Irish names starting with D

The D names in brief

• Dáithí · “DAW-hee” · Boy's name · also Dahy, David, Davy
  'swiftness, nimbleness'; also used for David. Dathí is remembered as the last pagan king of Ireland, said to have died struck by lightning in the Alps while campaigning — a story historians treat with caution but nobody wants to give up.
• Damhnait · “DAV-nit” · Girl's name · also Dympna, Devnet, Downet
  From damh, 'stag' or 'ox' — 'little fawn' or 'little doe'. St Dympna, a 7th-century Irish princess who fled her father and was killed at Geel in Belgium, became the patron saint of those suffering mental illness — and Geel built a tradition of caring for psychiatric patients in ordinary family homes that is studied to this day.
• Darragh · “DA-ra” · Used for girls and boys · also Dara, Dáire, Daragh
  From dair, 'oak' — 'oak tree' or 'fruitful, fertile'. Dáire is an ancient name borne by mythical kings — including Dáire mac Fiachna, who owned the brown bull that started the Táin. The modern Darragh reads simply as 'oak', which is why it suits a country whose place-names are full of doire, oak-woods.
• Dearbhla · “DER-vla” · Girl's name · also Dervla, Dearbháil, Derval
  'daughter of a poet' or 'true desire'. St Dearbhla of Mayo, whose well and church stand at Fallmore on the Mullet peninsula, is said to have torn out her own eyes to repel a suitor — and to have had her sight restored at the well. The travel writer Dervla Murphy made the name known worldwide.
• Declan · “DEK-lan” · Boy's name · also Deaglán, Declán
  Uncertain; possibly 'full of goodness'. St Declan of Ardmore was preaching in the Déisi country of Waterford before Patrick's mission was complete — one of the four pre-Patrician saints of Munster. His well, oratory and round tower at Ardmore are still visited on 24 July.
• Deirdre · “DEER-dra” · Girl's name · also Deirdri, Derdriu
  Uncertain; possibly 'she who chatters' or linked to a word for sorrow. Deirdre of the Sorrows is Ireland's tragic heroine: prophesied at birth to bring ruin, promised to old King Conchobar, she fled to Scotland with young Naoise and his brothers. Lured back to Emain Macha under false guarantees, Naoise was killed and Deirdre died of grief.
• Diarmaid · “DEER-mid” · Boy's name · also Dermot, Diarmuid, Jeremiah, Darby
  Possibly 'without envy' or 'free man'. Two Diarmaids shaped Ireland: the legendary Diarmaid who eloped with Gráinne and died on Benbulben, and Diarmait Mac Murchada, king of Leinster, who in 1167 brought Norman soldiers to Ireland to win back his kingdom — and changed the country forever.
• Doireann · “DIR-in” · Girl's name · also Dorren, Doirean, Dorothy
  Possibly 'sullen' or 'daughter of Finn'; disputed. A name from the Fenian tales, where Doireann is a daughter of the Otherworld figure Bodb Dearg who poisons Fionn when he refuses her. Its meaning is genuinely uncertain — the older reading 'sullen' is contested by scholars.
• Domhnall · “DOH-nal” · Boy's name · also Donal, Donald, Daniel
  'world-ruler' — domhan + val. A name of high kings, and the origin of the Scottish Donald and the surname MacDonald. Domhnall Ua Néill and Domhnall Mór Ua Briain both held provincial kingship; Domhnall Ua Buachalla was the Free State's last Governor-General, who insisted on the Irish form of his name on state papers.
• Donnchadh · “DUN-a-khoo” · Boy's name · also Donagh, Donough, Donncha, Denis, Duncan
  Donn + cath, 'brown-haired warrior' or 'strong warrior'. Borne by a son of Brian Boru and by kings of Munster and Leinster; the Scottish form is Duncan. Donnchadh Rua Mac Conmara was an 18th-century Waterford poet whose mock-epic on emigration is still read.
• Dubhghall · “DOO-gal” · Boy's name · also Dugald, Dougal, Doyle
  Dubh, 'black', and gall, 'a foreigner'. The name the Irish gave the Danes — the dark foreigners, as against the fair ones. It became a personal name, then the surname Doyle, and survives in Scotland as Dugald.

Also spelled with D

Listed on the atlas under another spelling, but the D form is the one many families carry — they are the same name.

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