Eileen

What Eileen means

Possibly “radiance, beauty”

Sometimes also used for the Irish name Éibhleann, possibly from Old Irish oíph (“radiance, beauty”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Eileen” (revision 90815526), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Eileen?

US: Steady: #697 in 2015, #654 now. England & Wales: Rising: up from #1204 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1943, when 4,092 girls got the name (#68 that year). First in the US records in 1882.

How common

• About 1 in 3,678 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 5,756 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 4,473 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in MA (0.67 per 1,000 girls), WA (0.62 per 1,000 girls), NY (0.56 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Eileen is #654 in the US and #816 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Eileen were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Aileen340 US · 8 E&W
• Ayleen313 US · 29 E&W
• Ellen230 US · 33 E&W
• Ailen86 US
• Aleen50 US · 15 E&W
• Eleen35 US · 19 E&W
• Eilyn30 US
• Eyleen24 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Eileen

Girls

• Blaire#384Variant of Blair, meaning “field, plain”^*
• Winifred#922Editor’s note Up from #1,437 in 2015 to #922 in 2025 in the US
• Maeve#76“intoxicating”^*
• Gwendolyn#360Variant of Gwendolen, meaning “white, fair, blessed + ring, bow…^*
• Guinevere#898Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #898 vs #2,788 in 2025
• Rory#230“red-haired king”^*

For a brother

• Arthur#87possibly “bear”^*
• Malcolm#272Variant of Calum, meaning “dove”^*
• Rory#199“red-haired king”^*
• Harvey#251“iron + blazing”^*
• Ellis#243“benevolent, kind”^*
• Calum#799“dove”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Irish & Celtic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Eileen’s. Rank is US 2025.