly what it looks like. The trade is authenticity for convenience, and plenty of families make it happily.
It has picked up a sporty reputation, largely because so many of its bearers are footballers, and it hands you Kel or Len as short forms.
Kerrigan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Dark-featured
- Pronunciation: KEH-rih-gun
Kerrigan is an Irish name meaning dark-featured, built on the same root as the county name Kerry.
Kerry itself is now almost exclusively used for girls, so Kerrigan is the version that has stayed open for boys. The -igan ending puts it in company with Finnigan and Gilligan, which is about as unmistakably Irish as an ending gets.
It works for a boy with dark hair and eyes, and it works just as well for one without.
Kevin
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Beloved birth, from coem and gein
- Pronunciation: KEV-in
- Popularity: #221 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (1,628 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 63% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Kevin means beloved birth, from the Old Irish coem, meaning dear or gentle, and gein, meaning birth. The handsome gloss you see everywhere is simply wrong.
The original bearer was St. Caoimhin, who founded the monastery at Glendalough in the 6th century and is a patron saint of Dublin. That is a serious pedigree for a name most people file under 1990s sitcom.
It travelled further than almost any other Irish name, becoming a genuine favorite in France, Germany and the Netherlands as well as the English-speaking world, helped along by a small boy left behind at Christmas. It ranked #221 in the United States in 2025, off its peak but nowhere near gone.
Lennon
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Lover, from O’Leannain
- Pronunciation: LEN-un
Lennon is an Irish name meaning lover, from the surname O’Leannain.
The Beatles connection is unavoidable and mostly welcome, and it has made the name a quiet favorite for boys and girls alike without ever tipping it into the mainstream. It also has the advantage of sounding like a first name already, which many surname names do not.
If you want something recognizable that still gets a second look on a class list, this is a strong candidate.
Liam
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Strong protector, a short form of Uilliam
- Pronunciation: LEE-um
- Popularity: #1 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (20,818 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 84% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Liam is the most used name on this list by a wide margin, meaning strong protector.
It was the number one boys’ name in the United States in 2025, and it has held the top spot for most of the last decade. Ireland keeps it near the top too, at #8 in 2024. The appeal is easy to see: four letters, two syllables, ancient roots and a completely modern sound.
The catch is arithmetic. A name that common means classrooms with three of them. If that bothers you, the full Irish form Uilliam gives you the same nickname with none of the crowding.
Lochlan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: From the land of the lakes
- Pronunciation: LOK-lun
Lochlan is the anglicized form of Lochlann, and the original meaning is more interesting than the modern one.
Lochlann was the Irish word for Scandinavia, the land of the fjords, and it was what the Irish called the Vikings who arrived from there. So this is a Norse name in Gaelic clothing, given by the people on the receiving end.
The loch in the middle will make some people think of a certain monster, which is either a selling point or not. Lachie, Lachy and Lockie are the traditional short forms.
Lonan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Little blackbird
- Pronunciation: LOH-nun
Lonan is an Irish name meaning little blackbird, from the Gaelic lon with an affectionate ending.
It is one of the better Irish boy names for nature lovers, and the blackbird earns its place: in Irish monastic poetry it is the bird that sings the monk through his prayers, and it turns up more often in early Irish verse than almost any other creature.
This sweet name is off the charts in Ireland and the United States alike, which makes it a quieter alternative to the heavily used Logan.
Lorcan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Little fierce one, from Old Irish lorcc
- Pronunciation: LOR-kawn
- Popularity: #8,656 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (9 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 49% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Lorcan means little fierce one, from the Old Irish lorcc, fierce, softened by a diminutive ending. Fierce and affectionate at once is a very Irish combination.
Several kings carried it, including Lorcan mac Lachtna, king of Thomond and the grandfather of Brian Boru. A later Lorcan became archbishop of Dublin in the 12th century and was canonized, which is why the name reads as both warlike and saintly. It ranked #48 in Northern Ireland and #621 in England and Wales in 2025, and remains almost unknown in the United States. That makes it an unusual alternative to Connor and Liam for parents who want the Irish sound without the Irish frequency.
