Given name
Aoife
Aoife is a feminine given name from Irish. It is used in English and Irish.
Original IrishAoibhe
Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
A possible origin is Irish, although the derivation remains uncertain.
How it developed
A proposed derivation links the name to aoibh, meaning “beauty”.
The story
In mythological stories, Aoife is associated with a warrior princess. The name’s historical associations include a daughter of King Dermot of Leinster.
Aoife through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 2,181
- 0 boys · 2,181 girls
- Most popular year
- 2018
- 117 babies
- 2025
- 88
- #2,120 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −9%
- Steady
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 88 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 2,120 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 9.4% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 117 in 2018. In 2025, Massachusetts and New York shared the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (10 each). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,623 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Aoife’s family of names
In Irish usage, Aoife has a conventional equivalent in the Spanish form Eva. In Irish usage, Aoife has a related form in Aeife. Aoife has a related form in Aife.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 7
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Aoife
- Lyra ValkyriaIrish professional wrestler, betterborn 1996
- Aoife MannionIrish footballer (born 1995)
- Aoife O'RourkeIrish boxerborn 1997
- Aoife CoughlanAustralian judokaborn 1995
- Aoife O'DonovanIrish-American singer-songwriterborn 1982
- Aoife HindsBritish actressborn 1991
- Aoife WaferIrish rugby union playerborn 2003
- Aoife BeggsIrish cricketerborn 1999
- Aoife CaseyIrish rowerborn 1999
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
Similar names
If you love Aoife, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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