Irish baby names: Ireland vs America
Ireland's most popular names are close to unknown in America, while some names Americans think of as Irish are rarely used in Ireland. The figures below compare the official 2025 baby name data from both countries, adjusted for the number of births in each.
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- Rían was Ireland's most popular name in 2025 (490 babies) but ranked #1,250 in the US.
- Éabha ranked #2 in Ireland, but only 14 babies in the whole of the US were given the name.
- Oisín ranked #5 in Ireland, but only 22 babies in the whole of the US were given the name.
- Declan is 3.5 times more common per birth in the US than in Ireland.
Ireland's favourite names in America
The most popular names of Irish origin in Ireland in 2025, with their US ranking. The last column shows how many times more common each name is per birth in Ireland.
| Name | Ireland | US | More common in Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rían | #1 (490) | #1,250 (160 babies) | 204× |
| Éabha | #2 (294) | #7,590 (14 babies) | 1,399× |
| Fiadh | #3 (273) | #1,995 (96 babies) | 189× |
| Oisín | #5 (331) | #4,660 (22 babies) | 1,002× |
| Fionn | #6 (321) | #4,171 (25 babies) | 856× |
| Tadhg | #8 (286) | #3,742 (30 babies) | 635× |
| Cillian | #9 (271) | #507 (595 babies) | 30× |
| Finn | #15 (220) | #206 (1,702 babies) | 9× |
| Conor | #16 (211) | #845 (292 babies) | 48× |
| Saoirse | #17 (176) | #1,089 (222 babies) | 53× |
| Darragh | #19 (205) | #8,405 (9 babies) | 1,518× |
| Seán | #23 (185) | #489 (616 babies) | 20× |
| Patrick | #25 (183) | #235 (1,495 babies) | 8× |
| Róisín | #29 (135) | #2,716 (64 babies) | 141× |
| Caoimhe | #31 (130) | #5,275 (24 babies) | 361× |
“Irish” names that are bigger in America
Names with Irish roots that are given more often per birth in the US than in Ireland.
| Name | US | Ireland | More common in US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Declan | #139 (2,570) | #348 (11) | 3.5× |
| Teagan | #341 (894) | #718 (4) | 3.4× |
| Riley | #48 (4,441) | #188 (25) | 2.7× |
| Keira | #622 (469) | #718 (4) | 1.8× |
| Quinn | #97 (2,634) | #173 (27) | 1.5× |
How we calculated this
Ireland figures are the official 2025 baby name counts from the Central Statistics Office, which lists names given to three or more babies. US figures come from the Social Security Administration, which lists names given to five or more babies and does not record accents, so Éabha appears as Eabha. To compare countries of very different size, each count is divided by the total births that year: 54,125 in Ireland (CSO) and 3,606,400 in the US (CDC, provisional). Where a name has spellings with and without fadas, we use the spelling that was registered most often.
Frequently asked questions
What was the most popular baby name in Ireland in 2025?
Rían was the most popular boys' name and Lily the most popular girls' name in Ireland in 2025, according to the Central Statistics Office.
Are Irish names popular in America?
Some are, such as Declan, Riley and Quinn, but many of Ireland's current favourites, including Rían, Éabha, Oisín and Tadhg, are given to only a handful of American babies each year.
Why compare per birth rather than by rank?
The US has around 66 times as many births as Ireland, so a name given to the same number of babies in both countries is far more common in Ireland. Dividing by total births makes the two countries comparable.