Press Statement

Preasráiteas

30 January 2023

To mark St Brigid’s Day (01 February 2023) and the upcoming Bank Holiday on 06 February, the first public holiday in Ireland named after a woman, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has traced the popularity of the name Brigid through the decades, and some of the variations of the name.

Brigid

The CSO has data on Baby Names dating back to the early 1960s, and we can see that the number of girls named Brigid reached a peak of 293 in 1965 and it was the twenty-sixth most popular name for girls that year.

Although its popularity started to wane, there were more than 100 instances of the name each year until 1972 when 126 girls were called Brigid, and it remained in the top 100 most popular girls’ names until 1975.

Its next highest peak after the 1970s was in 1995 when 62 girls were called Brigid compared with 1996 when 28 girls were so named. From 1999 on, fewer than eight babies were given the name Brigid in any year except for 2006 when 10 such names were registered. There were fewer than three babies called Brigid in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. However, due to confidentiality reasons, a name must be recorded three or more times to be included in CSO Irish Babies’ Names release so no exact figures for those years can be published.

Between 2018 and 2020, 11 girls were called Brigid, but there were fewer than three in 2021.

Bridget

However, it is worth noting there are many variations of the spelling of the name, the most popular of which is Bridget. In 2020, 23 girls were named Bridget, and in 2021, the figure was 20, when it was ranked 228th in terms of popularity.

In fact, the number of girls named Bridget reached a peak of 595 in 1964 when the CSO first collected such data and was the eighth most popular name for girls that year. It only dropped out of the top 100 most popular girls’ names in 1998.

Data on some variations of the name

Breda: Unlike any other variations of the name Brigit, Breda hit its peak popularity in 1982 when 49 girls were called this, which compares with 37 girls in 1964 when such records began. Since 1982, its popularity has steadily declined, except for 1988 when 27 babies were called Breda. In 2020 six baby girls were called Breda, but there were fewer than three in 2021.

Brid/Bríd: The use of the name Brid reached a peak in 1980 when 58 girls were so named. It steadily declined until 2017 when five girls were registered with this name. There are no records of the use of the name since then. However, the CSO started to record the use of the síneadh fada in Irish names in 2018, and in that year eight girls were called Bríd. There were fewer than three babies called Bríd in 2020, but six girls were so named in 2021.

Bridgid: Between 1967 and 1971, 23 girls were named Bridgid. The name features once more on the list in 1980 when three girls were given this name.

Brighid: The highest use of Brighid on record is in 1964 when six girls were given this name. Since 1982, there has been no year where three or more girls have been called this name.

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