girl's name
Liadh
LEE-uh (Irish)
- Origin Irish
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (Ireland)
- Births on record 287
Ireland
#196
2025 births
Liadh is a girl's name from an Irish word usually given as gray. It ranks 196th in Ireland and charts in no other market at all — of the 44 names entering our top 200 lists, it is the only one confined to a single country and simultaneously at its all-time peak.
- Liadh is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in Ireland in 2025, when 32 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade in Ireland.
- Today about 1 in 2,039 babies in Ireland is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1991.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Liadh Over Time
Births per decade in Ireland, 1990s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, which so far covers 2020 to 2025.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1990s | 19 |
| 2000s | 55 |
| 2010s | 88 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 125 |
What Liadh Means
Liadh is generally given as gray, from the Irish liath. Some sources read it instead as fair or beautiful, but that reading is not supported by the word itself.
Where Liadh Comes From
Liadh is normally derived from the Irish liath, meaning gray, an ordinary color adjective that appears across Irish placenames and epithets. Several baby-name references give the meaning as fair or beautiful instead, which appears to be a confusion with the unrelated aoibh family rather than a competing derivation — liath does not carry that sense in Irish. The name is modern in use: it belongs to the recent revival of short Irish forms that also produced Aoibh, Cara and Fia, in which parents take a plain Irish word as a name directly rather than inheriting a saint's or a legendary figure's.
Liadh in Use
Liadh ranks 196th in Ireland on 32 births and charts in no other market — not Northern Ireland, not Britain, not the United States. It peaked in Ireland in 2025, when 32 babies were registered, so its highest recorded year is also the year it enters the top 200. It is on record from 1991 across 287 lifetime births, which makes it the rarest name by lifetime total in the current Irish top 200.
How Popular Is Liadh?
In 2025, Liadh was given to 22 babies in Ireland, ranking #196 that year. It ranks among the top 1,000 names in Ireland.
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 Liadh Is Spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Líadh | Líadh is a rare spelling of Liadh, written with a fada and recorded 32 times, mostly in Ireland. | 32 |
Names That Peaked Alongside Liadh
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents Who Like Liadh Also Like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Liadh over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
How to Say Liadh
- Irish LEE-uh /ˈlʲiə/
Liadh 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 Liadh
Names from the same era that do not rhyme or share an initial with Liadh — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common Questions About Liadh
What does the name Liadh mean?
Gray, from the Irish liath. The fair or beautiful reading some references give is not supported by the word.
How do you pronounce Liadh?
LEE-uh, with the dh silent.
Where is Liadh used?
Ireland only. It ranks 196th there and appears in no other market.
Is Liadh a new name?
It is on record from 1991, and it reached its highest recorded level at the latest count.
Is Liadh a girl's or a boy's name?
Liadh is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Liadh?
Liadh has 2 syllables.
When was Liadh most popular?
Liadh peaked in 2025, when 32 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
Is Liadh a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Liadh currently ranks #196 in Ireland. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.