100 Irish Names for Girls, With Meanings and Pronunciations

Aifric

• Origin: Irish, from Old Irish Affraic
• Meaning: Uncertain, linked to Afraicc, the Old Irish name for Africa
• Pronunciation: EYE-fric
• Variations: Affraic, Africa
• Namesakes: Aifric Keogh, Olympic rowing bronze medalist (2021)

Aifric is a Celtic name for girls whose meaning has never been pinned down.

The honest answer is that nobody is certain. The standard etymological reference traces Aifric to Old Irish Affraic and links it to Afraicc, the Old Irish word for Africa, which is a long way from the pleasant gloss you will see repeated on other name sites. It belonged to noblewomen in medieval Ireland and Scotland, including two abbesses of Kildare in the 8th and 9th centuries, so the continent connection is almost certainly a coincidence of sound rather than a borrowing.

Today it is a quiet, old-country choice with a soft opening syllable and a clean two-beat rhythm.

Aine

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Radiance, brilliance
• Pronunciation: AWN-ya
• Variations: Anne (Anglicized)
• Popularity: #3,781 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (39 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.

Long before it was a baby name, Aine belonged to a goddess of love and fertility who was said to live at Cnoc Aine in County Limerick, where midsummer fires were once lit on the hill in her honor.

The name has been in use since the earliest Irish records. It has occasionally been Anglicized as Anne, and it is sometimes treated as the Gaelic equivalent of Anne or Anya, though all three have separate roots.

It is still a live choice at home rather than a museum piece, ranking #91 in Ireland in 2025. Outside Ireland the AWN-ya sound rarely survives first contact with the spelling, so expect to say it out loud a lot.

Aisling

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Dream, vision
• Pronunciation: ASH-lin
• Variations: Aislinn, Ashling, Aislin
• Popularity: #3,782 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (39 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.

Aisling is an Irish girl name meaning dream or vision.

It is younger than it looks. Aisling only came into use as a first name in the 20th century, borrowed from the aisling, a form of 18th-century Irish poetry in which Ireland appears to the poet as a woman in a dream. That literary root gives it more weight than the average pretty two-syllable name.

It peaked in Ireland in the early 1990s and last appeared in the top 100 at #94 in 2019. In the U.S. it reads as a fresher cousin of Ashley or Ashlyn, with the caveat that the -sl- spelling sends most English speakers straight to ASH-ling rather than the softer Irish ASH-lin.

Aoife

• Origin: Irish, from Old Irish Aife
• Meaning: Beauty
• Pronunciation: EE-fa
• Variations: Aoibhe, Aife, Eva, Eve
• Popularity: #2,120 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (88 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 63% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Aoife is an Irish name for girls meaning beautiful, from Old Irish Aife and the root oiph.

Irish legend gives it two very different women. One Aoife was a warrior who lost single combat to Cuchulainn and bore him a son, Connla. The other is the jealous third wife of Lir who turned her stepchildren into swans for 900 years, which is a lot of backstory for four letters.

It is a genuine top-40 name in Ireland at #34 and sits at #8 in Northern Ireland as of 2025. Although Aoife is not etymologically related to the English name Eva, the two are close enough in sound that Eve and Eva are the usual Anglicized stand-ins. Aoibhe and Aoibhin are the related Irish spellings if you want something a shade less used.

Ardara

• Origin: Irish place name
• Meaning: Ard an Ratha, the height of the ring fort
• Pronunciation: ar-DAH-ra

Ardara is an Irish place name rather than a traditional given name.

It belongs to a small weaving town in County Donegal, from the Irish Ard an Ratha, meaning the height of the ring fort. In 2012 The Irish Times named it the best village in Ireland to live in, which is the sort of civic pride you can hang a baby name on. As a first name it is essentially unused, so your daughter would be defining it rather than inheriting it.

Aurnia

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Golden lady
• Pronunciation: OR-nya

Aurnia is an Anglicized spelling of an old Irish name usually glossed as golden lady.

It comes from the same gold root as Orla and Orfhlaith, and it survives mainly in medieval Irish records, having dropped out of ordinary use almost entirely. The sound is the problem: said quickly it lands close to the English word ornery, which has probably kept it on the shelf.

If that does not bother you, Aurnia is about as unused as an Irish name gets while still being a real one. It also works well as a middle name for your baby girl, where the unusual sound does less daily work.

Ava

• Origin: English, also read in Ireland as a form of Irish aoibh
• Meaning: Variant of Eve; in Irish usage, beauty
• Pronunciation: AY-vuh
• Variations: Avah, Eva, Eve
• Popularity: #11 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (7,732 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 16% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Ava is read in Ireland as a short, bright cousin of Aoife, tied to the Gaelic word aoibh meaning beauty.

The standard name references file it more plainly as a variant of Eve, and both readings are in circulation, which is part of why the name travels so well. It went from rare to everywhere across the English-speaking world in the early 2000s and has stayed there.

The current numbers are #11 in the United States and #26 in Ireland for 2025, so this is a well-loved name rather than a hidden one. If that is too much company, Avalynn, Avah, and Ava-Marie all give you Ava as a nickname without the class-register problem.

Blathnaid

• Origin: Irish, from blath
• Meaning: Little flower
• Pronunciation: BLAW-nid
• Variations: Blathnat, Blanid, Blaithin

In legend Blathnat was carried off by Cu Chulainn and later betrayed her husband Cu Roi to him, a story that ends badly for everyone involved.

Blathnaid is the modern form of that older Blathnat, an Irish girl’s name meaning little flower, from blath plus a diminutive ending. Irish speakers often line it up with the Latin name Florence for the same reason.

The spelling is harder than the sound: BLAW-nid, with the th silent, which catches out almost every English speaker on the first pass.

Blanid or Blaithin are the softer alternatives if the full spelling feels like a lot.

Brianna

• Origin: English, feminine form of Brian
• Meaning: Noble, high
• Pronunciation: bree-AN-uh
• Variations: Briana, Breanna, Brianne, Bryanna
• Popularity: #222 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (1,372 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 64% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Brianna is a strong choice among our Irish female names, taken from the name Brian and usually read as noble.

Brianna is now the standard spelling, ahead of Briana, Breanna, Brianne, and Bryanna. It sounds modern but the feminine form goes back to the 16th century, appearing in Spenser’s epic poem The Faerie Queene.

In the United States it ranked #222 for girls in 2025, well down from its 1990s peak, which means it is familiar without being on every class list.

Bridget

• Origin: Irish, Anglicized from Brighid
• Meaning: Exalted one
• Pronunciation: BRIJ-it
• Variations: Brighid, Brid, Bridie, Bedelia
• Namesakes: Bridget Fonda, Bridget Moynahan

Bridget is an Irish name for girls meaning power, and it is about as deeply Irish as a name gets.

