Episode 69 – Last year at this time, we did an episode about Irish Names – and our Irish listeners had quite a laugh at how we Americans pronounced Irish names! So this year we’ve invited popular Irish radio host and podcast producer Dusty Rhodes to help us with authentic Irish name pronunciation!

Headshot of Dusty Rhodes
Dusty Rhodes

We looked at the popular names from Ireland from 2019 and picked out the more traditional Irish names that would give Americans a bit of a challenge. Here’s the list, with the name and current rank for babies in Ireland. Follow along with us and see if you get the pronunciation right!

BOYS
Tadhg 8
Darragh 11
Oisín 13
Fionn 16
Cillian 17 / Cian 32
Rían 20
Senán 41
Donnacha 56
Cathal 61
Eoin 74
Ruairí 87
Odhran 92
Daithí 116
Éanna 127
Páidí 143

GIRLS
Fíadh 3
Caoimhe 17
Saoirse 23
Éabha 29
Sadhbh 37
Róisín 40
Clodagh 50
Niamh 54
Aoibhín 69
Ailbhe 75
Aoibheann 79
Áine 92
Aisling 94
Laoise 131
Aoibhe 137

Check out Dusty’s podcast “The Dust Pod” at www.dustpod.ie.

View the full list of most popular Irish Baby Names from the CSO.

How to Pronounce Irish Names

Headshot of Jennifer Moss

Jennifer Moss (she/her) is the founder of BabyNames.com, author of The Baby Names Workbook, and Producer of The Baby Names Podcast. Jennifer is widely regarded as the leading expert on popular baby name trends and the naming process, serving as the authoritative source on the subject for national and international media.

Jennifer entered the tech arena in the 80s as a software developer and database architect, and became a pioneer in the Internet industry. In addition to operating BabyNames.com, Jennifer owns a web development agency in central California.