Niamh (; from

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...

) is an Irish feminine

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...

(meaning "bright" or "radiant"),

anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

as Neve, Nieve, Neave, Neavh or Neeve. In

Irish mythology Irish mythology is the body of myths native to the island of Ireland. It was originally passed down orally in the prehistoric era, being part of ancient Celtic religion. Many myths were later written down in the early medieval era by C ...

Niamh Niamh (; from Old Irish ) is an Irish feminine given name (meaning "bright" or "radiant"), anglicised as Neve, Nieve, Neave, Neavh or Neeve. In Irish mythology, Niamh is the daughter of the god of the sea, Manannán mac Lir and one of the que ...

is the daughter of the god of the sea, Manannán mac Lir and one of the queens of Tír na nÓg, the land of eternal youth. She was the lover of the poet-hero Oisín. The first recorded use of Niamh (that spelling) as a given name in modern Ireland was in 1911, when two children were registered with the name and when a Niamh was listed in that year's census. ''Neve'' is also a Dutch and Flemish surname, but 71% of persons named Niamh live in Ireland.in Mondonomo, Names distinctive to Ireland (2022) accessed 5 October 2022

People with the given name

Niamh

*Niamh Algar
(born 1992), Irish actress *Niamh Blackshaw (born 1999), English actress *Niamh Briggs (born 1984), captain of Ireland's women's rugby team, 2015 Six Nations Champions *Niamh Bhreathnach (born 1945), Irish Minister for Education, 1993–97 *

Niamh Charles Niamh Louise Charles (born 21 June 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Women's Super League club Chelsea and the England women's national team. Early career Charles grew up on the Wirral in Merseyside an ...

(born 1999), English footballer *

Niamh Cosgrave Niamh Cosgrave (born 9 October 1964) is a former Fine Gael politician from Dublin, Ireland. She campaigned for victims of the Hepatitis C blood contamination scandal, and was the subject of a book on this. She was briefly a member of the second ...

(born 1964), Irish politician * Niamh Coyle, camogie player *

Niamh Cusack Niamh Cusack ( ; born 20 October 1959) is an Irish actress. Born to a family with deep roots in the performing arts, Cusack has been involved as a performer since a young age. She has served with the UK's two leading theatre companies, the Ro ...

(born 1959), Irish actress, daughter of Cyril Cusack *

Niamh Fahey Niamh Fahey (born 13 October 1987) is an Irish footballer who plays as a defender or midfielder for Liverpool in the Women's Super League and the Republic of Ireland women's national football team. She has previously played for Chelsea. Before ...

(born 1987), Irish footballer *

Niamh Houston Niamh Houston (born 23 September 1991), better known by her stage name Chipzel, is a musician from Northern Ireland. She is best known for making chiptune music, particularly with a Game Boy. She is also a video game music composer, and is kn ...

(born 1991), Northern Irish musician * Niamh Kavanagh (born 1968), Irish singer and 1993 winner of the Eurovision Song Contest *

Niamh Kelly Niamh Kelly (born 30 August 1995) is a gaelic football player who plays for Mayo and an Australian rules footballer who plays for Adelaide in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She has previously played for West Coast Eagles (AFL Women's), West Coast. She ...

(born 1995), Gaelic football player and Australian rules player *

Niamh Kilkenny Niamh Kilkenny is a camogie player, a member of the Galway senior panel that won the All Ireland Senior Camogie Championship in 2013 & 2019 and unsuccessfully contested the All Ireland finals of 2010 and 2011 against Wexford, winner of All Sta ...

, Irish camogie player * Niamh Kindlon (born 1981), Irish Gaelic footballer * Niamh McCarthy (born 1994), Irish Paralympic discus thrower *

Niamh McGrady Niamh McGrady (born 4 October 1982) is a film, stage and television actress from Castlewellan, County Down, Northern Ireland. She is best known for her parts as Mary-Claire Carter in ''Holby City'' and PC Danielle Ferrington in the psychological ...

