Niamh
A feminine Irish name meaning radiant, bright, or luster.
Name Census estimates that about 1,550 living Americans carry the first name Niamh. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Niamh today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Niamh births was 2008 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Niamh. 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
1.6K
~ 1 in 221,132 Americans
Peak year
2008
74 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,148
Tracked since 1969
Popularity
Niamh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Niamh from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 636 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
Niamh 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 Niamh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Niamhs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. New York, Massachusetts, California recorded the most babies named Niamh, while Texas, Colorado, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 90 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Niamh
The name Niamh is an ancient Irish Gaelic name derived from the old Irish word "niam" meaning "bright" or "radiant". It is believed to have originated in the 5th or 6th century AD, during the early medieval period in Ireland.
The name Niamh is strongly associated with Irish mythology and folklore. In the ancient Irish legend "The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne", Niamh is the name of a beautiful princess who falls in love with the warrior Diarmuid. She is described as a goddess-like figure of great beauty and grace.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Niamh is found in the 8th century Irish text "The Annals of Ulster", which mentions a woman named Niamh ingen Chumascaigh who died in the year 748 AD. Another early reference is in the 12th century "Book of Leinster", which contains a poem praising the beauty of a woman named Niamh.
Throughout history, the name Niamh has been borne by several notable individuals. Niamh ingen Fhionnghuine was an Irish princess and the wife of the High King of Ireland, Bodb Derg, in the 5th century AD. Niamh Ní Bhruadair was a 17th century Irish poet and writer who composed poems in the Irish language.
In the 19th century, Niamh was the name of a character in the play "The Twisting of the Rope" by Irish playwright Douglas Hyde. Niamh Kavanagh, born in 1968, is a contemporary Irish poet and writer who has published several collections of poetry.
Niamh Cusack, born in 1959, is an Irish actress known for her roles in films such as "In the Name of the Father" and "Heartbeat". She is also the sister of actors Sinéad Cusack and Sorcha Cusack.
People
Niamh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Niamh as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Niamh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Niamh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,550 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Niamh 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 221,132 US residents.
Is Niamh a common name?
We classify Niamh as "Rare". It ranks above 92.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,574 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Niamh most popular?
The single biggest year for Niamh was 2008, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Niamh is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Niamh a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Niamh 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.