Ríadh

Ríadh is a new name, and we could not find it in the dictionaries or the standard books on Irish names. Some baby-name websites say it means “queenly” or “royal”, presumably by linking it to rí, the Irish word for king, but none gives a source for this. Until someone finds one, we have left the meaning as uncertain.

What is clear is its shape. It looks and sounds like Fiadh, one of the most popular Irish girls’ names of recent years, with the same silent “dh” at the end, and it seems to have grown up alongside it.

Ríadh first reached the CSO list in 2016 and has climbed almost every year since. In 2025, 72 girls were given it, counting both spellings, which put it at number 72. The CSO counts the spellings separately: 61 girls were Ríadh and 11 were Riadh, and Ríadh on its own was number 80. It is catching on in Northern Ireland too, where 14 girls were named Ríadh in 2025.