Irish Names articles

America loves Irish names right now: Liam, Aiden, Connor, they’ve been some of the biggest breakaway stars of the 21st century. But what about the girls? For some reason we don’t have quite the same appetite for Irish girls’ names… This can be partly put down to some of the frankly perplexing spelling and pronunciation quirks of the Irish language – Dearbhail is pronounced der-vul?! And where would most Americans even start with a name like Caoimhe?! Even still: there are plenty of pretty (and easy to pronounce!) girls’ names available

One of the major struggles when it comes to picking a name for your little one is trying to strike a balance between a name that's unique and personal with one that carries the family, cultural or societal meaning and significance you want it to. With the amount of pressure sometimes in place to choose the right one, we've come up with 10 not too outlandish alternatives to 10 of the most common names.

Everyone knows about birthstones and star signs, but what about Celtic birth trees? Based on ancient mythology and philosophy, birth trees are associated with lunar phases. The Celts had a strong belief and connection with nature, and believed different trees held different powers. But even if your beliefs aren't quite the same, these Celtic birth trees will definitely give you some cool, nature-inspired names for your magical little one.

Yesterday we had a look through Ireland's top boys' names and compared them to our own. While there was definitely some overlap, there were a couple of new names, a few unexpected appearances, and some surprising omissions! Today it's the turn of the girls, so without much further ado: here's the top 10 Irish girls' names of 2016, plus a few honorable mentions! Emily has been in America's top 10 for nearly 30 years, so we weren't particularly surprised to see it top Ireland's list.

Here at Nameslist, we are always on the lookout for cute name-spiration, and monitoring global as well as national trends. While we're still busy trawling through the SSA's statistics, we spotted that Ireland has just released its 2016 figures and thought we should compare! After all: America loves Irish names, so we might just 2017's hottest name! The number one name in Ireland last year was America's #5, so clearly James has a huge amount of appeal across the English speaking world, and beyond.