Lugaid
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Oath
- Pronunciation: LOO-ee
Lugaid is an Irish name for men meaning oath.
Scholars connect it to Lug, the god of oaths, truth and craft, and the festival of Lughnasadh still carries his name into the Irish August. Several kings bore it, including Lugaid Loigde, a legendary high king who ruled from Tara.
Be warned that the spelling and the sound have parted company completely: the g and d are both silent in the traditional pronunciation, leaving roughly LOO-ee. It is a striking piece of ancient Ireland, but it will need explaining at every introduction.
Mack
- Origin: Irish, Scottish
- Meaning: Son of
- Pronunciation: MAK
Mack is a Gaelic name meaning son of, and it began life as a prefix rather than a name.
Mac and Mc open hundreds of Gaelic surnames, from MacCarthy to MacGregor, and at some point the fragment took on a life of its own. Americans prefer the K spelling, probably because it looks finished rather than cut off.
Ireland has never taken it up in either form. It stands on its own perfectly well, and it also works as a nickname for anything longer, including MacKenzie, Macsen and Cormac.
Maguire
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Son of the dun-coloured one
- Pronunciation: muh-GWIRE
Maguire is an Irish name meaning son of the dun-coloured one, from Mag Uidhir.
The Maguires ruled Fermanagh for three centuries and were among the last Gaelic lords to hold out against English rule, which is a lot of history attached to a name almost nobody uses up front. It is a common surname in Ireland and the United States, and that is precisely what keeps parents from choosing it first.
If your own surname is not Maguire and you like going against the grain, it is sitting there unclaimed. Mac and Guire both work as short forms.
Malachy
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Devotee of Maedoc
- Pronunciation: MAL-uh-kee
Malachy is the anglicized form of Mael Sechnaill or Mael Maedoc, and its spelling was pulled sideways by the Hebrew Malachi.
That borrowed spelling is why so many lists give it the meaning messenger of God. That belongs to the Hebrew name. The Irish one means devotee of Maedoc, and the two are unrelated apart from a stray letter. Its great bearer was St. Malachy, archbishop of Armagh in the 1130s and the first native-born Irishman formally canonized. Malachy McCourt carried it into modern letters. It last ranked #790 in England and Wales in 2016 and has never reached the American top 1000.
Malone
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Devotee of St. John
- Pronunciation: muh-LOHN
Malone means devotee of St. John in Irish, from Ó Maoil Eoin.
It is a classic Irish surname that is very rarely handed to a boy first, which is the whole opportunity. Like the other lone names it sounds sleek and slightly formal, and it makes a natural counterpart to the much more used Sloane.
Post Malone borrowed it for a stage name, which has not hurt its standing with anyone under thirty.
Muiris
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Irish form of Maurice
- Pronunciation: MWIR-ish
Muiris is the Irish form of Maurice, and the sea meaning attached to it is a happy accident.
Irish speakers heard muir, the word for sea, in the first syllable and the association stuck, but the name itself came in through Latin from a word for dark-skinned. Both readings are now part of how it is used, which is how living languages work. Muirgheas is the older, heavier spelling. Maurice is the everyday anglicization, and Muiris keeps the sound Irish while staying just about sayable for everyone else.
Murphy
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Sea warrior
- Pronunciation: MUR-fee
Murphy means sea warrior in Irish, from Ó Murchadha, and it is the single most common surname in the country.
That ubiquity is exactly why Irish parents do not use it as a first name and Americans increasingly do. This mighty M name is used in America mostly as a unisex name with a lean toward boys.
Eddie Murphy is the bearer everyone thinks of first.
Nevin
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Holy, or little bone
- Pronunciation: NEH-vin
Nevin is an Irish name with two possible roots, and they could hardly be further apart.
The first is the surname Mac Naoimhin, meaning son of the little saint. The second is the personal name Cnamhin, meaning little bone, which was a byname for a thin man. Holy or skinny, depending on which grandfather you take after.
It is the rarer cousin of Kevin and the English Devin, and it slots neatly between them for parents who like the sound of both but want neither.
