girl's name
Caoimhe
KEE-va
- Origin Irish
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 7
- Popularity Rare
- Births on record 12,911
Ireland
#31
2025 births
Caoimhe is a girl's name of Irish origin meaning "gentle," "beautiful" or "precious," from the Irish caomh. Pronounced KEE-va, it ranked 31st in Ireland in 2025 and is one of the most consistently used Irish-language girls' names.
- Caoimhe is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in Ireland in 2011, when 398 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade in Ireland.
- Today about 1 in 345 babies in Ireland is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1966.
Caoimhe 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 | 3 |
| 1970s | 154 |
| 1980s | 497 |
| 1990s | 1,541 |
| 2000s | 3,263 |
| 2010s | 2,736 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 966 |
What Caoimhe means
Caoimhe means gentle, beautiful and precious all at once — the Irish caomh covers kindness and dearness as readily as physical beauty, so the name describes character before appearance.
Where Caoimhe comes from
Caoimhe is formed from the Irish caomh, meaning gentle, dear or beautiful, and is the feminine counterpart of Caoimhín, which English speakers know as Kevin. Where Kevin traveled worldwide in its anglicized form, Caoimhe never acquired a comparable English spelling and so stayed within Ireland and the Irish diaspora. The spelling is the single biggest obstacle to its wider use: aoi represents one long vowel and mh sounds as a v, giving KEE-va, which almost no English reader arrives at unaided.
Caoimhe in use
Caoimhe ranked 31st in Ireland in 2025 with 130 births and 71st in Northern Ireland. Beyond the island it thins out sharply — 1,118 in England and Wales and 5,302 in the United States — which makes it a good measure of how far spelling alone limits a name's reach, since its male counterpart Kevin has been a worldwide staple.
How popular is Caoimhe?
In 2025, Caoimhe was given to 130 babies in Ireland, ranking #31 that year. It is a rare choice.
Where Caoimhe 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.
How Caoimhe is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Caoímhe | Caoímhe is a rare spelling of Caoimhe, written with a fada and recorded 11 times, mostly in Ireland. | 11 |
Names that peaked alongside Caoimhe
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Caoimhe also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Caoimhe over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Caoimhe
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Caoimhe 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 Caoimhe
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Caoimhe — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Caoimhe
What does the name Caoimhe mean?
Caoimhe means "gentle," "beautiful" or "precious," from the Irish caomh.
How do you pronounce Caoimhe?
KEE-va, two syllables. The aoi is one long vowel and mh sounds like a v.
Is Caoimhe related to Kevin?
Yes. Caoimhe is the feminine counterpart of Caoimhín, which is anglicized as Kevin.
What is Caoimhe in English?
There is no standard English form. Keeva is sometimes used as a phonetic spelling.
How popular is the name Caoimhe?
In 2025, Caoimhe was given to 130 babies in Ireland, ranking #31 that year. It is a rare choice.
Is Caoimhe a girl's or a boy's name?
Caoimhe is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Caoimhe?
Caoimhe has 2 syllables.
When was Caoimhe most popular?
Caoimhe peaked in 2011, when 398 babies were given the name. It has been falling over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Caoimhe?
Caoimhe is usually shortened to Keev.
Is Caoimhe a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Caoimhe currently ranks #31 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.