How popular is the baby name Domnall in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Domnall.

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Popularity of the baby name Domnall


Posts that mention the name Domnall

Top male names in Early Medieval Ireland

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

Which names were the most popular among males in early medieval Ireland?

To find out, researcher Heather Rose Jones compiled a list of the most-used male names in the book Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae, “a collection of Irish genealogical material from the pre-Norman period (i.e., roughly pre-12th century).”

The 10 most-used names were…

  1. Áed, 248 instances
  2. Óengus/Áengus, 191
  3. Ailill, 145
  4. Fergus, 140
  5. Eochaid, 130
  6. Lugaid, 129
  7. Domnall, 120
  8. Cairpre, 109
  9. Conall, 108
  10. Cormac, 105

It’s pretty interesting that Áed came out on top, as Áed is the ultimate root of the Aidan-names (e.g. Ayden, Aedan, Adyn) that became so trendy during the first decade of the 2000s.

Other names in Ireland’s medieval top 100 include Crimthann, Crundmáel, Indrechtach, and Imchad. Click the link below to see the rest.

Source: 100 Most Popular Men’s Names in Early Medieval Ireland by Heather Rose Jones

Image: Adapted from Cliffs of Moher 3 by Carogonmu under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Baby name needed: Boy name for Cian’s brother

A reader named Jamie writes:

Cian Joseph is two years old, and will be welcoming a little brother in May. My husband is Irish, and so we’re sticking with names from that region. We know the middle name will be James, but we’re hitting a road block on first names. So far the only name we both like is Declan, but our super-Irish last name includes 2 K-sounds and ends in -lin. They sound a little funny together.

My first thoughts were Desmond and Diarmaid (Dermot), which are both similar to Declan. There’s also a saint named Donnan. Speaking of saints, how about:

Brendan
Brogan
Eoghan
Ernan
Faolan		Fergus
Fintan
Flannan
Finnian
Garbhan		Grellan
Loman
Manchan
Mel
Murtagh		Odhran
Ronan
Ruadhan
Senan
Ultan

Most of the above are spelled other ways as well, which is convenient (as some versions are easier to pronounce in English, while others are closer to the original Irish).

Historical Irish kings had names like Niall (Neil), Domnall (Donald) and Ruaidri (Rory).

Looking to surnames, there are options like Brady, Grady, Murphy and Nolan.

Do you think any of the above sound particularly good with James? What other names would you suggest?

Update, 6/07: Scroll down to the last comment to find out which name Jamie chose…