Ireland
An anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic name "Éirinn" meaning "green land".
Name Census estimates that about 6,310 living Americans carry the first name Ireland. It is a predominantly female name (96.8% of registrations). The average person named Ireland today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ireland births was 2009 (353 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ireland. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ireland with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Ireland is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 209 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Ireland is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
6.3K
~ 1 in 54,319 Americans
Peak year
2009
353 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2023 SSA rank
#1,851
Tracked since 1914
Census
Ireland in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,435 people with the first name Ireland, which placed it at #3,724 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,724
National first-name rank
People counted
5.4K
5,435 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ireland
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ireland is White at 82.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.8%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ireland described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ireland at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.5% · 4,483
- Hispanic or Latino7.8% · 424
- Two or more races6.0% · 325
- Black or African American2.6% · 140
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 35
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 28
Gender
Gender distribution for Ireland
Ireland leans heavily female at 96.8% of total registrations, but 209 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ireland as a male name
- Ranked #12,953 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1918 (8 births)
Ireland as a female name
- Ranked #1,851 in 2024
- 108 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (345 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ireland leans strongly female. 5,254 people counted with this name were female (96.6%), compared with 183 male bearers (3.4%).
Popularity
Ireland: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ireland from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,618 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ireland by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ireland during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Irelands live
The SSA's state-level files cover 39 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Ireland, while Nebraska, North Dakota, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 121 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ireland
The given name Ireland is of English origin, with its roots tracing back to the medieval period. The name is derived from the Old English word "Īraland," which means "land of the Irish." This term was used to refer to the island of Ireland, which was inhabited by the Gaelic people known as the Irish.
In the 9th century, the Vikings, who had established settlements in parts of Ireland, referred to the island as "Īraland" in their old Norse language. This Viking influence on the name's spelling and pronunciation is evident in its modern form, "Ireland."
The earliest recorded use of the name Ireland as a personal name dates back to the 13th century. One of the earliest known individuals to bear this name was Ireland de Courcy, a Norman knight who lived in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. He was a prominent figure during the Norman invasion of Ireland and played a significant role in the conquest of Ulster.
Another notable historical figure with the name Ireland was Ireland Blackburne (1691-1786), an English merchant and philanthropist. He was known for his charitable works and established several schools and almshouses in his hometown of Warrington, England.
In the 18th century, Ireland Wilkinson (1728-1799) was a prominent English Methodist preacher and author. He played a significant role in the spread of Methodism throughout England and wrote several influential works on religious topics.
During the 19th century, Ireland Reginal Mulholland (1832-1885) was an Irish-American journalist and author. He was a prolific writer and contributed to numerous publications, including the New York Herald and the Irish-American newspaper, The Nation.
In more recent times, Ireland Baldwin (born 1995) is an American model and actress, best known for her work in the fashion industry and her role in the film "Grudge Match." She is the daughter of actors Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger.
While the name Ireland has its roots in the medieval period and was initially associated with the island of Ireland, it has since been adopted as a personal name in various parts of the English-speaking world, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom.
People
Ireland + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ireland as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ireland: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ireland?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,310 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ireland going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 54,319 US residents.
Is Ireland a common name?
We classify Ireland as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,472 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ireland most popular?
The single biggest year for Ireland was 2009, when 353 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ireland is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ireland in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,435 people with the name Ireland, or 1.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,724 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ireland in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ireland?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ireland leans strongly female. 5,254 people counted with this name were female (96.6%), compared with 183 male bearers (3.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ireland?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ireland is White at 82.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.8%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ireland most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ireland in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.5% (4,483 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ireland in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ireland a female name?
Yes, 96.8% of people registered as Ireland in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ireland still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ireland in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ireland can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Ireland?
You can see how many Americans are named Ireland on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.