St Brigid

Ahead of the first St Brigid's Day bank holiday, the CSO has revealed how the name's popularity has waned in recent years.

This marks the first in a series of solo exhibitions at IMMA that will focus on Irish and international women artists throughout the year. Between 1967 and 1971, 23 girls were named Bridgid and the name features once more on the list in 1980, when three girls were given this name. However, the CSO has started to record the use of the síneadh fada in Irish names in 2018, and in that year eight girls were called Bríd. Meanwhile, the use of the name Brid reached a peak in 1980 when 58 girls were so named and steadily declined until 2017, when five girls were registered with this name. The number of girls named Bridget reached a peak of 595 in 1964, when the CSO first collected such data and was the eighth most popular name for girls that year. The number of girls named Brigid reached its peak in 1965, when 293 children were given the name.