girl's name
Aisling
ASH-ling
- Origin Irish
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 7
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 15,558
Ireland
#180
2025 births
Aisling is a girl's name of Irish origin meaning "dream" or "vision," and it names a whole genre of Irish political poetry. It ranks 180th in Ireland and is falling from a peak in 1990.
- Aisling is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in Ireland in 1990, when 471 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade in Ireland.
- Today about 1 in 1,725 babies in Ireland is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1964.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Aisling 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.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1960s | 350 |
| 1970s | 1,903 |
| 1980s | 3,161 |
| 1990s | 3,493 |
| 2000s | 2,088 |
| 2010s | 1,144 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 201 |
What Aisling means
Aisling means a dream or a vision, from the Irish aisling. It is an ordinary noun rather than a personal name in origin, and its literary sense — a vision poem — is what gives it weight in Ireland.
Where Aisling comes from
Aisling is the Irish for a dream or vision, and it was not used as a personal name before the twentieth century. Its literary meaning came first: the aisling is a genre of Irish poetry that flourished in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in which the poet meets a beautiful woman — the spéirbhean, sky-woman — who turns out to be Ireland herself, lamenting her condition and prophesying the return of the Stuarts. Aogán Ó Rathaille and Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin are its masters. Because the genre was a way of writing about dispossession under laws that made direct political verse dangerous, the name carries a specific political history. Its use for children began during the Gaelic revival, which makes it a name taken from literary criticism as much as from language.
Aisling in use
Aisling ranks 180th in Ireland with 26 births in 2025 and is falling in our data from a peak in 1990. Our records carry it from 1964, the earliest year our Irish data reaches. It is rare outside the island at 1,905th in England and Wales and 3,783rd in the United States — the spelling gives non-Irish readers no route to the sound, which is ASH-ling.
How popular is Aisling?
In 2025, Aisling was given to 26 babies in Ireland, ranking #180 that year. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Aisling is used
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 Aisling
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Aisling also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Aisling over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Aisling 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.
Sibling names for Aisling
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Aisling — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Aisling
What does the name Aisling mean?
Aisling means "dream" or "vision" — an ordinary Irish noun before it was ever a name.
How do you pronounce Aisling?
ASH-ling, two syllables.
What is an aisling poem?
A genre in which the poet meets a woman who turns out to be Ireland, lamenting her condition — a way of writing politics when direct verse was dangerous.
How popular is Aisling?
180th in Ireland, and falling from a peak in 1990.
Is Aisling a girl's or a boy's name?
Aisling is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Aisling?
Aisling has 2 syllables.
Is Aisling a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Aisling currently ranks #180 in Ireland. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.