How popular is the baby name Eimear 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 Eimear.

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Popularity of the baby name Eimear


Posts that mention the name Eimear

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2015

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

According to data from Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO), the most popular baby names in Ireland in 2015 were Emily and Jack.

Here are Ireland’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2015:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Emily, 626 baby girls
2. Emma, 449
3. Ava, 421
4. Sophie, 407
5. Amelia, 400
6. Ella, 384
7. Lucy, 379
8. Grace, 367
9. Chloe, 362
10. Mia, 360
1. Jack, 752 baby boys
2. James, 697
3. Daniel, 617
4. Conor, 558
5. Sean, 530
6. Adam, 449
7. Noah, 438
8. Michael, 434
9. Charlie, 399
10. Luke, 382

Here are some quick comparisons between these rankings with the 2014 rankings…

New to the top 10:

  • Girl names: Chloe (replaced Aoife, now ranked 13th)
  • Boy names: Michael (replaced Harry, now tied for 14th with Cian)

New to the top 100:

  • Girl names: Maisie, Annabelle, Mila, Rosie, and Eimear
  • Boy names: Lorcan, George, Daithi, Brian, Edward, and Daire

Biggest increases within the top 100:

  • Girl names (by rank): Mila, Fiadh, Maisie, Annabelle, and Alice
  • Girl names (by raw numbers): Fiadh, Roisin, Robyn, Sadie, and Chloe
  • Boy names (by rank): Ollie, Donnacha, Billy, Tadhg, and Brian/Daire (tied)
  • Boy names (by raw numbers): Oliver, Michael, Fionn, Tadhg, and Finn

And finally, some of the “less common” (non-top 100) baby names mentioned in the CSO’s statistical release:

  • Girl names: Paris, Nelly, Dakota, Kim, Pixie, and Sabina
  • Boy names: Barra, Pauric, Zayn, Gus, Romeo, and Otis

Source: Irish Babies’ Names 2015 – CSO

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2012

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland


The most popular baby names in Ireland came out a few days ago.

According to the Central Statistics Office, the country’s top names are Emily for girls and Jack for boys.

Here are the top 100 girl names and top 100 boy names of 2012:

Girl Names

  1. Emily
  2. Sophie
  3. Emma
  4. Grace
  5. Lily
  6. Mia
  7. Ella
  8. Ava
  9. Lucy
  10. Sarah
  11. Aoife
  12. Amelia
  13. Hannah
  14. Katie
  15. Chloe
  16. Caoimhe
  17. Saoirse
  18. Kate
  19. Holly
  20. Ruby
  21. Sophia
  22. Anna
  23. Lauren
  24. Leah
  25. Amy
  26. Isabelle
  27. Molly
  28. Ellie
  29. Jessica
  30. Olivia
  31. Roisin
  32. Ciara
  33. Kayla
  34. Julia [tie]
  35. Zoe [tie]
  36. Laura
  37. Niamh
  38. Abbie
  39. Erin
  40. Rachel
  41. Robyn
  42. Aisling
  43. Faye
  44. Rebecca
  45. Eva [tie]
  46. Layla [tie]
  47. Ellen
  48. Cara
  49. Freya
  50. Abigail [tie]
  51. Eve [tie]
  52. Isabella [tie]
  53. Megan
  54. Aine [tie]
  55. Clodagh [tie]
  56. Aoibhinn
  57. Millie
  58. Nicole
  59. Aoibheann
  60. Maja
  61. Sadhbh
  62. Eabha
  63. Charlotte
  64. Amber [tie]
  65. Caitlin [tie]
  66. Sofia [tie]
  67. Alannah
  68. Zara
  69. Alice
  70. Maria
  71. Elizabeth [tie]
  72. Lena [tie]
  73. Mary [tie]
  74. Emilia
  75. Aimee [tie]
  76. Lilly [tie]
  77. Hollie
  78. Aoibhe
  79. Victoria
  80. Eimear [tie]
  81. Maya [tie]
  82. Isabel [tie]
  83. Orla [tie]
  84. Evie
  85. Kayleigh
  86. Brooke [tie]
  87. Clara [tie]
  88. Meabh
  89. Lexi
  90. Tara
  91. Daisy [tie]
  92. Katelyn [tie]
  93. Ailbhe [tie]
  94. Amelie [tie]
  95. Natalia [tie]
  96. Sara [tie]
  97. Hanna [tie]
  98. Laoise [tie]
  99. Ruth [tie]
  100. Madison [tie]
  101. Maeve [tie]
  102. Maisie [tie]
  103. Rose [tie]

