More commonly seen here as Anya, this traditional yet unique Irish name belonged to the queen of the Munster fairies and is sprinkled throughout Irish folklore as an early Celtic goddess of summer and prosperity. One of the most <a href="https://nameberry.com/popular-names">popular baby names</a> in Ireland, Aine's spelling and pronunciation might seem simple but could prove confusing in the U.S.
 When the British cracked down on authentic Irish names in the seventeenth century, Aine was "translated" as Ann. Now, the original Aine or Anya is one of the prime <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/433/goddess-baby-names">goddess names</a> for baby girls.

Aine

Anwen is one of the simplest and best of the classic Welsh girls' names, more unusual than Bronwen but with the same serene feel. 

Anwen

Arwen is well known as princess of the Elves in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The author took inspiration from Welsh for many of his character names, and indeed Arwen and its masculine counterpart Arwyn do have a modest history of use as legitimate Welsh names, deriving from the -wyn suffix ("fair, blessed") plus an intensifying prefix.

 Trivia tidbit: The International Astronomical Union names all colles (small hills) on Saturn's moon Titan after characters in Tolkien's work; in 2012, they named a hilly area "Arwen Colles" after Arwen.

Arwen

Blythe originated as a nickname for an upbeat person, coming from the Old English word bliðe, meaning "merry" or "cheerful." Today the homophone blithe shares the same meaning. Blythe was eventually adapted to a surname before it became a feminine given name.
 
Blythe embodies a cheerful, carefree spirit and could be the next Blair/Blaine/Blake/Brett/Britt, with the advantage that it's clearly pink. It joins other other light-hearted names for girls: Felicity, Hilary.
 Blythe is the middle name of Drew Barrymore—in her case a surname from her rich theatrical history.
 The title of the memorable Noel Coward play Blithe Spirit is taken from Shelley's poetic line, "Hail to thee, blithe Spirit"—a nice tribute to a baby Blythe.

Blythe

Carroll

Familiar in Wales and England, this name was introduced to America when Welsh-born Catherine Zeta-Jones and husband Michael Douglas chose it for their daughter in 2003. Light, pretty, and distinctive in appearance, it didn't catch on in the US, where it was only given to 22 girls in 2023.
 
A relatively modern name, it didn't come into use in Wales until the late nineteenth century. It reached the Top 200 in the early 2000s but has since fallen back to the latter end of the UK Top 1000. 
 Carys is one of that sweet group of girls' names with a loving meaning, and this has a subliminal link to the word 'caress.' 
 Cerys is also heard in Wales.

Carys

Has fallen off its Kathie Lee Gifford inspired peak in the 1990s, but since that notably celebrity baby is now a grownup and out of the limelight, Cassidy may once again reclaim its own Irish charm.

Cassidy

Midcentury Irish-American favorite, never used in Ireland itself, being the generic word for "girl"; rarely given today. 

Colleen

Cordelia is exactly the kind of old-fashioned, grown-up name for girls that many parents are seeking for their daughters today. The name of King Lear's one sympathetic daughter, Cordelia has both style and substance along with its Shakespearean pedigree.
 <br/
Cordelia is a Nameberry favorite—Number 106 on the site—and it reentered the US Top 1000 in 2014 after a 60+ year absence. By 2016 it sank below that line again, must to the relief of many Cordelia fans who feared the name would get too popular.
 
If you're torn between Cordelia and the equally lovely Cora, you can always choose Cordelia for long and then call her Cora for short—or Delia, Lia, Del, or even the extremely different Cordie.
 Cordelia also appeared in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye, as detective Cordelia Gray in P.D. James's mystery novels, and was promoted by a character on both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel.
 And then there's that quote from the heroine of Anne of Green Gables: "I would love to be called Cordelia. It's such a perfectly elegant name."

Cordelia

Elsie is a sweet vintage nickname-name turned modern star. After a 30-year hiatus, Elsie started climbing the US popularity list 20 years ago and is still headed for the top.
 