Niall
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Champion or cloud
- Pronunciation: NEE-ul (Irish) or NYE-ul (anglicized)
- Popularity: #1,706 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (96 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 123% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Niall is the Irish form of Neil, read as either champion or cloud.
Its source is Niall of the Nine Hostages, the high king whose descendants, the Ui Neill, dominated the northern half of Ireland for six centuries. Genetic studies have suggested a startling number of men in the northwest still carry his Y chromosome, which is about as literal a legacy as a name can have.
It ranked #745 in England and Wales in 2025 and stays rare in the United States. Both pronunciations are live: NEE-ul in Irish, and the NYE-ul that Niall Horan, the modern bearer most people name, made familiar in English. Historian Niall Ferguson offers an alternative if boy bands are not your thing.
Nolan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Descendant of the champion
- Pronunciation: NOH-lun
- Popularity: #65 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (4,846 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 42% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Nolan comes from O’Nuallain, a family name carried by the descendants of chariot fighters and champions.
It is one of the most used Irish boy names in America right now, ranked #65 in 2025, and it got there without ever feeling trendy. It has the soft ending parents currently favor and a hard consonant to balance it, which is a difficult combination to find. Director Christopher Nolan has given it a certain seriousness by association. If #65 is closer to the crowd than you want, Nolen and the original Nuallain both exist.
Nollaig
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Christmas
- Pronunciation: NULL-ig
Nollaig means Christmas in Irish, and it is far younger than it looks.
The name was coined in the 20th century as a direct translation of the French Noel, so it is a modern invention wearing very old spelling. That makes it one of the few genuinely new names on this list.
It works for boys and girls and is traditionally given to babies born on Christmas Day, though anywhere in the holidays is close enough for most families. Noel is the anglicization if the spelling feels like too much to explain every December.
Odhran
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Little dun-coloured one, from odar
- Pronunciation: OH-rawn
- Popularity: #13,366 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (5 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data.
Odhran comes from the Old Irish Odran, built on odar, meaning dun-coloured or tan, with a diminutive ending. The tall dark man reading found on other lists is not supported by the roots.
The best-attested Odhran was the monk who travelled with St. Columba through Scotland. A separate Irish tradition makes him Saint Patrick’s charioteer and the first Christian martyr in Ireland, killed in an ambush meant for Patrick.
It ranked #93 in Ireland and #55 in Northern Ireland in 2025. Oran and Orin are the usual anglicizations, and they get you much closer to the actual sound than the Irish spelling does.
Oisin
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Little deer, from Old Irish oss
- Pronunciation: uh-SHEEN
- Popularity: #4,660 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (22 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.
Oisin means little deer, from the Old Irish oss, meaning deer or stag.
The name comes from his mother. Sadhbh was turned into a deer by the druid Fear Doirche, and Oisin was born while she was in that form, which is why the greatest poet of the Fianna is named after a fawn. He is the son of Fionn mac Cumhaill and the narrator of most of the Fenian tales, the voice telling you the story rather than a figure inside it. It ranked #5 in Ireland and #6 in Northern Ireland in 2025, so it is a genuine favorite at home. Osheen is the phonetic spelling for anyone unwilling to fight the s.
Oscar
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Deer lover
- Pronunciation: OSS-kur
Oscar is an Irish and English name meaning deer lover, and it keeps the family theme going: in myth he is Oisin’s son, so the little deer’s boy.
It is one of very few names on this list that works everywhere. It is widely used in Ireland, it has been a long-standing American choice, and it is equally at home in France, Spain and Sweden.
The namesakes span the full range, from Oscar Wilde to the Grouch, which is a spread most names would struggle to survive. Oz and Ozzy are the modern short forms.
Padraig
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Nobly born, from Latin Patricius
- Pronunciation: PAW-drig
Padraig is the Irish form of Patrick, from the Latin Patricius, meaning of the ruling class.
The irony is that Ireland’s patron saint was not Irish. Patrick was a Romanized Briton, kidnapped as a teenager and enslaved in Ireland for six years before escaping, then returning by choice as a missionary. The most Irish name in the world belongs to a man who came back to the place that took him.