It is the Anglicized form of Brighid, from Old Irish Brigit and the earlier Celtic Brigantī, usually read as the exalted one. Two figures carry it: Brigid the goddess of poetry, smithcraft, and healing, and Brigid of Kildare, one of Ireland’s three patron saints, whose feast day became a public holiday in 2023.

In the United States Bridget peaked in the 1970s and has drifted well down the charts since, so it now reads as a classic rather than a trend. Actresses Bridget Fonda and Bridget Moynahan are the best-known modern bearers, and Bridie and Bid remain the traditional Irish nicknames.

Bronagh

• Origin: Irish, Anglicized from Bronach
• Meaning: Sad, from bron meaning sorrow
• Pronunciation: BRO-na
• Variations: Bronach

Bronagh is the Anglicized form of the Old Irish Bronach, from bron, meaning sorrow.

A sad meaning has not held it back, because the name belongs to a ninth-century saint of Rossglass in County Down who is remembered for a bell rung to warn sailors off the rocks in bad weather. Local tradition still calls her the patron of the sea, and the bell survives. It was a steady presence in Ireland and especially Northern Ireland from the 1960s through the 2010s and has faded since. The two-syllable BRO-na sound is easy for English speakers, which makes it one of the more portable rare Irish picks.

Caitlin

• Origin: Irish, from Caitlin, the Irish form of Cateline
• Meaning: Pure
• Pronunciation: kotch-LEEN (Irish), KAYT-lin (English)
• Variations: Cathleen, Kathleen, Katelyn

Caitlin is an Irish name for girls usually read as pure, and it has one of the most tangled pronunciation stories on this list.

It began as the Irish form of Cateline, the Old French version of Katherine, and for centuries it was said something like kotch-LEEN and Anglicized as Cathleen or Kathleen. In the 1970s non-Irish speakers met the written form and read it by English rules as KAYT-lin, which spawned Katelyn, Caitlyn, Kaitlin, and a dozen more.

Those newer spellings now outsell the original, and Caitlin itself reads as slightly dated in the U.S. while staying standard in Ireland. Whichever spelling you pick, decide on the pronunciation before the birth announcement goes out.

Caoimhe

• Origin: Irish, from caomh
• Meaning: Dear, beloved, gentle
• Pronunciation: KEE-va
• Variations: Keeva, Keavy
• Popularity: #5,275 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (24 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, down 11% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Caoimhe comes from the Irish word caomh, meaning dear, beloved, or gentle.

You will often see it translated as beautiful, but that is a stretch of the same root rather than the word itself. It is a classic Gaelic name and a genuine favorite at home, ranking #31 in Ireland and #74 in Northern Ireland in 2025.

The spelling is the whole battle. Outside Ireland almost nobody gets KEE-va from those seven letters, so families abroad often use Keeva or Keavy on the birth certificate and keep Caoimhe for home. Caoimhin is the masculine version of the same root, better known abroad as Kevin.

Cara

• Origin: Irish and Italian
• Meaning: Friend (Irish cara), beloved (Italian cara)
• Pronunciation: KAR-uh
• Variations: Kara, Caragh
• Namesakes: Cara Delevingne
• 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.

One of the friendliest Irish names for girls, Cara means friend.

The same four letters are also the Italian word for beloved, so the name carries a warm reading in two languages at once. It came into use in the 19th century and did not really take off until after the 1950s. It still earns its keep in Ireland at #52 and in Northern Ireland at #25 for 2025, while in the U.S. it slipped out of the top 1,000 after 2020. The English model Cara Delevingne is the name’s highest-profile bearer, and Caragh is the Irish spelling if you want the sound with more of the country in it.

Cessair

• Origin: Irish mythology
• Meaning: Uncertain; often read as sorrow or affliction
• Pronunciation: KESS-er

Cessair is an Irish female name traditionally read as sorrow or affliction, though no reliable etymology survives.

She is the first person said to reach Ireland in the Lebor Gabala Erenn, the medieval pseudo-history of the island. In that account Cessair leads a company fleeing the Great Flood, lands in County Cork, and dies at Cuil Cesra when the water reaches them anyway.

It is rare even in Ireland, which makes Cessair a genuinely unused choice with a first-page mythological pedigree.

Ciara

• Origin: Irish, feminine form of Ciar
• Meaning: Dark, from ciar
• Pronunciation: KEER-a
• Variations: Keira, Kiera, Kiara
• Popularity: #1,408 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (155 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.

Ciara is an Irish name for girls meaning dark one, the feminine form of Ciar.

The dark refers to coloring, not temperament: dark hair, dark eyes, the same sense carried by the surname Kerry. Saint Ciar founded a convent in Kilkeary in the seventh century and gave the name its early currency.

It sat at #91 in Ireland in 2024 and is usually Anglicized as Keira or Kiera abroad. Be warned that the American singer Ciara Princess Wilson says see-AIR-ah, so in the U.S. you will be correcting people toward the Irish KEER-a rather than away from it. Kiara and Kyra are the further-removed English spellings.

Clare

• Origin: English and Irish, from Latin clarus
• Meaning: Clear, bright
• Pronunciation: KLAIR
• Variations: Clara, Claire, Clair

Clare is an Irish and English name meaning clear or bright.

It traces to the Latin clarus by way of Saint Clare of Assisi, whose 13th-century following spread the name across Europe. The French took it as Claire, the Latin feminine stayed as Clara, and England and Ireland settled on Clare.

In Ireland it doubles as a county name, from the Irish An Clar, meaning the board or plank. The story goes that a plank laid across a narrow stretch of the River Fergus served as the crossing that named the whole district, which is a pleasingly ordinary origin for such a graceful name.

Cliona

• Origin: Irish, from Cliodhna
• Meaning: Unknown
• Pronunciation: KLEE-uh-na
• Variations: Cliodhna, Cleena

Cliona is the simplified spelling of Cliodhna, and its meaning is genuinely unknown.

The shapely translation in circulation has no support in the sources, and Behind the Name records the etymology as lost. What survives instead is the story: Cliodhna was a goddess of the otherworld who left the Land of Promise for a mortal named Ciabhan and was swept off the shore at Glandore by the wave that still carries her name, Tonn Chliodhna.

Clodagh

• Origin: Irish river name
• Meaning: From the Clodiagh, a river in County Waterford
• Pronunciation: KLO-da
• Popularity: #10,268 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (9 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 24% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Clodagh is a river name, taken from the Clodiagh in County Waterford.

We know exactly who started it. Clodagh Beresford, born in 1879 to the Marquess of Waterford, was named for the river that ran through the family estate, and every Clodagh since traces back to her. That makes it one of the few Irish names with a documented birthday.

