boy's name
Cormac
KOR-mak
- Origin Irish
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 12,042
Northern Ireland
#80
2024 births
Cormac is a boy's name of Irish origin, usually read as "son of the charioteer," borne by the High King credited with Ireland's earliest law tracts. It ranks 80th in Northern Ireland.
- Cormac is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in Ireland in 2006, when 185 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade in Ireland.
- Today about 1 in 1,180 babies in Ireland is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1964.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Cormac 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 | 288 |
| 1970s | 855 |
| 1980s | 822 |
| 1990s | 1,060 |
| 2000s | 1,478 |
| 2010s | 973 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 253 |
What Cormac means
Cormac is generally read as son of the charioteer, from an element taken as chariot with mac, son. The first element is not securely identified, so the reading is the best available rather than a settled one; raven's son has also been proposed.
Where Cormac comes from
Cormac is the Irish Cormac, whose first element is disputed — corb, usually glossed as a chariot or a defilement depending on the source, with mac, son, giving son of the charioteer as the standard reading. Its bearer is Cormac mac Airt, semi-legendary High King at Tara, to whom Irish tradition credits the earliest wisdom texts and law tracts and whose reign is presented as a golden age; the annals place him in the third century, which is beyond independent verification. A historical Cormac is Cormac mac Cuilennáin, king and bishop of Cashel, killed in 908, to whom Sanas Cormaic — Cormac's Glossary, the oldest vernacular dictionary in any European language outside Latin and Greek — is attributed. Cormac's Chapel at the Rock of Cashel is named for a later king. The name has never required anglicization, which is unusual for an Irish name of this age.
Cormac in use
Cormac ranks 80th in Northern Ireland with 30 births in 2024 and 143rd in Ireland, so it is used more heavily in the North relative to its size. Our records mark it stable with a peak in 2014 and carry it from 1956. It holds 1,301st in the United States, where Cormac McCarthy gave it visibility well beyond the Irish diaspora.
How popular is Cormac?
In 2025, Cormac was given to 38 babies in Ireland, ranking #143 that year. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Cormac 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 Cormac
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Cormac also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Cormac over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Cormac
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.
Cormac 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.
- Cormack
Sibling names for Cormac
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Cormac — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Cormac
What does the name Cormac mean?
It is usually read as "son of the charioteer," though the first element is not securely identified.
Who was Cormac mac Airt?
A semi-legendary High King at Tara, credited by tradition with Ireland's earliest wisdom texts and law tracts.
What is Cormac's Glossary?
Sanas Cormaic, attributed to Cormac mac Cuilennáin, the oldest vernacular dictionary in a European language outside Latin and Greek.
How popular is Cormac?
Eightieth in Northern Ireland and 143rd in Ireland.
Is Cormac a girl's or a boy's name?
Cormac is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Cormac?
Cormac has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Cormac?
Cormac is usually shortened to Mac.
Is Cormac a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Cormac currently ranks #80 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.