The pronunciation trips up almost every non-Irish speaker, which is why so many Irish-American families default to Patrick. Paddy and Podge are the traditional short forms.
Piran
- Origin: Cornish, Irish
- Meaning: Possibly little dark one
- Pronunciation: PIH-run
Piran is most likely a Cornish form of Ciaran, which would give it the meaning little dark one.
St. Piran was a 5th-century Irish monk who crossed to Cornwall, founded a monastery there and became the patron saint of the county and of tin miners. The white cross on black of the Cornish flag is his. It is an unusual case of an Irish name that emigrated, took root somewhere else, and is now claimed by the other country.
It has never ranked in Ireland or the United States, so it stays genuinely off the beaten path while still sounding like a name rather than an invention.
Quinn
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Descendant of Conn
- Pronunciation: KWIN
- Popularity: #97 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (2,634 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 115% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Quinn comes from the Celtic surname O Cuinn, meaning descendant of Conn, and Conn itself meant chief or sense.
It was a boys’ name first and stayed that way for a long time. Then Quinn Fabray turned up on Glee in 2010, and the American balance tipped hard: by 2025 it ranked #97 for girls and #466 for boys.
That does not disqualify it for a son, it just means you should know which way the wind is blowing. Plenty of men carry it, and outside the United States it has stayed much closer to even.
Redmond
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Wise protector
- Pronunciation: RED-mund
Redmond means wise protector, from the Gaelic Mac Reamoinn, and it is the Irish answer to Raymond.
It has appeared in the American top 1000 exactly once, back in 1889, which makes it one of the rarest names on this list by a considerable margin. Olympic snowboarder Redmond Gerard goes by Red, and travel writer Redmond O’Hanlon has spent a career walking into jungles most people would fly over.
Three syllables is a lot for a first name, and Redmond carries them well. If it feels heavy, it makes an excellent middle name and still hands you Red.
Riley
- Origin: Irish, English
- Meaning: Descendant of Raghallach, or rye clearing
- Pronunciation: RY-lee
- Popularity: #48 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (4,441 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, up 13% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Riley has two separate origins that happen to have landed on the same spelling.
As an Irish surname it is a form of Reilly, from O Raghallaigh, which is where the courageous meaning attached to it comes from. As an English surname it comes from a place name meaning rye clearing. Same name on paper, two unrelated stories underneath. It was uncommon for boys before 1980, then rose for both, and has leaned female in the United States since 2003. The 2025 split was #48 for girls and #207 for boys. Britain and Australia went the other way and still use it mostly for boys, so its gender depends on your postcode.
Riordan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Royal poet
- Pronunciation: REER-dun
Riordan is an Irish name meaning royal poet, from the Gaelic ri, king, and bardan, poet.
That combination was a real job. The ollamh, the chief poet of a royal household, ranked close to the king himself, could travel freely between warring territories and was expected to advise as well as praise. A poet’s satire was feared enough to be regulated by law.
So this is a surname-turned-first-name with an unusually good story behind it, and it is still rare enough that the story will be news to everyone who asks.
Ronan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Little seal, from ron
- Pronunciation: ROH-nun
- Popularity: #247 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (1,406 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 126% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Ronan means little seal, from the Irish ron, and it comes with one of the best stories in Irish folklore attached.
A perfect name for animal lovers, it draws on the selkie legend: a seal comes ashore, sheds her skin, becomes a woman and marries a fisherman. Years later she finds the hidden skin and returns to the sea, but she never leaves entirely, swimming close to shore to watch the children she left behind. Those children are the ronans.
A number of early Irish saints carried it, and the modern charts like it too: #247 in the United States, #16 in Northern Ireland and #215 in England and Wales in 2025.
Rooney
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Descendant of Ruanaidh, the champion
- Pronunciation: ROO-nee
Rooney means descendant of Ruanaidh, a byname for a champion.