Boy Names

  1. Jack
  2. James
  3. Daniel
  4. Sean
  5. Conor
  6. Adam
  7. Harry
  8. Ryan
  9. Dylan
  10. Michael
  11. Luke
  12. Charlie
  13. Liam
  14. Oisin
  15. Cian
  16. Jamie
  17. Thomas
  18. Alex
  19. Noah
  20. Darragh
  21. Patrick
  22. Aaron
  23. Cillian
  24. Matthew
  25. John
  26. Nathan
  27. David [tie]
  28. Fionn [tie]
  29. Evan
  30. Ethan
  31. Jake
  32. Kyle
  33. Rian
  34. Ben [tie]
  35. Max [tie]
  36. Eoin
  37. Tadhg
  38. Finn
  39. Callum
  40. Samuel
  41. Joshua
  42. Rory
  43. Jayden
  44. Joseph
  45. Tyler
  46. Sam
  47. Shane
  48. Mark [tie]
  49. Robert [tie]
  50. Aidan
  51. William
  52. Ronan
  53. Eoghan
  54. Alexander [tie]
  55. Leon [tie]
  56. Cathal
  57. Mason
  58. Tom
  59. Oliver
  60. Andrew
  61. Oscar
  62. Ciaran
  63. Bobby
  64. Jacob
  65. Senan
  66. Rhys
  67. Scott
  68. Benjamin [tie]
  69. Cormac [tie]
  70. Kevin
  71. Lucas
  72. Alan
  73. Donnacha [tie]
  74. Jakub [tie]
  75. Christopher
  76. Filip [tie]
  77. Killian [tie]
  78. Josh
  79. Alfie
  80. Tommy
  81. Ruairi
  82. Odhran
  83. Oran
  84. Leo
  85. Isaac
  86. Dara [tie]
  87. Jason [tie]
  88. Zach
  89. Martin [tie]
  90. Peter [tie]
  91. Brian
  92. Danny
  93. Niall [tie]
  94. Tomas [tie]
  95. Edward [tie]
  96. Stephen [tie]
  97. Logan
  98. Kacper
  99. Anthony
  100. Billy

New to the top 100 list are Isaac, Danny and Logan for boys and Evie, Amelie, Hanna, Maisie and Rose for girls.

Some of the specifically Irish names in the top 100 are…

  • Girls: Aoife, Caoimhe, Saoirse, Roisin, Ciara, Niamh, Aisling, Aine, Clodagh, Aoibhinn, Aoibheann, Sadhbh, Eabha, Aoibhe, Eimear, Meabh, Ailbhe, Laoise, Maeve
  • Boys: Liam, Oisin, Cian, Darragh, Cillian, Fionn, Rian, Eoin, Tadhg, Finn, Callum, Rory, Ronan, Eoghan, Cathal, Ciaran, Senan, Cormac, Donnacha, Ruairi, Odhran, Niall

Sources: Jack and Emily most popular baby names, Irish Babies’ Names – CSO

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)

How to pronounce Irish names: Aoife, Cian, Niamh, Oisín

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

Most of the names popular in Ireland today — names like Jack, Sarah, Adam and Emma — are easy to pronounce. But others can be tricky for non-Irish-speakers to decipher.

So, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, here are some (rough) pronunciations of various popular Irish names like Aoife, Cian, Niamh and Cillian. Those that have popped up at least once in the U.S. data are linked to their U.S. popularity graphs.

Irish Girl Names

  • Ailbhe is pronounced AL-va.
  • Aine (Áine) is pronounced AWN-ya.
  • Aisling is pronounced ASH-ling or ASH-lin.
  • Aoibhe is pronounced EE-va.
  • Aoibheann is pronounced EE-vin.
  • Aoife is pronounced EE-fa.
  • Cadhla is pronounced KIE-la.
  • Caoilfhionn is pronounced KEE-lin or KWEE-lin.
  • Caoimhe is pronounced KEE-va or KWEE-va.
  • Ciara is pronounced KEE-ra.*
  • Clodagh is pronounced KLOH-da.
  • Croia (Croía) is pronounced KREE-a.
  • Eabha (Éabha) is pronounced EY-va.
  • Eimear is pronounced EE-mer.
  • Eithne is pronounced EHN-ya (just like Enya).
  • Fiadh is pronounced FEE-a.
  • Grainne (Gráinne) is pronounced GRAWN-ya.
  • Laoise is pronounced LEE-sha.
  • Liadan (Líadan) is pronounced LEE-uh-din or LEE-din.
  • Meabh (Méabh) is pronounced mayv.
  • Niamh is pronounced neev or NEE-iv.
  • Roisin (Róisín) is pronounced ROH-sheen.
  • Sadhbh is pronounced siev (rhymes with the number “five”).
  • Saoirse is pronounced SEER-sha or SAYR-sha.
  • Sinead (Sinéad) is pronounced shi-NAYD.
  • Siobhan (Siobhán) is pronounced shi-VAWN (similar to “chiffon”) or shi-WAN.
  • Siofra (Síofra) is pronounced SHEE-fra.

Irish Boy Names

  • Cathal is pronounced KAH-hul.
  • Cian is pronounced KEE-an or keen.*
  • Ciaran (Ciarán) is pronounced KEE-ran.*
  • Cillian is pronounced KIL-ee-an.*
  • Daithi (Dáithí) is pronounced DAH-hee.
  • Domhnall is pronounced DOH-nul.
  • Donnacha is pronounced DUN-uh-ka or DUN-uh-kha (the kh represents a guttural H-sound).
  • Éanna is pronounced EY-na.
  • Eoghan is pronounced OH-in.
  • Eoin is pronounced OH-in.
  • Fionn is pronounced fyun or fyoon.
  • Odhran (Odhrán) is pronounced OH-rawn.
  • Oisin (Oisín) is pronounced UH-sheen or OH-sheen.
  • Padraig (Pádraig) is pronounced PAW-rik or PAW-drig.
  • Páidí is pronounced PAW-dee.
  • Rian (Rían) is pronounced REE-an.
  • Ruairi (Ruairí) is pronounced ROR-ee.
  • Seamus (Séamus) is pronounced SHAY-mus.
  • Sean (Seán) is pronounced shawn.
  • Senan (Senán) is pronounced sheh-NAWN.
  • Tadhg is pronounced tieg (like the first three letters of “tiger”).

*In Irish, C’s are always hard (i.e., they make a K-sound, not an S-sound).

Please keep in mind that these pronunciations may not cover all dialects of Irish.

What other Irish names do you have a hard time pronouncing?

Sources:

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

[Latest update: Feb. 2024]