girl's name
Eileen
eye-LEEN
- Origin Irish
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 199,520
the United States
#656
2025 births
Eileen is a girl's name anglicizing the Irish Eibhlín, and its meaning is genuinely unsettled — it may render Helen, or Evelyn, or a native Irish name. Our data marks it reviving across six markets.
- Eileen is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in 1947, when 4,267 babies were given the name.
- After peaking in the 1940s it fell out of use, and is now climbing again — a classic revival.
- Today about 1 in 7,587 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1882.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Eileen over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 81 |
| 1890s | 438 |
| 1900s | 1,351 |
| 1910s | 12,718 |
| 1920s | 28,623 |
| 1930s | 22,349 |
| 1940s | 34,803 |
| 1950s | 36,648 |
| 1960s | 24,926 |
| 1970s | 7,932 |
| 1980s | 5,696 |
| 1990s | 4,109 |
| 2000s | 3,801 |
| 2010s | 3,836 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,709 |
What Eileen means
Eileen has no settled meaning. It anglicizes the Irish Eibhlín, which is variously derived from Helen, from the Norman Aveline, or from a native Irish source, and none is established.
Where Eileen comes from
Eileen anglicizes the Irish Eibhlín, and the derivation is contested three ways. It may render Helen, whose own Greek meaning is unresolved; it may come from the Norman Aveline, which also gives Evelyn; or it may be native Irish. The song Eileen Aroon, meaning Eileen my darling, is one of the oldest Irish airs and was sung across Britain by the eighteenth century. Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill wrote the Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire in the 1770s, a keen for her murdered husband that is generally counted the greatest poem in Irish of its century.
Eileen in use
Eileen peaked in the United States in 1947, when 4,267 babies were registered, and our data marks it reviving. It now ranks 466th in Ireland on 8 births, 656th in the United States on 437, 712th in Scotland, 826th in England and Wales on 44 and 951st in France on 50, across 199,520 lifetime births in six of the seven markets we track. Its five markets sit within roughly five hundred places of each other.
How popular is Eileen?
In 2025, Eileen was given to 437 babies in the United States, ranking #656 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Eileen is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Eileen is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Eïleen | Eïleen is a rare spelling of Eileen, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 190 times, mostly in France. | 190 |
Names that peaked alongside Eileen
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Eileen also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Eileen over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Eileen
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.
Eileen 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 Eileen
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Eileen — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Eileen
What does the name Eileen mean?
Not settled. It anglicizes the Irish Eibhlín, which may render Helen, the Norman Aveline, or a native Irish name.
Is Eileen an Irish name?
The form Eibhlín is Irish, though the name may have come into Irish from Norman French.
Is Eileen related to Evelyn?
Possibly — both may descend from the Norman Aveline.
Is Eileen coming back?
Our data marks it reviving, and it charts in five of the six markets we track.
How popular is the name Eileen?
In 2025, Eileen was given to 437 babies in the United States, ranking #656 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Eileen a girl's or a boy's name?
Eileen is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Eileen?
Eileen has 2 syllables.
When was Eileen most popular?
Eileen peaked in 1947, when 4,267 babies were given the name. After peaking in the 1940s it fell out of use, and is now climbing again — a classic revival.
What are the nicknames for Eileen?
Eileen is usually shortened to Eily.
Is Eileen a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Eileen currently ranks #466 in the United States. After peaking in the 1940s it fell out of use, and is now climbing again — a classic revival. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.