girl's name

Ailish

  • Origin Irish
  • Gender Girl
  • Letters 6
  • Popularity Rare
  • Births on record 2,440

Scotland

#318

2024 births

Ailish is a girl's name. In 2025 it was given to 8 babies in the United States. It is a rare choice.

  • Ailish is a name of Irish origin.
  • Peaked in Ireland in 1981, when 42 babies were given the name.
  • Its usage has held steady over the past decade in Ireland.
  • Today about 1 in 6,408 babies in Ireland is given this name.
  • First appears in birth records in 1964.

Ailish over time

Births per decade in Ireland, 1960s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.

293
'60 '70 '80 '90 '00 '10 '20
Show the numbers
Births named Ailish by decade in Ireland
Decade Births
1960s 66
1970s 190
1980s 293
1990s 243
2000s 132
2010s 101
2020s (to 2025) 39

How popular is Ailish?

In 2025, Ailish was given to 7 babies in Ireland, ranking #512 that year. It is a rare choice.

Where Ailish is used

Scotland #318 11 in 2024
Northern Ireland #388 4 in 2013
Ireland #512 7 in 2025
Canada #2,742 7 in 2021
England & Wales #3,945 6 in 2025
United States #11,227 8 in 2025

The bar shows how near the top of each country's list the name sits, on a scale where #1 fills the row and #1,000 is a sliver. The figures beside it are the real rank and the babies recorded that year.

Irish figures withhold any name given to fewer than three babies in a year, so a gap means the name fell below that floor rather than went unused. The Central Statistics Office began recording the síneadh fada in 2018, so accented and unaccented spellings are counted separately from that year on. Data & sources.

Names that peaked alongside Ailish

These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.

Parents who like Ailish also like

Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Ailish over the last century — the same taste, a different name.

Ailish in other languages

The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.

Other forms
Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
Ailis

Sibling names for Ailish

Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Ailish — the two things that make a sibling set grate.

Common questions about Ailish

How popular is the name Ailish?

In 2025, Ailish was given to 7 babies in Ireland, ranking #512 that year. It is a rare choice.

Is Ailish a girl's or a boy's name?

Ailish is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.

When was Ailish most popular?

Ailish peaked in 1981, when 42 babies were given the name. Its usage has held steady over the past decade.

Is Ailish a good name?

That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Ailish currently ranks #318 in Ireland. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.