It has stayed a home-market favorite ever since, ranking #47 in Ireland and #35 in Northern Ireland in 2025 while barely registering anywhere else. The silent -gh is the only real obstacle: it is KLO-da, two syllables, nothing hiding at the end.

Colleen

• Origin: Irish, from cailin
• Meaning: Girl
• Pronunciation: kah-LEEN
• Namesakes: Colleen Atwood, Colleen Ballinger

Colleen comes straight from the Irish word cailin, meaning girl.

That is why it is almost never used in Ireland itself. Naming a daughter the word for girl reads as odd to Irish speakers, so Colleen belongs instead to the diaspora, peaking among Irish American, Irish Australian, and Irish English families through the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. It is well outside the U.S. top 500 now, which puts it in that useful window where a name is familiar to grandparents and new to everyone else. Costume designer Colleen Atwood, a four-time Oscar winner, is the most decorated bearer.

Croia

• Origin: Irish, from croi
• Meaning: Heart
• Pronunciation: KREE-a
• Popularity: #12,192 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (7 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data.

Croia is an Irish female name from croi, the word for heart.

It barely existed before 2019, when the fighter Conor McGregor gave it to his daughter. What happened next is unusual: it did not spike and fade, it climbed, and by 2025 Croia was the ninth most popular girls’ name in Ireland.

That is one of the fastest rises the Irish charts have recorded. It remains almost unknown in the U.S., so it is currently that rare thing, a name that is both fashionable and unheard of, depending on which side of the Atlantic you are standing on.

Daimhin

• Origin: Irish, from damh
• Meaning: Little deer or fawn
• Pronunciation: DAW-veen
• Variations: Davin, Davina

Daimhin is an Irish name for girls meaning little deer, built on damh, meaning ox or stag, plus a diminutive ending.

It shares that root with Damhnait, the older feminine form behind Saint Dymphna. The spelling looks fierce and sounds gentle, which is a fair summary of most Irish names once you get past the consonant clusters. Fewer than a handful of Irish babies receive it in a typical year, so it sits near the bottom of the national records.

Deirdre

• Origin: Irish, from Old Irish Derdriu
• Meaning: Uncertain, possibly from der meaning daughter
• Pronunciation: DEER-druh
• Variations: Deidra, Deidre, Derdriu

Deirdre is an Irish name whose meaning is uncertain, possibly from the Old Irish der, meaning daughter.

The sorrowful translation attached to it comes from her story rather than her roots. In the Ulster cycle Deirdre is promised to Conchobar, king of Ulster, runs to Scotland with her lover Naoise, is lured home under false promises and dies of grief after Conchobar has Naoise killed.

It only entered use as a real given name in the 20th century, carried by Yeats’ play Deirdre in 1907 and Synge’s Deirdre of the Sorrows in 1910. It last charted in Ireland in 1997, which makes it ripe for the kind of revival that keeps happening to literary names.

Delma

• Origin: Irish, short form of Fidelma
• Meaning: Faithful, from Latin fidelis
• Pronunciation: DEL-ma

Delma is the shortened form of the name Fidelma, a Latinized Irish name built on fidelis, meaning faithful.

It can also stand as a diminutive of Adelma, a German name, so the same four letters land in two traditions. The Irish line is the older one: Fedelm appears in the Ulster cycle as a prophetess, and a later Fidelma, daughter of the high king Laoghaire, is remembered as one of Saint Patrick’s first converts alongside her sister Eithne.

Delma is short, plain, and almost never used, which is an unusual combination. It is worth a look if you like Thelma and Velma but want the Irish version.

Dympna

• Origin: Irish, from Damhnait
• Meaning: Little deer or fawn
• Pronunciation: DIMP-na
• Variations: Dymphna, Damhnait, Devnet

Dympna is an Anglicized spelling of Damhnait, from Old Irish dam, meaning ox or deer, with a diminutive ending, so little fawn.

The poetess translation you will see elsewhere has no basis in the sources. The name belongs to a seventh-century Irish saint who fled her father to Geel in what is now Belgium and was killed there; the town built a church around her shrine and, from the 13th century, began boarding people with mental illness in local homes.

That practice never stopped, and Geel still runs it today. Dympna is honored as the patron saint of mental illness and anxiety, which gives a very old name an unexpectedly current resonance.

Ealga

• Origin: Irish, from ealga
• Meaning: Noble, brave
• Pronunciation: AL-ga

You are most likely to meet Ealga in the phrase Inis Ealga, the Noble Isle, one of the old poetic names for Ireland itself.

That makes it about as patriotic a choice as the language offers, without being a place name. It has been loosely Anglicized as Alanna, Alice, Alicia, and Alyssa over the years, none of which are related to it. On its own terms it is two clean syllables that an English speaker can read at first sight, which is rarer among Irish names than you would expect. It barely appears in the Irish birth records in any year, so a daughter would carry it more or less alone.

Eibhlin

• Origin: Irish, from Norman French Aveline
• Meaning: Desired, longed for
• Pronunciation: EYE-leen
• Variations: Eileen, Eveleen, Aveline

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

The shining and brilliant readings attached to it come from later association with Helen rather than from Aveline itself, which is Germanic in root. The Normans brought it to Ireland in the 12th century and the Irish kept it after they left.

Its greatest bearer is Eibhlin Dubh Ni Chonaill, who composed Caoineadh Airt Ui Laoghaire in the 1770s after her husband was shot, a keen widely held to be the finest poem written in Irish in that century.

Eilish

• Origin: Irish, Anglicized from Eilis
• Meaning: God is my oath
• Pronunciation: EYE-lish
• Variations: Eilis, Elizabeth
• Namesakes: Billie Eilish

Eilish is the Anglicized form of Eilis, the Irish version of Elizabeth, and carries the same meaning, God is my oath.

Until recently it was a quiet family name in Ireland and almost unknown elsewhere. Then Billie Eilish arrived, and a spelling that Americans had never seen became instantly readable, if not always correctly said. Both EYE-lish and AY-lish are in use, with the first now dominant abroad. It is a neat way to get an Elizabeth without the four generations of Elizabeths.

Eimile

• Origin: Irish form of Emily
• Meaning: Rival
• Pronunciation: EM-il-ya
• Variations: Emily

Eimile is the Irish spelling of Emily, from the Roman family name Aemilius, usually read as rival.

The plain English Emily is still one of Ireland’s strongest names, sitting at #6 in the 2025 rankings, while the Irish spelling stays a rarity. That is a common pattern: the Gaelic form of an international name gets used at home for the sound, not the statistics.

