Irish Girl Names Starting with M

Maebh, like Maeve, comes from the Irish Méabh (older Meadhbh), from the Old Irish Medb. The name is linked to a Celtic word for mead and read as “intoxicating” or “she who intoxicates”; another suggested meaning is “she who rules.”

No. 38 for girls in Ireland in 2025 (spelled Méabh), with 116 baby girls.

Maeve in Irish is Maebh, meaning “intoxicating.” Say it MAYV.

No. 60 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 83 baby girls.

Maire is the Irish form of Mary.

No. 718 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 4 baby girls.

Mairéad is the Irish form of Margaret, from the Latin Margarita and the Greek margarites, “pearl.” The name owed its spread in medieval Europe to Saint Margaret of Antioch, an early Christian martyr, and it was brought to Ireland by the Anglo-Normans.

No. 381 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 10 baby girls.

Maolisa is a simplified spelling of the Irish Maolíosa (Old Irish Máel Ísu), from maol “devotee, servant” and Íosa “Jesus,” so “servant of Jesus” or “devotee of Jesus.” Maol literally means “bald” or “tonsured,” and in names it marks the bearer as a devotee, like a tonsured monk.

Rare in Ireland: fewer than three baby girls a year get the name.

Margaret in Irish is Mairead, meaning “pearl.” Say it mawr-AID.

No. 135 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 35 baby girls.

Mary in Irish is Maire. Say it MY-ra.

No. 112 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 41 baby girls.

Meara is usually explained through the Irish mara, the form of muir, “sea,” that means “of the sea” (it is also the plural, “seas”). As a first name it is a modern, English-language usage rather than a traditional Irish name.

Not in Ireland's 2025 tables (fewer than three babies); last recorded in 2024.

Melissa in Irish is Maolisa, meaning “follower of Jesus.” Say it mail-ISSA.

No. 173 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 27 baby girls.

Miren in Irish is Muireann, meaning “sea white, sea fair.” Say it MUR-in.

Rare in Ireland: fewer than three baby girls a year get the name.

Moirin in Irish is Muireann, meaning “sea white, sea fair.” Say it MUR-in.

Rare in Ireland: fewer than three baby girls a year get the name.

Mona means “little noble one.”

No. 718 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 4 baby girls.

Morna in Irish is Muirne, meaning “affection or festivity.” Say it MIR-ne.

Not in Ireland's 2025 tables (fewer than three babies); last recorded in 1986.

Muireann means “sea white, sea fair.”

No. 196 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 22 baby girls.

Muirgheal comes from the Old Irish Muirgel, from muir “sea” and geal “bright,” so “sea-bright” or, as Patrick Woulfe put it in 1923, “fair one of the sea.” It is the Irish original of Muriel, which is also linked to the Scottish Gaelic Muireall.

Rare in Ireland: fewer than three baby girls a year get the name.

Muirne is an Irish girl’s name from the word muirn, which Ó Dónaill’s dictionary defines as “affection, endearment, tenderness” and also “exuberance, gaiety, festive mirth.” In Irish legend Muirne, also called Muireann Muncháem, “Muireann of the beautiful neck,” was the mother of the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill.

Not in Ireland's 2025 tables (fewer than three babies); last recorded in 2022.

Myrna in Irish is Muirne, meaning “affection or festivity.” Say it MIR-ne.

Rare in Ireland: fewer than three baby girls a year get the name.