Baby Names of Ireland

Irish Girl Names Starting with N

10 Irish girl names beginning with N, with what each one means and how to say it.

Updated September 2026

There are 10 Irish girl names starting with N here. The ones readers look up most are Niamh, Nuala and Neave.

The N names for girls on this page that the most babies were given in 2025, by the Central Statistics Office’s ranking.

  1. No. 76 girlsNora65 babies
  2. No. 90 girlsNiamh54 babies
  3. No. 239 girlsNessa18 babies
  4. No. 443 girlsNeala8 babies

Irish girl names starting with N

Neala

pronounced NEE-la

Neala is a modern feminine form of Niall, based on its English spelling Neal. It is not a traditional Irish name and does not appear in Patrick Woulfe’s 1923 list of Irish women’s names.

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Neave in Irish is Niamh, pronounced NEE-iv, meaning “radiance, lustre, brightness.”

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Nessa

pronounced NESS-a

Nessa was the mother of Conchobhar (Conor) Mac Nessa, king of Ulster.

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Niamh

pronounced NEE-iv

From niamh “radiance, lustre, brightness.” The daughter of the sea god Manannan she was known as “Niamh of the Golden Hair,” a beautiful princess riding on a white horse.

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Niav in Irish is Niamh, pronounced NEE-iv, meaning “radiance, lustre, brightness.”

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Nola

pronounced NO-la

Nola is often explained as a short form of Fionnuala, the old Irish name from fionn “fair, white” and guala “shoulder,” so “fair shoulder.”

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Nollaig

pronounced NULL-ig

Nollaig is the Irish word for Christmas. It comes from the Old Irish Notlaic, borrowed from the Latin nātālīcia, “birthday celebration,” from nātālis, “of birth.”

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Nora

pronounced NOR-a

A classic Irish name, it could be a shortened form of Eleanor meaning “torch” or could be from the Latin Honora meaning “honor, reputation” and became so popular in Ireland in the Middle Ages that many people assumed it was Irish.

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Nuala

pronounced NOO-la

It is really a shortened version of Fionnuala and in Ireland it is more widely used than Fionnuala.

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