Irish Names for Boys

Rooney is one of many bouncy Irish surnames that could make an agreeable first, once tied to Mickey Rooney (who was actually born Joseph Yule) in his young and spunky Andy Hardy period.
 Young "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" actress Rooney Mara (born Patricia Rooney) gives it class and glamour--as well as bringing it into the unisex category. Roone is a cool short form.

Rooney

Possible Gaelic alternative to Kevin and Devon. 

Nevin

Egan's likeness to the word eager gives this Irish surname a ready-to-please, effervescent energy, and it would make an appropriate substitute for the overused Aidan.
 This popular Irish surname originated in County Tipperary.
 Egan O'Rahilly (born Aogan O Raithaille) was the outstanding poet of his age, specializing in the vision poem, or aisling, in which he told of prophesies that Ireland would triumph over her enemies. In folklore, this Egan is depicted as a wise trickster.

Egan

We love this partly for purely personal reasons, since it is one of our surnames. We used it as the middle name of a son –and it can make a good first choice too. Redmond – also found as Reamann or Raemonn – is the Irish form of the Germanic name that occurs in modern English as Raymond. 

 The 12th century Norman invader Raymond Fitzgerald aka Raymond Le Gros (meaning, The Large or The Fat), brought the name to Ireland, where it morphed into Redmond along with other variations. One seventeenth century Redmond O'Hanlon was a charismatic outlaw, and he has a modern namesake who is a well-known travel writer. In Ireland, Mundy is sometimes used as a nickname.

Redmond

The Arthur variation preferred in Portugal and across much of Eastern Europe. It’s a truly international name, and one that would be easy to wear in the US as well.

Artur

The ultimate Jane Austen hero name, Darcy makes a handsome, surname style choice. Predominantly used for girls in England and Wales, across the pond in Australia, it is a stylish Top 100 name for boys. In the US meanwhile, it does lean feminine, however, 30 boys were given the name in a recent year, suggesting it is on the up across the board. 
 
Considered an anglicization of D'Arcy, denoting someone from the French town of Arcy, it may also be an English form of the Irish O'Dorchaidhe, meaning "dark one".

Darcy

Fionn, the modern Irish form of Finn, is more popular in Ireland these days than Finn, which is rising fast in the U.S. where Fionn is virtually unknown.  That's probably a good thing, because few Americans would know that Fionn and Finn have the same root and are pronounced the same, like the fin of a fish. It's the namesake of a great hero from Irish mythology, Fionn MacCumhaill, who acquired divine wisdom by eating an enchanted salmon of knowledge.

Fionn

Oisin is one of the most popular <a href="https://nameberry.com/irish-names">Irish baby names</a> in its native land, though largely unknown in the US. The original Oisin was the mythological son of Finn McCool and Sadb, the goddess who was changed into a deer. A legendary war hero and poet, Oisin had a name that is also reminiscent in sound of the ocean. Pronounced correctly, this name has an attractive sheen.
 Ossian is another version, reflected in the eighteenth century Ossianic poems of James Macpherson, which transformed him into a Scottish hero and also popularized the names Oscar, Fingal, Selma and Malvina.

Oisin

Cashel is one of the many appealing <a href="https://nameberry.com/irish-names">Irish names</a> that have not yet emigrated to the US. Cashel was chosen by actor Daniel Day-Lewis and his writer-director wife Rebecca Miller for their son. 
 In Ireland, Cashel refers to a circular stone fort. It is the name of a town in Tipperary and the protagonist of the George Bernard Shaw novel Cashel Byron's Profession.
 The Cash sound feels especially contemporary and appealing now, with Cashel joining such stylish brothers as Cassius, Cassian, and Cash.

Cashel

Pronounced like Owen, this was the name of several early Irish kings and saints, as well as a celebrated Ulster hero. Often spelled with two 'n's in Scotland, it has been Anglicized as Ewan, Ewen, Euan, Owen, Hugh, or Eugene.

Eoghan

Classic Irish surname with a lot of character and some interesting associations: the title character of a Samuel Beckett novel and basketball great Karl Malone. Malone is a popular name for baby boys in France.

Malone

A calm and gentle multicultural choice. Oran is popular in Ireland, where its Gaelic form is Odhrán, meaning "little green one". In Scottish Gaelic, the name means "song", and in Hebrew, it's a combination of Or "light" + Ran "singing".

Oran

A spelling variant of presidential surname Regan that briefly entered the Top 1000 for boys in the 1960s, but hasn't rejoined the list since. Shakespeare also used the name for a daughter of King Lear, inspired by an ancient king of the Britons in accounts of the medieval scribe Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Regan

Breccan may be the original saints' name, but in the modern U.S., the spelling Brecken is the most popular form, followed by Breckin. A winner by any spelling.

Breckin

While Kieran is the class and most-used male form of this name, some people spell it Keiran in keeping with the female Keira, the version popularized by the gorgeous Ms. Knightley.

Keiran

Fallon was one of the first of the unisex surname names, but thanks to "Dynasty" in the 1980s it now has a feminine image.  For a boy, try Phelan instead. 

Fallon

Harmon

This is one of several similar sounding Gaelic surname names that would make perfectly acceptable choices--others are Kennan, Keenan and Kenyon.  Another possible meaning is "descendant of the fair ones," referring to the Norse invaders.

Kennon

Lucan is a rarely heard Irish name, a Luke form with the trendy an ending. 

Lucan

Also written as Aodhán and borne by a number of early Irish saints, Aodhan is a Gaelic spelling of Aidan, sometimes  pronounced with a very soft d/th sound in the middle, though this varies regionally. It ranked in the Northern Ireland Top 100 in a recent year. 

Aodhan

Irish names for boys have achieved international popularity, ranking high on top boy name lists in the US and Ireland itself, as well as in many other Anglophone and European countries. 

Liam, an Irish diminutive of William, is the 

, ranking Number One in the US and among the top boys’ names in France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, and Norway as well as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Which Irish boy names are most popular in the US?

Aiden, Ryan, Connor, Brayden, Declan, Brody, Rowan

What are the top Irish boy names in Ireland?


Irish names popular for baby boys in Ireland include 

— now falling in popularity in the US — 

 also still rank high on the US popularity list and remain perennial favorites in Ireland.

Browse our full menu of boy names of Irish origin here, ordered by their current popularity. 

Irish names for boys including male names of Irish origin with meanings and popularity. (Page 8)

Irish Names for Boys (With Meanings & Popularity)