(born 1983), Northern Irish actress * Niamh McGrath, camogie player *

Niamh Mulcahy Niamh Mulcahy is a camogie player, winner of the Young Player of the Year award in 2007. She was player of the match when Limerick won the All Ireland Senior B championship in 2007 on a team managed by Ciarán Carey, having secured a replay fo ...

, camogie player *

Niamh Ní Charra Niamh Ní Charra is an Irish fiddler, concertina player and singer from Killarney, Ireland. Early life At the age of four, Ní Charra started playing music. She has performed in 2500 shows touring 8 years as a soloist with Riverdance before retur ...

, Irish fiddler, concertina player and singer *

Niamh Nic Daéid Niamh Nic Daéid is an Irish forensic scientist, and the Professor of Forensic Science and Director of Research at the University of Dundee. She earned a bachelor's degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from the Dublin Institute of Technology a ...

, Irish forensic scientist *

Niamh O’Connor Niamh O’Connor is a best selling crime novelist, true crime writer and journalist for over 20 years. Life and work Wicklow based writer O'Connor is a journalist for the Sunday World. She is the True crime editor there. She has also produced ...

, writer, journalist and novelist *

Niamh Parsons Niamh Parsons (born in Dublin, Ireland) is a singer of contemporary and traditional Irish music Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. I ...

, traditional Irish singer *

Niamh Perry Niamh Perry (born 10 June 1990) is a Northern Irish singer and actress who is best known for playing Fleck in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical '' Love Never Dies''. She came to prominence when she competed as one of the finalists in the BBC tale ...

(born 1990), Irish singer and actress * Niamh Marie Redmond, Miss Ireland 1996 * Niamh Reid Burke (born 1991), Irish footballer *

Niamh Rippin Niamh Rippin (born 30 March 1994) is a British former artistic gymnast and was a reserve athlete for the 2012 Summer Olympics team. Senior career 2010 In April Rippin competed at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event in Paris, France. S ...

(born 1994), British artistic gymnast *

Niamh Sharkey Niamh Sharkey is an author and illustrator of children’s picturebooks. Life Sharkey started out as freelance illustrator and designer in Dublin after graduating with a degree in visual communication from the Dublin College of Marketing and D ...

Irish children's author *

Niamh Smyth Niamh Smyth (born 5 May 1978) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cavan–Monaghan constituency since the 2016 general election. She was appointed Chair of the Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Cultur ...

(born 1978), Irish politician * Niamh Uí Bhriain (born 1970), Irish activist *

Niamh Walsh Niamh Walsh (born April 17, 1988) is an Irish actress. Career She is best known for her role as Cara Martinez the in BBC One medical drama '' Holby City''. Walsh also appeared in ''Casualty'' and ''Jekyll and Hyde''. She starred in the Sky 1 ...

, Irish actress *

Niamh Whelan Niamh Annette Whelan (born 26 July 1990) is an Irish sprinter She represented her country at two outdoor and one indoor European Championships. International competitions Personal bests Outdoor *100 metres – 11.63 (+1.0 m/s, Novi Sad ...

(born 1990), Irish sprinter *

Niamh Wilson Niamh Wilson (; born March 9, 1997) is a Canadian film and television actress from Oakville, Ontario, known for her role as Corbett in ''Saw III'', reprised in ''Saw V''; the Canadian horror film '' The Marsh'' (2006); and the title role in the ...

(born 1997), Canadian actress *

Niamh Fisher-Black Niamh Fisher-Black (born 12 August 2000) is a New Zealand professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . She is the older sister of fellow racing cyclist Finn Fisher-Black, and was educated at Nelson College for Gir ...

(born 2000), New Zealand professional racing cyclist

Neve, Neave, Neavh or Nieve

Nieve Jennings Nieve King (née Jennings; born 3 August 1987) is a Scottish model and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Scotland 2007 and Miss United Kingdom 2007 and has also competed in the Miss World 2007 and Miss International 2008 pageants. Miss Scotla ...

(born 1987), Scottish model *

Neve McIntosh Neve McIntosh (born Carol McIntosh; 9 April 1972) is a Scottish actress. Early life Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, McIntosh grew up in Edinburgh, where she attended Boroughmuir High School. She was a member of Edinburgh Youth Theatre in the l ...