In the U.S., Emily dominated from 1996 to 2007 and has been coasting downhill since, so it now carries a slightly millennial ring. Eimile sidesteps that entirely while keeping the same name underneath.

Eithne

• Origin: Irish, from Old Irish etne
• Meaning: Kernel, grain
• Pronunciation: ETH-na
• Variations: Enya, Ena, Ethna
• Namesakes: Enya (Eithne Ni Bhraonain)

Eithne is an Irish name probably from the Old Irish etne, meaning kernel or grain.

In mythology Eithne is the daughter of the Fomorian king Balor, shut in a tower on Tory Island because of a prophecy that her son would kill him. The son was Lugh, and the prophecy held. Several early Irish saints and queens carry the name as well, which is why it recurs so often in the annals.

The most recognizable modern bearer is the singer Eithne Ni Bhraonain, who records as Enya, a phonetic spelling of her own first name.

Emer

• Origin: Irish mythology
• Meaning: Uncertain; often read as swift
• Pronunciation: EE-mer
• Variations: Eimear, Eimhear, Eimer

Emer is an Irish name from the Ulster cycle, usually read as swift, though the etymology is not certain.

She is the wife of Cuchulainn, and the tale of his courtship credits her with the six gifts of womanhood: beauty, voice, sweet speech, needlework, wisdom, and chastity. She also gets the last word in his story, dying beside him.

The modern Irish spellings Eimear and Eimhear are now more common than the plain Emer. Expect it to be misread as Emma roughly once a week.

Erin

• Origin: Irish, Anglicized from Eireann
• Meaning: From Ireland
• Pronunciation: ERR-in
• Variations: Eryn, Eireann
• Popularity: #833 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (327 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 61% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Erin is the Anglicized form of Eireann, which is simply the possessive form of Eire, the Irish name for Ireland.

So it does not mean land of abundance or anything else poetic. It means, more or less, of Ireland, which is why it became the diaspora name of choice: it says where you are from in five letters. It was rare anywhere until the mid-1950s, then climbed fast in America, Canada, and Australia. The current numbers show the flip: #833 in the United States in 2025 but #71 in Ireland and #21 in Northern Ireland, so the name has gone home.

Etain

• Origin: Irish, from Old Irish et
• Meaning: Jealousy, passion
• Pronunciation: AY-deen
• Variations: Eadaoin, Aideen

The Wooing of Etain is one of the strangest stories in Irish literature.

Married to the fairy king Midir, she is turned into a pool of water, then a worm, then a fly by his jealous first wife Fuamnach, blown about for a thousand years, swallowed in a cup of wine, and reborn as a mortal woman with no memory.

She marries the high king Eochaid Airem, and Midir wins her back over a game of chess.

The name itself likely comes from the Old Irish et, meaning jealousy or passion. The modern Irish spelling is Eadaoin, and Aideen is the softer Anglicized form. It was common in medieval Ireland and is scarce today, which given the story feels like an oversight.

Fiadh

• Origin: Irish, from fia
• Meaning: Wild, deer; also respect
• Pronunciation: FEE-a
• Variations: Fia, Fiadha
• Popularity: #1,995 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (96 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data.

Fiadh is one of the more popular Irish girl names, from fia, meaning wild, deer, or in an older sense, respect.

Its rise has been remarkable. Effectively unused before 2010, it reached #3 in Ireland and #2 in Northern Ireland by 2025, and it has started to cross over, charting at #70 in Scotland and #256 in England and Wales.

The U.S. has not caught it yet. Fia is the simplified spelling if you want the sound without the silent dh, and it makes an unexpected alternative to Sophia for parents who like the ending but not the queue.

Finola

• Origin: Irish, Anglicized from Fionnuala
• Meaning: White shoulder, from finn and guala
• Pronunciation: fin-OH-la
• Variations: Fionnuala, Finnuala, Nuala
• Namesakes: Finola Hughes, Finola Dwyer
• Popularity: Last listed among U.S. girls’ names in 2022 at #12,683 (7 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data, and below the five-births-a-year cutoff since. Falling in the United States, down 29% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Finola is an Irish name meaning white shoulder, from the Old Irish finn and guala.

It is the least demanding of a crowded spelling family that includes Fionnuala, Fionnghuala, and Finnguala. Nuala is the short form and is common enough in Ireland to stand alone.

In the Children of Lir, Fionnuala is the eldest of the four siblings turned into swans by their stepmother Aoife and condemned to 900 years on the lakes and seas of Ireland. British actress Finola Hughes and film producer Finola Dwyer carry the modern spelling. Nuala stands perfectly well on its own and is far commoner in Ireland than the full form.

Fiona

• Origin: Scottish literary invention, from Gaelic fionn
• Meaning: Fair, white
• Pronunciation: fee-OH-na

Fiona is a Scottish and Irish female name built on the Gaelic fionn, meaning fair or white.

It is not an ancient name, which surprises people. The poet James Macpherson coined it in the 18th century for his Ossian poems, inventing a feminine form for a word that had only ever been masculine, and the Victorians took it from there. A separate Irish Fiona exists from fion, meaning wine.

It was uncommon in the U.S. until the early 2000s, when a certain animated ogre gave it a very large boost. Cute nicknames include Fee and Fi.

Grainne

• Origin: Irish, from Old Irish gran or grain
• Meaning: Grain, or possibly dread
• Pronunciation: GRAWN-ya
• Variations: Grania, Granya, Grace
• Namesakes: Grainne Ni Mhaille (Grace O’Malley)
• Popularity: Last listed among U.S. girls’ names in 2007 at #16,176 (6 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data, and below the five-births-a-year cutoff since.

Grainne is an Irish girl’s name from either Old Irish gran, meaning grain, or grain, meaning dread, and the sources cannot decide which.

The grain reading fits the earliest Grainne, a harvest figure. The later one is a runaway: promised to the aging warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill, she left with his young nephew Diarmuid instead, and the pair were chased the length of Ireland, never sleeping in one place twice.

Dolmens across the country are still called Leaba Dhiarmada agus Ghrainne, the bed of Diarmuid and Grainne.

The real Grainne is better still. Grainne Ni Mhaille, born around 1530, commanded a fleet off the Mayo coast, negotiated face to face with Elizabeth I in Latin, and came down through folklore as the pirate queen. Grace is the English stand-in, which is how she is usually listed.

Ide

• Origin: Irish, from Old Irish Ite
• Meaning: Thirst
• Pronunciation: EE-da
• Variations: Ita, Ite

Saint Ide founded a monastery at Killeedy in County Limerick in the sixth century and ran a school there; Brendan the Navigator is said to have been among her pupils.

Her name comes from the Old Irish Ite and is read as thirst. Tradition holds that it was given to her for her thirst for holiness rather than the other way round.

