Irish Girl Names Starting with S

Sadhbh comes from the Old Irish Sadb, probably from an old Celtic root meaning “sweet.” It was a common name in medieval Ireland. In the Fenian tales, Sadhbh was the mother of Oisín. A dark druid, Fear Doirche, turned her into a deer when she refused his love.

No. 32 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 129 baby girls.

Saoirse means “freedom, liberty.”

No. 17 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 176 baby girls.

Shauna is a feminine form of Shaun, one of the English spellings of the Irish Seán. Seán is the Irish form of John, which came into Irish through the Old French Jehan and goes back to the Hebrew Yohanan, “Yahweh is gracious.”

No. 885 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 3 baby girls.

Shavon in Irish is Siobhan, meaning “God is gracious.” Say it shiv-AWN.

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

Sheena in Irish is Sheenagh. Say it SHE-na.

Not in Ireland's 2025 tables (fewer than three babies); last recorded in 2018.

Sheenagh is a spelling of Sheena, the anglicized form of the Gaelic Síne (Irish) or Sìne (Scottish Gaelic), both forms of Jane. Jane comes from the Old French Jehanne, a feminine form of the Latin Iohannes (John), which goes back to the Hebrew Yochanan, “God is gracious.”

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

Shevaun in Irish is Siobhan, meaning “God is gracious.” Say it shiv-AWN.

Not in Ireland's 2025 tables (fewer than three babies); last recorded in 2003.

Sibéal is a shortened form of Isibéal, the Irish form of Isabel. Isabel began as a medieval form of Elizabeth in the Occitan language of southern France and later became the usual form in Spain and Portugal. Elizabeth itself goes back to the Hebrew Elisheba, “my God is an oath.”

No. 352 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 11 baby girls.

Síle is the Irish form of Cecilia, which comes from the Roman family name Caecilius, from the Latin caecus, “blind.” The name spread through devotion to Saint Cecilia, an early Roman martyr honored as the patron saint of musicians. The Anglo-Normans brought the name to Ireland, and it has been common there ever since.

No. 608 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 5 baby girls.

Sinéad is the Irish form of the French Jeannette, a diminutive of Jeanne, and serves as the Irish equivalent of Jane and Janet. Like Siobhán, it goes back through Johanna to the Hebrew Yohanan, “God is gracious.” Patrick Woulfe gave Jane, Jannet and Jenny as its English forms in 1923.

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

Siobhan means “God is gracious.”

No. 483 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 7 baby girls.

Síofra comes from the Irish word síofra, meaning “elf” or “sprite.” The word is related to sí, the fairy mounds of Irish tradition, and it can also mean a changeling, the fairy child that folklore said might be left in place of a human baby, or a precocious child.

No. 110 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 42 baby girls.

Síomha is the modern form of Síthmaith, an Old Irish name made from síth and maith, “good.” Síth usually means “peace,” which gives the reading “good peace,” though an Old Irish word spelled the same way meant a fairy mound, the home of the people of the otherworld.

No. 127 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 37 baby girls.

Sorcha means “bright, radiant, light.”

No. 273 for girls in Ireland in 2025, with 15 baby girls.