In its native Britain, Elsie is even more popular, ranking in the Top 20. One reason for Elsie's popularity: She makes a fresh, charming honor name for all those grandma Elizabeths.
. Elsie was a popular name at the end of the nineteenth century until its image was damaged in this country by the association with Elsie the Borden cow. But it's rising now on the heels of Ella and Ellie, suddenly sounding fresh and frisky. Singer James Morrison picked it for his baby girl and Ioan Gruffudd has an adorably named little Elsie Marigold. Another youthful bearer is actress Elsie Kate Fisher, the voice of Agnes in Despicable Me.

Elsie

Elspeth is one of those names that never quite made it out of the British Isles--particularly Scotland, but possesses a winningly childlike charm. Elspeth was used by Sir Walter Scott for several of his female characters.
 Elspeth Huxley was a prolific Kenyan-born U.K. writer, best known for the autobiographical The Flame Trees of Thika--she was connected by marriage to the illustrous Huxley family.
 A close cousin is Elsbeth, as in the recurring character Elsbeth Tascioni on The Good Wife. Embeth is a more distant relation.

Elspeth

This phonetic Anglicization of the Irish name Eithne was made familiar by the single-named Irish singer and composer. St. Eithne was the daughter of a king and an early Irish convert to Christianity.

Enya

Fiona entered the American consciousness with the opening of the 1954 Broadway musical Brigadoon, but didn't come onto the U.S. popularity list until 1990.
 
Fiona is the best known of a group of related Gaelic names, which is ironic because it's the only one without genuine traditional roots — it was found first in James Macpherson's Ossianic poems and then popularized in the late nineteenth century as a feminine pseudonym for William Sharp, a Scottish male writer. <a href="https://twitter.com/HJosephineGiles/status/1555216419721297922">Some researchers believe</a> that Fiona Macleod was Sharp's identity as a trans woman.
 
Its recent spike in popularity owes much to singer Fiona Apple and also possibly to Princess Fiona in Shrek. In fact, there have been numerous Fionas on the big and small screens, from The Thorn Birds to Josie and the Pussycats, Four Weddings and a Funeral to Nurse Jackie to Shameless.
 
Jennie Garth and Chad Lowe have daughters named Fiona. It's also Julia Roberts' middle name.
 
If you're looking for something more authentic, consider Fionnuala.

Fiona

Kerensa, forever romantic, is a rare Cornish name spelled with an 's' or 'z', the most modern of the Karen family. Kerensa (or Kerenza) has ties to the Welsh Cerys.
 Kerensa is a name favored by novelists who are using a Cornish setting, such as Victoria Holt in The Legend of the Seventh Virgin.
 The Kerenza spelling has a bit more zip.

Kerensa

An unusual flower name deriving from the Latin word for lily (lilium), this variant has always been popular in Scotland.

Lilias

One of those names like Pamela, Vanessa and Wendy, Lorna was invented for a particular literary character--the protagonist of the 1869 novel Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore--and then perpetuated as the name of a shortbread cookie. 
The author claimed to have based it on the Scottish place-name, Lorn. In baby name limbo for quite some time, it was chosen by Judy Garland for her younger daughter, Lorna Luft. Lorna Simpson is an important contemporary American artist. 
While not strictly from Scotland, many consider Lorna to be one of the most tradtional <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/472/scottish-names-for-girls">Scottish names for girls</a>

Lorna

An alternative to the no-longer-fresh Molly, the initial 'P' gives Polly a peppier sound, combining the cozy virtues of an old-timey name with the bounce of a barmaid. 
 Associated with Tom Sawyer's aunt, 'Polly, put the kettle on,' parrots, Polly Peachum, Nirvana and Kinks songs, and the movie Along Came Polly, as well as characters in Noel Streatfeild's Ballet Shoes, C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia and now on the Netflix show Orange is the New Black, Polly never achieved the comeback that her cousin did, perhaps because she sounds too Pollyanna-ish. But although she has been off the Social Security list for decades, Polly is Number 457 on Nameberry.
 But we'd love to see some new baby Pollys.

