The most popular Irish baby girl names

1) Aoife
Pronounced: Ee-fa
Derived from the Gaelic word “aoibh”, this quintessentially Irish name means “beauty” or “radiance”.

2) Ava
Ava has many interpretations, but the most popular ascribed meanings are “bird”, “life”, and “living one”.

3) Caoimhe
Pronounced: Keeva (in Northern Ireland) or Kweeva (in the Republic of Ireland).
The Irish girl’s name Caoimhe has been listed among a hot seven baby names which are blowing up online and set to be big in 2017, according to an “expert source for baby names” the Baby Name Wizard. It means “beautiful, gentle, kind”.

4) Clodagh
Pronounced: Clo-dah
This name is taken from the river Clody, which runs through County Tipperary and County Wexford. But, like most Irish rivers, this body of water is named for a local female deity – which means that Clodagh is imbued with divine powers.

5) Darragh
Pronounced: Da-rah
A unisex name, this Irish name is rooted in nature – it means, quite literally, “oak tree”.

6) Éabha
Pronounced: Ay-va
The Irish form of Eve, this name means, quite simply, “life”.

7) Erin
An old Irish name, this moniker means “from the island to the west”.

8) Evie
Full of energy, this name (famously bestowed upon Rachel Weisz’s badass librarian in The Mummy) again means “life”.

9) Fiadh
Pronounced: Fee-a
Easily one of the fastest-rising names in Ireland, tis name has been derived from the ancient root word for “wild”.

10) Freya
Similarly popular in Nordic countries, this name means “noble woman”.

11) Kaitlyn
Whether you spell it Kaitlyn, Caitlyn, Kaitlin or Catelyn (we see you, Game of Thrones fans), this Irish name continues to be popular – especially in Canada. It means “pure”, if you’re wondering.

12) Leah
Serene and gentle, this biblical name means “weary”.

13) Maeve
Pronounced: Mayv
This legendary moniker belongs to not one, but two famous queens from Irish mythology: the Queen of Connacht, and the queen of the mother-f**king fairies (or the ‘wee people’, to call them by their proper name). It means “she who intoxicates”, which is just marvellous.

14) Matilda
As in, yes, everyone’s favourite Roald Dahl heroine. This vintage name means “battle-mighty” and is becoming increasingly popular in Ireland.

15) Niamh
Pronounced: Neev
An ancient Irish name (belonging to a goddess, no less) Niamh means “bright”.

16) Orla
The very same name of Irish high king Brian Boru’s sister, daughter, and niece, it should come as no surprise to learn that Orla means “golden princess”.

17) Róisín
Pronounced: Ro-sheen
The heroic Roisin Dubh is often referred to as the personification of Ireland itself, making this a very popular name for baby girls in the Emerald Isle. It means “little rose”.

18) Saoirse
Pronounced: Seer-sha
Back in the 1920s, this name was used as a revolutionary cry for freedom. No wonder it means “liberty”, eh?

36 fashionable Irish baby names taking the world by storm