Aoife
A feminine Irish name derived from "aoibh", meaning beautiful, radiant or joyous.
Name Census estimates that about 2,069 living Americans carry the first name Aoife. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aoife today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aoife births was 2018 (117 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aoife. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Aoife with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Aoife is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 165,662 Americans
Peak year
2018
117 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,230
Tracked since 1985
Census
Aoife in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,619 people with the first name Aoife, which placed it at #8,822 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#8,822
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,619 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aoife
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aoife is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.4%) and Hispanic (4.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Aoife described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Aoife at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.3% · 1,413
- Two or more races6.4% · 103
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 69
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 27
- Black or African American0.4% · 7
Popularity
Aoife: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aoife from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 862 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Aoife remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aoife by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Aoife during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aoifes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. New York, Massachusetts, California recorded the most babies named Aoife, while Virginia, Oregon, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 52 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aoife
The name Aoife is an Irish Gaelic name derived from the old Irish word "aoibh", meaning "beauty" or "radiant". It is a feminine name that has been in use in Ireland since ancient times.
Aoife is a prominent name in Irish mythology and folklore. In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, Aoife was the daughter of the powerful druid Ailill and was renowned for her beauty and skill as a warrior. She is also mentioned in the Fenian Cycle, where she appears as a formidable warrior and a lover of the hero Finn MacCool.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Aoife can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. The annals mention an Aoife who was the daughter of King Lóegaire mac Néill, who reigned in the 5th century AD.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Aoife. Aoife Ní Dhochartaigh (c. 1470 - c. 1540) was an Irish noblewoman and poet from County Donegal. Aoife Ní Uiginn (c. 1700 - c. 1770) was a renowned Irish poet and composer from County Sligo.
In the 20th century, Aoife de Búrca (1878 - 1959) was an Irish language activist and writer who played a significant role in the revival of the Irish language. Aoife Holohan (1913 - 2001) was an Irish actress and singer who performed on stage and in films.
More recently, Aoife McMahon (born 1980) is an Irish singer and songwriter who has released several albums and performed at various music festivals. These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Aoife throughout history.
People
Aoife + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aoife as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Aoife: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aoife?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,069 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aoife going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 165,662 US residents.
Is Aoife a common name?
We classify Aoife as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,093 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aoife most popular?
The single biggest year for Aoife was 2018, when 117 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aoife is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aoife in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,619 people with the name Aoife, or 0.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,822 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Aoife in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Aoife?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aoife appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,623 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Aoife?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aoife is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.4%) and Hispanic (4.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Aoife most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Aoife in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.3% (1,413 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Aoife in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aoife a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aoife in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Aoife still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aoife in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Aoife can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Aoife?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.