Polly

A strong, straightforward Irish unisex surname, with a merry glint in its eye, Reagan has been leaping up the popularity lists, to become one of the top <a href="https://nameberry.com/search/girls-names/r">girl names starting with R</a>. Some will inevitably link it to President Ronald, but spell it Regan and it's a Shakespearean name: a daughter of King Lear.

Reagan

RHOSLYN

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.

Rosaleen

A fabled storybook name via the heroine of Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe (1819), which featured a heroine called Rowena of Hargottstanstede, and also a Harry Potter name, as Rowena Ravenclaw, founder of one of the Hogwarts houses.. Rowena has some old-fashioned charm, though most modern parents seem to prefer Rowen. Pronunciation, however, is NOT like Rowen with an a at the end, but with a long e and an emphasis on the middle syllable.. She was on the popularity list until 1963, several years in the Top 500.

Rowena

Before the young Irish actress Saoirse Ronan made her mark in the films Ladybird and The Lovely Bones, few of us had heard this name, let alone known how to pronounce it. But now it is slowly way edging its way into the mainstream, particularly, of course, with parents who have Irish roots. It made its first appearance in the US Top 1000 in 2016, when it was the third-fastest-rising girls' name.
 
Saoirse originated as a baby name in 1920s Ireland as an applied use of saoirse, the Gaelic word for "freedom." The name was first adopted during the Irish War of Independence, when the Irish Republican Army fought the British Army for the liberation of Ireland from British rule. In modern times, Saoirse, as well as a host of other <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/1051/gaelic-names">Gaelic names</a>, are being revived in Ireland, the UK, and the US.
 Another related name Is Sorcha, pronounced SURK-ha and meaning "radiance": in the film Willow, the character's name is spelled Sorsha – another way to pronounce it.

Saoirse

Seren is a top girls' name in Wales – and a lovely choice almost unknown elsewhere. Seren, in the Sirona form, was an ancient goddess of the hot springs.
 Seren only recently fell out of the girls' Top 10 in Wales, and ranks just below the Top 100 in England and Wales combined.
Seren is also a Turkish surname and girls' name.

Seren

The short but solid Irish surname Shea works for both genders; Kevin James has a daughter named Shea. Shay is another possible spelling.

Shea

One of the best known of the <a href="https://nameberry.com/baby-names/509/irish-names-for-girls">Irish girls' names</a>, thanks to singer Sinead O'Connor. Though it's still in the Irish Top 100, it's no longer quite as fashionable in Ireland as Aoife or Aisling. But by now everyone in the Western World knows it's pronounced shin-aid and so would have no trouble fitting in on an American playground.
 This name increased in popularity in Ireland via Sinéad de Valera, the wife of president Éamon de Valera, who was born with the name Jane, but later chose to use its Irish form Sinéad. Actress Sinead Cusack is the wife of Jeremy Irons.

Sinead

The e-addition takes the name from slightly hippie-ish nature name to the place name of a picturesque island off the coast of Scotland, and for baby namers it's by far the more popular spelling. 
 Skye entered the girls' list in 1987, a year after the introduction of Skye Chandler, a popular character for decades on no fewer than three soaps—All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital.
 As a first name, Skye is a sleek gender-neutral choice, used for ten times as many girls as boys. It makes a lovely middle-name choice.

Skye

Tessa is one of those golden names that's been popular but not TOO popular for several decades now. Tessa has ranked in the Top 500 in the US since 1981 but has risen only once above Number 200.
 
Among baby <a href="https://nameberry.com/girls-names">girl names</a>, Tessa's much more popular than either mother name Theresa or shorter form Tess. Today, many people may not even remember that Tessa originated as a short form of Theresa as it stands quite nicely on its own. 
 
Tessa is far more popular and more durable than sister name Tess, which had a heyday in the 1990s but fell out of the Top 1000 in 2013.

Tessa

libermama's list "Celtic-Themed Girls Names" of 27 great name ideas: Aine - Tessa!

Celtic-Themed Girls Names

These are the list of "legitimate" choices that fit the Celtic theme we've used for all our other children.