It has been handed out as a first name only a handful of times, most visibly to Olympic rower Rooney Massara and to actress Rooney Mara, who took it from her mother’s family. Between them they have made it feel usable rather than eccentric.
It is spunky, bouncy and short enough to survive a playground.
Rory
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Red king, from ruad and ri
- Pronunciation: ROR-ee
- Popularity: #199 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (1,768 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 181% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Rory is the anglicized form of Ruaidhri, built from ruad, red, and ri, king.
Four letters carry a lot here. Ruaidhri Ua Conchobair was the last high king of Ireland before the Norman invasion, and Rory O’More led the rising of 1641. This R name has kings behind it in a way very few short names do. It is thriving: #3 in Scotland, #17 in England and Wales and #20 in Northern Ireland in 2025, with Rory McIlroy carrying the flag. The United States is the outlier, where Gilmore Girls pushed it toward girls, and the 2025 split there was #199 for boys and #230 for girls.
Ryan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Little king
- Pronunciation: RY-un
- Popularity: #99 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (3,532 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 50% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Ryan means little king in Irish, from the surname O Riain.
It has been an American mainstay for decades and still held #99 in 2025, which is a long run at that level for any name. Few names manage to be that widely used and still sound unfussy.
If the familiarity is the problem rather than the sound, the Irish spelling Rian is the same name with none of the wear.
Seamus
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Supplanter, the Irish form of James
- Pronunciation: SHAY-mus
Seamus is the Irish equivalent of James, and it means supplanter.
Its history in America is genuinely uncomfortable. Irish given names, Paddy from Padraig and Taig from Tadhg among them, were turned into slurs against 19th-century immigrants, and Seamus marked its bearer as Irish in the same climate. Choosing it now reads as a reclamation, which is part of its appeal for Irish-American families.
It also belongs to Seamus Heaney, the Nobel laureate who did more than anyone to put modern Irish poetry in front of the world. The name last ranked #977 in the United States in 2017, so it stays uncommon there while remaining thoroughly familiar at home.
Sean
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: God is gracious
- Pronunciation: SHAWN
- Popularity: #489 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (616 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 70% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
One of the most quietly religious Irish boy names, Sean means God is gracious.
It is the Irish form of John, arriving through the Old French Jehan that Norman settlers brought to Ireland in the 12th century. Irish has no letter J, so the sound was rendered with an S instead, and the result is a name that looks nothing like its source and means exactly the same thing.
It seeded a whole family of spellings, including Shawn, Shaun, Shane and Shayne, and only started being used outside Ireland around the middle of the 20th century. It ranked #489 in the United States in 2025 while it still sits at #23 in Ireland.
Shay
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Admirable, from O Seaghdha
- Pronunciation: SHAY
- Popularity: #1,227 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (184 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.
Shay is a variant of Shea, and both are anglicized from the old Irish O Seaghdha.
It doubles as a short form of Seamus, which is where the supplanter meaning sometimes attached to it comes from. On its own the root points to admirable or hawk-like instead.
It ranked #50 in Ireland in 2024, so it is thoroughly current at home, while American usage leans female. If one syllable feels too slight for a boy, Seamus or Shane gives you a longer name with Shay built into it.
Sloan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Man of arms
- Pronunciation: SLOHN
Sloan means man of arms in Irish, from O Sluaghadhain, a name built on the word for a raiding party.
The spelling does the gender work in practice: Sloane with an E has gone almost entirely to girls, while Sloan without it has stayed available for boys. Nobody legislated this, it simply settled that way.
It is still mostly a surname, which keeps it rare, and it has the clean one-syllable finish that makes a name sound deliberate rather than inherited.
Sullivan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Dark-eyed one
- Pronunciation: SUL-ih-vun
Sullivan means dark-eyed one, from O Suilleabhain, and it is one of the most common surnames in Ireland.
That is why Irish parents leave it alone and American and Australian ones do not. It has been given to boys steadily without ever becoming crowded, helped by actors Sullivan Sweeten and Sullivan Stapleton.
For most families under ten it means the large blue monster from Monsters, Inc., which is not the worst association a name can carry.
