Mairead
A feminine given name of Irish origin roughly meaning "child of sorrow".
Name Census estimates that about 1,338 living Americans carry the first name Mairead. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mairead today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mairead births was 2002 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mairead. 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.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 256,169 Americans
Peak year
2002
59 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,287
Tracked since 1967
Popularity
Mairead: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mairead from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 460 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
Mairead 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 Mairead during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maireads live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Mairead, while California, Pennsylvania, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 78 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mairead
Mairead is an Irish feminine given name derived from the Old Irish Muadnait or Maidnait. The name likely originated from the Celtic roots "mó" meaning "great" and "nait" meaning "burnt" or "suffering." This suggests the name may have originally referred to someone who endured great trials or suffering.
The name has been in use in Ireland for centuries, with some of the earliest recorded instances dating back to the Middle Ages. It was particularly common among Irish nobility and religious figures during this period.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Mairead Ní Lochlainn, a 12th century Irish princess and heiress to the Kingdom of Cenél nEógain. Another notable historical figure was Mairead inghean Uilliam, a 14th century Irish poet and noblewoman.
In the 16th century, Mairead Ní Mháille, also known as Grace O'Malley, was a famous Irish pirate queen who commanded a fleet of ships and engaged in lucrative trade and piracy along the western Irish coast. She was born around 1530 and died around 1603.
During the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Mairead Ní Raghallaigh, a 17th century Irish noblewoman, played a significant role in supporting the Catholic rebels against English rule in Ireland.
In more recent history, Mairead Farrell (1957-1988) was a prominent member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who was involved in the 1979 assassination of Lord Mountbatten and later executed by British forces.
While the name has maintained its Irish roots, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries with strong Irish diasporas.
People
Mairead + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mairead as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mairead: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mairead?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,338 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mairead 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 256,169 US residents.
Is Mairead a common name?
We classify Mairead as "Rare". It ranks above 91.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,369 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mairead most popular?
The single biggest year for Mairead was 2002, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mairead is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Mairead a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mairead 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.
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.