# Irish (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/irish/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | Norse |
| Meaning | “irishmen”, “ireland”, “fat land”, “fertile”, “fat”, “swelling”, “to swell”, “to be fat” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈaɪɹɪʃ/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Enya |
| US babies named this | 1,608 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 155 / 1,453 (90% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Etymology

From Middle English Irish (12th c.), from Old English *Īrisċ, from Old English Īras (“Irishmen”), from Old Norse Írar, from Old Irish Ériu (modern Irish Éire (“Ireland”)), further origin heavily debated but probably from Proto-Celtic *Φīweriyū (“fat land, fertile”), from Proto-Indo-European *péyh₂wr̥ (“fat, swelling”), from *peyh₂- (“to swell; to be fat”), akin to Ancient Greek πῑ́ειρα (pī́eira, “fertile land”), Sanskrit पीव॑री (pī́varī, “fat”).

## What it means

Irish is grouped under earth.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 17 | 7,471 |
| 2010 | 10 | 10,726 |
| 2011 | 9 | 11,550 |
| 2012 | 14 | 8,381 |
| 2013 | 13 | 8,763 |
| 2014 | 13 | 8,660 |
| 2015 | 8 | 12,273 |
| 2016 | 10 | 10,390 |
| 2017 | 9 | 11,047 |
| 2018 | 7 | 12,995 |
| 2019 | 8 | 11,787 |
| 2020 | 16 | 7,039 |
| 2021 | 5 | 16,195 |
| 2023 | 9 | 10,657 |
| 2025 | 6 | 13,864 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 6 | 10,468 |
| 2005 | 11 | 6,814 |
| 2006 | 8 | 9,031 |
| 2007 | 5 | 13,090 |
| 2008 | 8 | 9,320 |
| 2010 | 7 | 10,078 |
| 2011 | 5 | 13,049 |
| 2014 | 8 | 9,104 |
| 2015 | 8 | 9,065 |
| 2018 | 6 | 11,314 |
| 2019 | 5 | 12,894 |
| 2020 | 7 | 9,955 |
| 2021 | 5 | 12,861 |
| 2022 | 7 | 10,213 |
| 2024 | 5 | 13,027 |

## People named Irish

- Irish McCalla, American film and television actress (1928-2002)
- Irish Magno, Filipino amateur boxer (born 1991)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.