The spelling was Ite until modern Irish reforms redistributed the letters.

Imogen

• Origin: English, from Shakespeare, probably Gaelic inghean
• Meaning: Maiden
• Pronunciation: IM-uh-jen
• Variations: Imogene, Innogen

Imogen is one of the coolest Irish names for girls, most likely from the Gaelic inghean, meaning maiden.

It exists because of a typesetting error. Shakespeare wrote Cymbeline in 1609 using the legendary name Innogen; the printer set an m for the second n, nobody corrected it, and Imogen has been a name ever since.

It is chiefly British, Irish, and Australian, ranking #69 in England and Wales and #86 in Scotland in 2025. It has never cracked the U.S. top 1,000, so for an Irish American daughter it is both recognizable and genuinely uncommon.

Iona

• Origin: Scottish place name
• Meaning: From the island of Iona
• Pronunciation: eye-OH-na

Iona is a Scottish and Irish name taken from the small island in the Inner Hebrides.

The island is where Colmcille, exiled from Ireland, founded his monastery in 563 and began the conversion of Scotland, so it carries as much Irish history as Scottish. The name itself is an accident: the island was Ioua, and a medieval scribe misread the u as an n. It is a solid mid-chart name in Scotland and a rarity elsewhere, which makes it an easy way to nod to the Gaelic world with a spelling nobody will fumble. Iona and Ione are both in circulation, and only one of them is the island.

Iseult

• Origin: Medieval romance, origin uncertain
• Meaning: Uncertain, possibly from Germanic is and hilt, ice battle
• Pronunciation: ih-SOOLT
• Variations: Isolde, Yseult, Isolda, Iseut

Iseult is the name of the Irish princess in the Tristan legend, and its origin is genuinely unsettled.

Celtic roots have been proposed, but the strongest suggestion is a lost Germanic name from is, ice, and hilt, battle. The fair and lovely gloss you will find on baby name sites is not supported by any source.

In the story she is sent from Ireland to marry King Mark of Cornwall, drinks a love potion on the crossing with his nephew Tristan, and the two are undone by it. Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde brought the name back into circulation in 1865, and Isolde remains the more common spelling in Europe.

Keely

• Origin: Irish surname, from O Cadhla
• Meaning: Slender, or graceful
• Pronunciation: KEE-lee
• Variations: Keeley, Keelie, Kealy

One of the cutest Irish names for girls, Keely comes from the surname O Cadhla and is usually read as slender or graceful.

The related Irish word cadhla means beautiful, which is where the softer translation comes from. It started as a surname and a place name in the north of Ireland before anyone thought to hand it to a daughter.

It is barely used in the U.S., which is what makes it interesting: it sounds exactly like the names American parents already like and has none of the company. It slots straight in where Kelly and Kylie have gone stale, and Keeley is the alternate spelling.

Laoise

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Possibly from Luigsech, or from County Laois
• Pronunciation: LEE-sha
• Variations: Leesha
• Popularity: Last ranked #98 in Ireland in 2024

Laoise is an Irish girl’s name of debated origin: possibly a newer form of Luigsech, possibly from the midland county of Laois.

It is also used as the Irish form of Lucy and the French name Louise, which is how most Irish families explain it. The radiant girl reading comes from the Luigsech line, linked to the god Lugh.

It has been climbing slowly since the 1970s and touched the Irish top 100 at #98 in 2024.

Lazarina

• Origin: Irish, from Lasairfhiona
• Meaning: Flame of wine
• Pronunciation: laz-ah-REE-na
• Variations: Lasairfhiona, Lasairiona

Lazarina is a modernized spelling of the Old Irish Lasairfhiona, built from lasair, meaning flame, and fion, meaning wine.

It was current among the nobility of Connacht in the later Middle Ages, and the best-documented bearer is Lasairfhiona Ni Conchobair, a princess of Connacht in the 13th century. Several abbesses carry it too.

Today it is effectively extinct in either spelling, with the singer Lasairfhiona Ni Chonaola keeping the original alive, which is said lah-sah-REE-na. The z is doing a lot of work in the modern version, but it makes the name readable at a glance, which the original does not.

Liadan

• Origin: Irish, possibly from liath
• Meaning: Grey
• Pronunciation: LEE-uh-din
• Variations: Liadain

One of several Irish girl names drawn from old Gaelic literature, Liadan probably comes from liath, meaning grey.

Do not let the colour put you off. Liadan was a poet of the seventh century who fell in love with the poet Cuirithir, took vows anyway, and died of grief; their exchange survives as one of the oldest love poems in Irish. A separate fifth-century Liadan was the mother of Ciaran the Elder, one of the twelve apostles of Ireland.

It is classed as rare in current Irish use. Readers of Juliet Marillier’s Sevenwaters novels will know it as the healer who can see what is coming.

Liban

• Origin: Irish mythology
• Meaning: Beauty of women
• Pronunciation: LEE-ban

Liban is an Irish name from mythology, read as beauty of women.

Her story is the closest thing Irish legend has to a mermaid. When Lough Neagh burst its banks and drowned her family, Liban survived in a chamber under the water for a year with her lapdog, then asked to be turned into a salmon; she was given a fish’s body and her dog became an otter.

Three hundred years later she was caught in a fisherman’s net, baptized under the name Muirgen, meaning sea-born, and is counted a saint. As a modern name it is unused, which leaves the whole story to your daughter. Muirgen is used as a name in its own right and means sea-born.

Macha

• Origin: Irish mythology
• Meaning: Plain, field
• Pronunciation: MAH-ha
• Namesakes: Macha Grenon

In the oldest stories Macha is one of the three war goddesses of the Morrigan, a member of the Tuatha De Danann who arrives on a battlefield in the form of a crow.

A separate Macha, forced to race the king’s horses while heavily pregnant, laid the curse that left the men of Ulster helpless for five days and four nights at their moment of greatest need, which is the hinge of the entire Ulster cycle.

Emain Macha, the royal seat of Ulster, still carries her name. The word itself means plain or field.

Maeve

• Origin: Irish, Anglicized from Medb
• Meaning: Intoxicating
• Pronunciation: MAYV
• Variations: Meabh, Meadhbh, Maev
• 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 is a Gaelic name meaning intoxicating, Anglicized from the Irish Medb.

The original was a legendary warrior queen, Medb of Connacht, who started the Cattle Raid of Cooley over a dispute with her husband about who owned more livestock and ended up in a war with Ulster and Cuchulainn.

The modern numbers are strong on both sides of the water: #76 in the United States and #60 in Ireland in 2025, plus #26 in England and Wales. Mae and May are the nicknames, and the Irish spellings Meabh and Meadhbh are there if you want the harder version.

