Ailbhe

Meaning & origin

No verified etymology recorded for this name yet — the entries below are drawn from usage statistics and the name graph.

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Ailbhe is also recorded as another name, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Arabic given name22 records spelled Ailbhe3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Ireland

  Also written Áilbhe

28 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Ailbhe is also recorded in one other lexicon, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Irish Gaelic: traditional name of uncertain origin, perhaps from an Old Celtic element cognate with Latin albus white (cf. ALBINA ). It has been Anglicized as Alby and, as a male name, ALBERT .

  as a word

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

IE CSO — Irish Babies Names (1998–present) — 21 years between 1998–2019. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Ailbhe Smythb. 1946IEIrish activist and feminist
• Ailbhe Mac Shamhráinb. 1954IEIrish historian (1954–2011)
• Ailbhe Darcyb. 1981IEIrish poet
• Ailbhe McDonaghb. 1982IEmusical artist
• Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuighb. 1984IEIrish poet
• Ailbhe Nic Giolla BhrighdeIEIrish screen writer and author
• Ailbhe White Gibsonresearcher
• Ailbhe Kavanaghresearcher (ORCID 0000-0003-4671-3076)
• Ailbhe Croninarchaeologist
• Ailbhe GarrihyIEIrish PR consultant

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 57 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Ailbhe?

We estimate roughly 4 people bear Ailbhe (counting its spellings and scripts) across 1 country in our records.

In which country does Ailbhe have the most bearers?

Ailbhe is most frequently recorded in Ireland, where it is most often spelled ailbhe.

How common is Ailbhe compared with other names?

In Ireland, Ailbhe is the 277th most common given name of 13,994 given names recorded there.

Is Ailbhe a male or female name?

Ailbhe is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.