Tadhg
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Poet, from Old Irish Tadg
- Pronunciation: TYG
- Popularity: #3,742 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (30 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 97% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Tadhg comes from the Old Irish Tadg, meaning poet, and it is the name on this list most likely to defeat an English speaker on sight.
It sounds like the word tiger without the -er. The dh is silent, leaving the final g to close the name, which is standard Irish and completely opaque to anyone who has not met it before. It ranked #8 in Ireland and #85 in Northern Ireland in 2025, so it is thoroughly mainstream at home. It was once so common that Tadhg became shorthand for the ordinary Irishman, the local equivalent of an average Joe. Teague, Tighe and Taig are the anglicizations.
Tiernan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Little lord, from tigerna
- Pronunciation: TEER-nun
- Popularity: #3,840 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (29 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 51% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.
Tiernan means little lord, the anglicized form of Tighearnan, built on tigerna, the word for a lord.
It has been in use since medieval Ireland, carried by kings and saints including the 12th-century ruler of Breifne, whose quarrel with a neighbouring king is traditionally blamed for inviting the Normans in. Not every namesake is a hero.
It last ranked #99 in Northern Ireland in 2025 and has never charted in the United States, which makes this edgy pick a fresher route to the same sound as Kieran, Tristan and Aidan.
Torin
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Chief
- Pronunciation: TOR-in
Torin is an Irish name for males meaning chief.
It has been used sparingly for a long time without ever gathering momentum in Ireland or the United States. The bearers who do turn up are a scattered set: Olympic skier Torin Koos and British actor Torin Thatcher, who made a career out of playing screen villains with real menace.
Two syllables, an unusual first letter and no spelling ambiguity make it an easy rare name to live with.
Tristan
- Origin: Celtic
- Meaning: Sorrowful, outcry
- Pronunciation: TRIS-tun
Tristan is a Celtic name meaning sorrowful or outcry, and the story it comes from earns the meaning.
Tristan is sent to bring the Irish princess Iseult back to marry his uncle, King Mark. On the crossing the pair drink a love potion meant for the wedding night, and the rest of the tale is the slow, unavoidable wreckage of that mistake: banishment, separation and two deaths. It predates Romeo and Juliet by centuries and hits many of the same notes.
The French and Spanish triste, meaning sad, reinforced the association even if it is not the original root.
It is a beautiful name with a bleak footnote, which some parents love and others quietly rule out.
Turlough
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: One who instigates
- Pronunciation: TUR-lokh
Turlough is the anglicized form of Toirdhealbhach, usually read as one who instigates.
It was widespread in medieval Ireland, worn by chiefs and kings across several dynasties. Its most beloved bearer came much later: Turlough O’Carolan, the harper who was blinded by smallpox as a teenager, spent his life travelling between houses on horseback and left behind roughly two hundred tunes that Irish musicians still play nightly.
The word is also a real feature of the Irish landscape, a lake that appears and drains with the seasons.
Between the harper and the vanishing lake, it is a rare name with unusually good associations.
Tyrone
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Land of Eoghan
- Pronunciation: ty-ROHN
Tyrone comes from Tir Eoghain, meaning the land of Eoghan, and it ties back to the Eoghan higher up this list whose own name may mean born of the yew tree.
It was a Gaelic kingdom before it was a county, ruled by the O’Neills, and it became County Tyrone under the Tudor shiring of Ulster in the late 16th century. The name reached American parents largely through actor Tyrone Power and had a modest run before slipping off the charts in both countries.
The old-fashioned charm is real, and so is the fact that almost nobody is using it. Ty and Rone are the short forms.
Ultan
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Man from Ulster
- Pronunciation: UL-tawn
Ultan means man from Ulster, which makes it the most geographically honest name on this list.
Several Irish saints carried it. The best known is St. Ultan of Ardbraccan, who took in children orphaned by plague and is remembered as a patron saint of children. A Dublin children’s hospital was named for him.
It stays a familiar choice in Ireland and has made almost no impression anywhere else, so it is a strong option for a family that wants a saint’s name without an obvious one.