Maire

• Origin: Irish form of Maria
• Meaning: Traditionally read as bitter, or beloved
• Pronunciation: MAW-ra
• Variations: Maura, Moira, Mairin, Maureen

Maire is the Irish form of Maria and the English name Mary.

Irish keeps a careful distinction that English does not: Muire is reserved for the Virgin Mary alone, and Maire is the name ordinary women are given. That separation is why Maire could be so widely used for so long in a devoutly Catholic country.

It has thinned out as Ireland has secularized but has never gone away, and Maura, Moira, Mairin, and Maureen all descend from it. It is a good old-fashioned name that an English speaker can actually pronounce, which is not a small thing on this list.

Margaret

• Origin: Greek, long naturalized in Ireland
• Meaning: Pearl
• Pronunciation: MAR-guh-ret
• Variations: Mairead, Maighread

Margaret means pearl, from the Greek margarites, and it has been at home in Ireland for so long that it counts as a native name.

The Irish form is Mairead, the Scottish Gaelic is Maighread, and all three have been in steady use for centuries. Margaret was one of the top names for American girls across the entire 20th century, which is why nearly every family has one somewhere.

It has fallen out of the modern top 100 in most English-speaking countries, and that is precisely what makes it interesting again. Few names carry more good nicknames: Maggie, Meg, Peggy, Maisie, Greta, and Rita all come out of it.

Mckenna

• Origin: Irish surname, from Mac Cionaoith
• Meaning: Son of Cionaodh
• Pronunciation: muh-KEN-a
• Variations: Makenna, MacKenna, Mackenna

One of the many Irish female names derived from a surname, Mckenna comes from Mac Cionaoith, son of Cionaodh.

The family held land in County Monaghan for centuries, and their arms still turn up on headstones in the parish graveyards there. Using it as a first name is a 20th-century American habit that arrived with the wider fashion for surnames. Makenna is now the more common U.S. spelling, and Kenna works as a short form that stands on its own.

Mona

• Origin: Irish, Anglicized from Muadhnait
• Meaning: Little noble one
• Pronunciation: MOH-na
• Variations: Muadhnait, Monat, Moyna

Mona is an Irish name for girls meaning little noble one, Anglicized from Muadhnait.

The root is the Old Irish muad, noble or good, plus a diminutive, and the original belonged to a sixth-century saint, sister of Mo Laisse. Muadhnait itself is now rare in Ireland while Mona travels everywhere.

That reach is because the same three letters exist independently in Arabic, Greek, and Italian, so a Mona is at home in a lot of countries.

Neala

• Origin: Irish, feminine form of Niall
• Meaning: Champion
• Pronunciation: NEE-la
• Variations: Neila, Neilina

Neala is the feminine form of Niall, the Irish name usually read as champion.

Niall of the Nine Hostages, the fifth-century high king whose descendants ruled the north of Ireland for six hundred years, is where the name starts, and genetic studies suggest a startling number of Irish men still carry his Y chromosome. Neala hands that lineage to a daughter.

Nessa

• Origin: Irish, from Old Irish Ness
• Meaning: Uncertain; legend reads it as not gentle
• Pronunciation: NESS-a
• Variations: Neasa, Neassa

Nessa is the Anglicized form of Neasa, from the Old Irish Ness, and its true meaning is uncertain.

Legend supplies one anyway. She was born Assa, meaning gentle, and after raiders killed the twelve men who had raised her she took up arms to hunt the man responsible, at which point people started calling her Ni-assa, not gentle.

She then outmaneuvered a king: she agreed to marry Fergus mac Roich only if her son Conchobar could hold the throne of Ulster for a year, and by the end of it the Ulstermen refused to give it back.

It also works as a short form of Vanessa, a name Jonathan Swift invented for a friend in 1713. Either way, two syllables and no spelling argument.

Niamh

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Bright
• Pronunciation: NEEV
• Variations: Neve, Neave, Nieve
• Popularity: #3,561 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (43 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.

Niamh is an Irish girl’s name meaning bright.

In the legend of Tir na nOg she is the daughter of the sea god Manannan mac Lir, and she carries the poet Oisin away to the land of youth on a white horse. He stays three years, comes home to find three hundred have passed, and ages to dust the moment his foot touches Irish soil.

Despite all that it only came into use as a real given name in the early 20th century, and it now sits at #90 in Ireland and #77 in Northern Ireland. Neve and Nieve are the phonetic spellings, and they solve a problem the original will hand your daughter every single time she books a table.

Nora

• Origin: Irish, short form of Honora or Eleanor
• Meaning: Honor, or light
• Pronunciation: NOR-a
• Variations: Norah, Noirin, Noreen
• Namesakes: Norah Jones
• Popularity: #20 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (6,380 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 143% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Nora is a short form of Honora, from the Latin for honor, or of Eleanor.

The Normans brought Honora to Ireland and the Irish clipped it down, which is how a Latin name became one of the most Irish-sounding four-letter words going. Ibsen gave it a second life in 1879 when the heroine of A Doll’s House walked out the door.

It is having a real moment: #20 in the United States in 2025, alongside #76 in Ireland and #75 in England and Wales. Noreen and Noirin are the longer Irish forms, and Norah Jones is the reason a good many people spell it with an h.

Oona

• Origin: Irish, Anglicized from Una
• Meaning: Lamb
• Pronunciation: OO-na
• Variations: Una, Oonagh, Unagh
• Namesakes: Oona O’Neill Chaplin
• Popularity: #2,768 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (62 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 78% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Oona is the Anglicized spelling of Una, probably from the Old Irish uan, meaning lamb.

In Irish folklore Oonagh is the wife of Fionnbharr and queen of the fairies, and the same name appears in the annals for real medieval Irish women. It was one of the standard names of the Gaelic nobility for centuries.

Oona O’Neill, daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill, married Charlie Chaplin at 18 and stayed married to him for 34 years. It is a cool name that stays common in Ireland and Finland while barely registering in the U.S.

Orla

• Origin: Irish, Anglicized from Orlaith
• Meaning: Golden ruler
• Pronunciation: OR-la
• Variations: Orlaith, Orlagh, Orfhlaith

One of the most classic Irish names for girls, Orla means golden ruler, from or, gold, and flaith, sovereign.

Orlaith Ingen Cennetig was the sister of Brian Boru, the high king who broke Viking power in Ireland at Clontarf in 1014, and the name was common among medieval Irish royalty. It then vanished for the better part of eight hundred years.

The 20th century brought it back, and it has held a place in Ireland and Northern Ireland since, charting at #596 in England and Wales in 2025.

