690+ Irish Names (With Meanings and Popularity)

This Latinized form of a name that's well used in Italy and Spain is sometimes heard, oddly enough, in Ireland.

A distinctive alternative to Conan.

Possible Gaelic alternative to Kevin and Devon.

The Etain (or more properly Étaín) of Irish mythology was a beautiful fairy turned into a fly (or in some versions, a butterfly), by a jealous queen. The insect Étaín fell into a glass of milk and was swallowed by yet another queen, then reborn as a beautiful maiden. Its pronunciation is similar to the number eighteen.

An Irish county name almost exclusively used for girls now. Kerrigan would be a more modern and masculine choice.

Ethne is one of the many Irish Gaelic names whose spelling and pronunciation -- it's en-ya -- will prove endlessly confusing to English speakers.

Is Merrin a real name or a melodic invention? Singer Bo Bice brought this merry name to the public's attention when he chose it for his daughter, but most reliable baby name sources don't list it. But there is a Cornish saint's name Merryn, thought to be a variation of the Irish names for girls Mirin and Mirren, and so we're going to call Merrin another twist on that ancient group of names.

An Irish surname name with a combination of boldness and élan. Some might connect it to the founder of the group T. Rex -- Marc Bolan.

An undiscovered Irish surname with a cool meaning. It could work as an alternative to Connor and Lachlan.

Although Maguire is such a prominent Irish surname —it ranks in the Top 40 in the Emerald Isle —this lively and cheerful family name has rarely been used as a first, unlike more familiar examples like Ryan, Riley and Reagan. The powerful and distinguished Maguire clan was known for their courage, leadership and resilience. The name's many notable associations include the unionizing Pennsylvania coal miners known as the Molly Maguires, actor Tobey Maguire and Dixie Chick Martie Maguire. Other spellings are McGuire and McGwire; two other handsome Irish surnames to consider are Malone and Magee.

A classic Irish "top-o'-the-mornin' surname with a lot of rhythm and pizzazz.

Brona is an Anglicized form of Bronach or Bronagh, the name of a sixth century mystic and follower of Saint Patrick. The name is attracting some modern notice in the US via the character Brona Croft in TV's Penny Dreadful.

Cheerful and distinctive.

This somewhat boisterous Celtic name would be at home in a noisy pub or out walking on the moors. In Scotland, it was originally a nickname for someone with dark hair or a swarthy complexion.

Would make a truly original alternative to the overused Sarah.

The name of a sympathetic character in the best-selling novel The Secret Life of Bees, though it feels more stylish these days spelled Rosaline.

Although the Mc or Mac prefix always means "son of", the first names McKenna and MacKenna are used in the US exclusively for girls, with the McKenna spelling outpacing this one 14 to 1. There are no boys recorded with either spelling of the name.

Aoibhinn and its twin name Aoibheann may be popular in Ireland but most English-speakers would find the spelling baffling and the pronunciation impossible to divine. It's ee-van, or se-vin, fitting with the Irish popularity of many names -- Aoife, Eabha, Ava -- with this similar sound.

Keelan is the Anglicized, phonetic form of the more traditionally-spelled Caelan.. While this name is said by many sources to be unisex and might certainly feel unisex to Americans, in practice in modern Ireland it is only given to boys. Keelin is also found.

Aiden/Aidan is just beginning to wander into the girls' side of the name popularity list, but it's so huge for boys in all its spellings that it will be a long time before it can be called a unisex name.