Orlaith
A feminine given name of Irish origin meaning "golden princess".
Name Census estimates that about 43 living Americans carry the first name Orlaith. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Orlaith today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orlaith births was 2024 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orlaith. 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 Orlaith with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Orlaith. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
43
~ 1 in 7,971,031 Americans
Peak year
2024
10 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,048
Tracked since 2006
Popularity
Orlaith: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orlaith from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 27 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Orlaith 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 Orlaith during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Orlaith
The name Orlaith is of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic words 'ór' meaning 'golden' and 'flaith' meaning 'princess' or 'sovereign'. It is a feminine name that first appeared in ancient Irish texts and folklore, associated with concepts of beauty, nobility, and leadership.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Orlaith can be found in the medieval Irish tale "The Wooing of Étaín", which dates back to the 8th or 9th century AD. In this story, Orlaith is the name of a beautiful maiden who becomes the object of desire for the High King of Ireland, Eochaid Feidlech.
During the Middle Ages, the name Orlaith was borne by several prominent Irish women, including Orlaith ingen Muiredaig (c. 900 AD), who was the wife of the King of Leinster, and Orlaith ingen Cennétig (c. 1050 AD), a renowned poet and scholar.
In the 12th century, the name appears in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history, where an Orlaith ingen Áeda is mentioned as the wife of Domnall Ua Briain, the King of Thomond.
Another notable figure with the name Orlaith was Orlaith Ni Mhuireadhaigh (c. 1450-1510), a celebrated Irish noblewoman and patron of the arts, who commissioned several important literary works during her lifetime.
In more recent times, the name Orlaith has been carried by individuals such as Orlaith Finn (1904-1988), an Irish republican activist and member of Cumann na mBan, and Orlaith McBride (born 1962), an Irish civil servant and former Director of the National Archives of Ireland.
While the name Orlaith has always been more prevalent in Ireland due to its Gaelic origins, it has also been adopted by families in other parts of the world, particularly among those with Irish heritage or an appreciation for Celtic culture and traditions.
People
Orlaith + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orlaith as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Orlaith: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orlaith?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 43 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orlaith 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 7,971,031 US residents.
Is Orlaith a common name?
We classify Orlaith as "Very Rare". It ranks above 52.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 43 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orlaith most popular?
The single biggest year for Orlaith was 2024, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orlaith is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Orlaith in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orlaith a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Orlaith 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 Orlaith still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orlaith 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 Orlaith 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Orlaith?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Orlaith on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.