Radha

• Origin: Sanskrit, with a disputed Irish reading
• Meaning: Success or prosperity in Sanskrit; a vision in the Irish reading
• Pronunciation: RAH-da

Radha is chiefly a Sanskrit name, and the Irish reading of it is a much later and less well attested one.

In Hindu tradition Radha is the consort of Krishna and one of the most beloved figures in Vaishnavism, her name usually glossed as success or prosperity. The Irish claim links the same spelling to an old word for sight or vision, but the trail is thin and you should treat it as a nice coincidence rather than an etymology.

That does not make it a bad choice, only a differently rooted one. If your family bridges both traditions, few names sit in the overlap this neatly.

Rainey

• Origin: Irish and English surname
• Meaning: Counsel, or queen in the Latin line
• Pronunciation: RAY-nee
• Variations: Rainy, Raine, Regina

Rainey is a surname that turns up in Irish, English, and Scottish records, and it has no single origin.

In Ireland it belongs to families of Ulster, in Germany the related ragin means counsel, and in the Latin line it shades into Regina, meaning queen. Which one applies depends entirely on which family you got it from.

What it has going for it is the sound and the word hiding inside it, which makes it a popular choice for nature-lovers in English-speaking countries.

Riona

• Origin: Irish, from Rioghnach or Caitriona
• Meaning: Queenly
• Pronunciation: REE-uh-na
• Variations: Rionach, Rioghnach, Triona

Riona is an Irish name meaning queenly, either a variant of Rioghnach, from riogan, a queen, or a short form of Caitriona.

Rioghnach was the wife of Niall of the Nine Hostages and the mother of a line of kings, and a saint of the same name is remembered in County Meath. Note that Riona has nothing to do with the Welsh Rhiannon or with Rihanna, despite how often the three get bundled together.

It sits outside the top 1,000 everywhere, which for a name this easy to say is unusual.

Rosaleen

• Origin: Irish, from Roisin
• Meaning: Little rose
• Pronunciation: ROZ-a-leen
• Variations: Rosheen, Rosaline

Rosaleen is the English dress for Roisin, the Irish diminutive of Rois, meaning little rose.

It carries a political charge that most flower names do not. Roisin Dubh, dark Rosaleen, is a 16th-century song in which Ireland is addressed as a beloved woman, written when open patriotic expression could get you killed; James Clarence Mangan’s translation put the phrase into English in the 1840s.

It has been in steady Irish use since the 1500s and shortens neatly to Rosa or Rosie.

Ryanne

• Origin: Irish surname, from O Riain
• Meaning: Little king
• Pronunciation: RYE-an
• Variations: Ryann, Rian, Ryan

Ryanne is a feminine spelling of Ryan, from the Irish surname O Riain, usually read as little king.

The underlying ri is the same word for king that sits inside Rory and Reagan, so the three make a neat set. Adding the e is a purely modern move, meant to signal a daughter without changing the sound. Ryann is the more common variant and does the same job with one fewer letter. Plain Ryan is also given to girls now, so you can skip the respelling entirely if you would rather not spend a lifetime clarifying it.

Sadbh

• Origin: Irish, from Old Irish Sadb
• Meaning: Sweet, goodness
• Pronunciation: SIVE
• Variations: Sadhbh, Sive, Saibh
• Popularity: #32 in Ireland in 2025 (Sadhbh spelling)

In the Fenian cycle Sadbh is turned into a deer by a druid she refused, meets Fionn mac Cumhaill while in that form, and bears him a son whom Fionn later finds alone on a mountain and names Oisin, little deer.

It is the origin story for one of the great figures of Irish literature. The name comes from the Old Irish Sadb and is grouped by the sources under sweetness.

The modern spelling Sadhbh sits at #32 in Ireland in 2025, so this is a live name, not a museum piece. It is also four consonants doing the work of one sound: SIVE, rhyming with hive, and your daughter will be saying that sentence for the rest of her life.

Saoirse

• Origin: Irish, from soer
• Meaning: Freedom
• Pronunciation: SEER-sha
• 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.

One of the most patriotic Irish names for girls, Saoirse means freedom.

It has only existed as a first name since the 1920s, when it was coined during and after the War of Independence, which makes it younger than the state it refers to. It faded, then came back hard in the early 2000s.

Today it ranks #17 in Ireland and #44 in Northern Ireland, and it last charted in the U.S. at #957 in 2023. Saoirse Ronan, four Oscar nominations by the age of 25, has spent a decade patiently teaching interviewers to say SEER-sha, which has done more for the name abroad than any chart position.

Shannon

• Origin: Irish river name, from an tSionainn
• Meaning: Possibly from sen, old or ancient
• Pronunciation: SHAN-un
• Variations: Shanna, Shannen, Shanon
• Popularity: #2,405 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (75 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 71% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Shannon comes from the River Shannon, the longest river in Ireland, called an tSionainn in Irish and possibly built on the Old Irish sen, meaning old or ancient.

Legend gives the river a namesake, Sionann, who went to a forbidden well to gain wisdom and was drowned by the water that rose to meet her. In truth she is almost certainly named after the river rather than the other way round.

It first became common in America after the 1940s and peaked hard in the 1970s and 80s before dropping out of the top 1,000 entirely. That is a name resting, not a name dead, and it will be due back around the time today’s babies are naming their own.

Shauna

• Origin: Irish, feminine form of Sean
• Meaning: God is gracious
• Pronunciation: SHAW-na
• Variations: Shawna, Seana, Siona

Shauna is the feminine form of Sean, so it carries the same meaning as John: God is gracious.

Sean is the Irish form of Jehan, brought over by the Normans, and the whole family tree runs back to the Hebrew Yohanan. Shauna is the phonetic spelling of the feminine, which in Irish is written Seana or Sine.

It had a good run in Ireland through the 1980s and 90s and has thinned out since.

Sheila

• Origin: Irish, from Sile
• Meaning: Blind, from the Roman name Caecilia
• Pronunciation: SHEE-la
• Variations: Sile, Sheela, Shelagh

Sheila is the Irish form of Cecilia, written Sile in Irish, from the Roman family name Caecilius.

Saint Cecilia is the patron of music, which is where the musical reading comes from, though the Latin root actually means blind. The Irish took the name early and kept it long after the connection to Rome had faded from view.

In Australia and New Zealand a sheila is slang for a woman, a usage that came directly from how common the name was among Irish immigrants. It peaked in the U.S. in the 1960s and has not been back to the top 100 since, which leaves it comfortably out of fashion and ready to return.

Sibeal

• Origin: Irish form of Isabel
• Meaning: God is my oath
• Pronunciation: shi-BAYL

Sibeal is the Irish form of the Spanish name Isabel, which descends in turn from the Hebrew name Elisheba, meaning God is my oath.

