57 names in this catalogue are recorded as English given names derived from Irish. They average 95 registrations each, which is above the catalogue's {avg} — these are used names rather than a curiosity list.
They are almost all two syllables
44 of the 57 have two beats and 12 have one. Between them that is very nearly the whole slice, and no other origin in this catalogue is so concentrated on a single shape.
It shows in how they sound: 20 classify soft and 25 easy-to-call, against 7 strong. Molly, Kira, Rory, Nola — two beats, open ending, nothing to catch on.
Why that matters for a pet
Two beats with a soft ending is the shape this site keeps finding at the top of every list, because it is what survives being called. An Irish name is not a themed choice in the way a mythology name is; it is mostly a practical one that happens to have an origin recorded.
The exception is length at the short end. 14 of them are four letters or fewer — Finn, Nola — which is where to look if you want the shape without the extra syllable.
What is not here
Spellings the registers never saw. Irish orthography produces names that English-speaking owners rarely write down as they are spelled, and a name absent from these registers is absent from this site — it is not a judgement about the name, only about eleven councils' paperwork.
What are good Irish pet names?
The most registered here are Molly, Kira, Oscar, Rory and Nola. 57 names in this catalogue are recorded as derived from Irish, averaging 95 registrations each.
Are Irish names good for dogs?
They share a useful shape rather than a theme: 44 of the 57 are two syllables and 20 classify soft-sounding, which is what carries when a name is called.
Why are there only sixty?
Because origin is recorded rather than guessed, and because a name has to appear in a register to be counted at all. Irish spellings that English-speaking owners rarely write down do not reach these files.
Every count on this site is a tally of real registrations: pet licences and shelter intakes published as open data by New York, Seattle, Austin, Montgomery County, Cambridge, Zurich, Basel and four Australian councils. Popularity here is the average share a name holds across those registers, so a name common in a small city is not buried by one common in a large one. Five of the eleven registers are North American and they supply 86% of the records, so read the ordering as naming in those places rather than worldwide. Browse the whole catalogue or read how the data is put together.