That makes it a distant cousin of Elizabeth, Eilis, and Eilish, all of which arrived in Ireland by different routes. Sibeal came in with the Anglo-Normans and stayed. Only a handful of Irish babies get it in a given year, which puts it near the bottom of the national register. It is the kind of name that has everything going for it except visibility. Eilis and Eilish reach the same Elizabeth from a different direction.

Sinead

• Origin: Irish form of Jeannette
• Meaning: God is gracious
• Pronunciation: shin-AYD
• Variations: Sine
• Namesakes: Sinead O’Connor

Sinead is the Irish form of Jeannette, the French feminine diminutive of John, so it means God is gracious.

It is Anglicized as Janet or Jane, and sometimes loosely swapped for Jennifer, which is a Cornish name with no connection to it. It held a place in the Irish top 100 until 2011.

Sinead O’Connor did more for the name than any chart could. Nothing Compares 2 U topped charts worldwide in 1990, and her career after it made the name a byword for refusing to be managed.

Siobhan

• Origin: Irish form of Jehanne
• Meaning: God is gracious
• Pronunciation: shiv-AWN
• Variations: Shavon, Chevonne, Shevaun
• Popularity: #2,096 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (90 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 32% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

One of several Irish female names with religious meanings, Siobhan is the Irish form of Jehanne, the Norman French version of Jeanne.

So it is the feminine of John once again, arriving in Ireland with the Anglo-Normans in the 12th century and staying for the next eight hundred years.

Sean and Shane are its masculine counterparts.

It was a fixture in Ireland until the early 2000s and has been declining since, and it is genuinely rare in the U.S. The phonetic spellings Shavon, Chevonne, and Shevaun exist for a reason, but they lose the shape of the original. Shivy, Sive, and Von all work as everyday short forms.

Siofra

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Elf, sprite
• Pronunciation: SHEE-fra
• Popularity: Last ranked #98 in Ireland in 2024

Siofra is one of the more mystical Irish female names on our list, meaning elf or fairy.

It is a 20th-century coinage rather than an ancient name, built on a word tied to the old belief in changelings, fairy children left in a cradle in place of a stolen baby. Calling a daughter Siofra is therefore either affectionate or slightly cheeky, depending on how literally you take it.

It touched the Irish top 100 at #98 in 2024, so it is climbing rather than fading.

Sorcha

• Origin: Irish
• Meaning: Radiant, bright
• Pronunciation: SOR-uh-ka
• Variations: Sarah (Ireland), Clara (Scotland)
• Namesakes: Sorcha Cusack
• Popularity: #13,015 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (7 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, down 14% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Sorcha is an Irish female name meaning radiant or bright, in use since late medieval times.

It gets Anglicized two different ways depending on where you are: Sarah in Ireland, Clara in Scotland. Neither is related to it, and both were chosen for sound rather than sense.

The pronunciation is the sticking point. Irish speakers say something close to SOR-uh-ka, while SOR-sha and SOR-ka are both common in English, and you will hear all three. Irish actress Sorcha Cusack, of the Cusack acting family, is the best-known bearer. It is a rare case where the Irish original is easier to spell than it is to say.

Tara

• Origin: Irish place name, from Teamhair
• Meaning: High place, a place of height
• Pronunciation: TAR-a
• Variations: Tarah, Tera, Terra
• Popularity: #847 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (322 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 33% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Tara is the Anglicized form of Teamhair, the Hill of Tara in County Meath, and probably means a place of height.

The hill was the ceremonial seat of the high kings of Ireland for well over a thousand years, and the Lia Fail, the stone said to cry out under the rightful king, still stands on it. That is about as much national weight as four letters can carry.

The name spread worldwide after Gone with the Wind gave the plantation the name in 1936. It also exists independently in Sanskrit as a name meaning star and as a Buddhist and Hindu goddess, so a Tara is at home in more than one tradition.

Tuathla

• Origin: Irish, from tuath and flaith
• Meaning: Ruler of the people
• Pronunciation: TOO-la
• Variations: Tuathflaith, Tuathlaith

Among the Irish girl names fit for royalty, Tuathla means ruler of the people, from tuath, a tribe or territory, and flaith, sovereign.

That is the same flaith element that sits at the end of Orlaith, so the two names are structurally sisters, one golden and one popular. A Tuathflaith is recorded among the queens of Leinster in the ninth century.

Tuathla is the simplest of the surviving spellings and the only one a modern reader stands a chance with. It is completely unused, which for a name with a queen behind it is a strange state of affairs.

Tuiren

• Origin: Irish mythology
• Meaning: Uncertain
• Pronunciation: TEER-en

Tuiren is an Irish name from the Fenian cycle, and no reliable meaning survives for it.

She was the aunt of Fionn mac Cumhaill, and the story goes that a woman of the Sidhe named Uchtdealbh, jealous over Tuiren’s husband, struck her with a hazel rod and turned her into a hound. She whelped two pups while enchanted, and those pups, Bran and Sceolan, became Fionn’s hunting dogs and stayed loyal to him for the rest of his life.

Ula

• Origin: Irish, also a Slavic short form
• Meaning: Traditionally read as gem of the sea
• Pronunciation: OO-la

Ula is usually glossed as gem of the sea in Irish name books, though the trail behind that reading is thin.

It doubles as a short form of Ursula and Eulalia, and as a name in its own right in Poland and Lithuania, so the same two syllables land in several traditions at once. Three letters, one clean sound, no spelling argument. It is rare in both Ireland and the U.S. If Ula on its own feels too spare, Eulalia or Ursula on the certificate gives you the same nickname with more behind it.

Ultana

• Origin: Irish, feminine form of Ultan
• Meaning: An Ulsterman
• Pronunciation: ul-TAH-na

Ultana is the feminine form of Ultan, the Irish name for a man of Ulster.

Several early saints carry the masculine version, the best remembered being Ultan of Ardbraccan, a seventh-century bishop who took in children orphaned by plague and is said to have fed them himself. A Dublin children’s hospital carried his name.

The feminine has always been much rarer, in Ireland and everywhere else. For a family with roots in the north of the island it is about as specific a nod as a name can make.

Zaira

• Origin: Literary, used in Ireland
• Meaning: Usually read as blooming flowers
• Pronunciation: ZY-ra
• Variations: Zara, Zaida

Zaira is the most unusual name on this list, and unlike the rest of it, the name came out of a book rather than the language.

The Irish novelist Charles Maturin used it for a character in Women, published in 1818, and Irish readers have used it occasionally ever since. The same spelling exists independently in Italian and Spanish, which is why you will also see it traced to Arabic roots.

It sounds close enough to Sarah and Zara to feel familiar, while being almost entirely unused.