(born 1972), Scottish actress *Neve Gayford (born 2018), daughter of Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand *

Neave Brown Neave Brown (22 May 19299 January 2018) was an American-born British architect and artist. He specialized in modernist housing. Brown is the only architect to have had all his UK work listed:Elizabeth HopkirkNeave Brown becomes first architect ...

(born 1929), American-British architect * Neve Campbell (born 1973), Canadian actress (Neve was also the maiden name of her Dutch mother)

Fictional

Characters

Niamh Cassidy ''Fair City'' is an Irish television soap opera first broadcast on RTÉ One in 1989. The following is a list of characters who currently appear in the programme and a list of former characters, listed in order of first appearance. Some character ...

in the soap opera Fair City *Niamh, wife of Slaine Mac Roth in the ''2000 AD'' comic series '' Sláine'' *Niamh Quigley in the BBC Television programme '' Ballykissangel'' *

Niamh O’Connor (character) The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the British soap opera ''Emmerdale'' in 2004, by order of first appearance. All characters were introduced by the soap's executive producer, Keith Richardson. Val Pollard Carl Kin ...

, minor character in the soap opera ''Emmerdale'' *Niamh in the book ''

Son of the Shadows ''Son of the Shadows'' is a historical fantasy novel by Juliet Marillier and the second book in the Sevenwaters Trilogy first published in 2000. It follows the path of Sorcha and Red's third child, Liadan, a girl who lives outside the pattern ...

'' by Juliet Marillier *Niamh Cranitch in the BBC legal drama, ''

Silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

'' *Niamh Connolly in Channel 4 TV series ''

Father Ted ''Father Ted'' is a sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews (writer), Arthur Mathews and produced by British production company Hat Trick Productions for Channel 4. It aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until ...

'' *Niamh Brodie, deceased sister of Jackson Brodie in the book ''

Case Histories ''Case Histories'' (2004) is a detective novel by British author Kate Atkinson and is set in Cambridge, England. It introduces Jackson Brodie, a former police inspector and now private investigator. The plot revolves around three seemingly unco ...

'' by Kate Atkinson *Niamh Fairbrother in the book ''

The Casual Vacancy ''The Casual Vacancy'' is a 2012 novel written by J. K. Rowling. The book was published worldwide by the Little, Brown Book Group on 27 September 2012. A paperback edition was released on 23 July 2013. It was Rowling's first publication since ...

'' by JK Rowling *Ebba/Niamh Rose, known as Rose, main character in the book '' East'' by Edith Pattou *Niamh in the ABC2 show ''

Please Like Me ''Please Like Me'' is an Australian television comedy-drama series created by and starring Josh Thomas. Thomas also serves as a writer for most episodes. The series premiered on 28 February 2013 on ABC2 in Australia and is now available on Netf ...

'' *Niamh in the movie '' Dark Touch'' *Niamh Reid in the TV3 series '' Red Rock'' *

Niamh Donoghue Dr. Niamh Donoghue is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera '' Doctors'', portrayed by Jessica Regan. Niamh was introduced as a general practitioner at the fictional Mill Health Centre. She first appeared on 1 May 2014 and made her last ...

in the BBC 1 series ''Doctors'' *Niamh in the book ''

The Kaiju Preservation Society ''The Kaiju Preservation Society'' is a science fiction novel written by American author John Scalzi. It was first published in hardcover and ebook by Tor Books, and audiobook by Audible Studios, on March 15, 2022; British hardcover and ebook edit ...

'' by John Scalzi

Places

*The Niamh Passes, a set of mountain passes located in the

world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

of Robert Jordan's epic fantasy series ''

The Wheel of Time ''The Wheel of Time'' is a series of high fantasy novels by American author Robert Jordan, with Brandon Sanderson as a co-author for the final three novels. Originally planned as a six-book series, ''The Wheel of Time'' spans 14 volumes, in a ...

Other uses of the name

* LÉ Niamh (P52), a ship in the Irish Naval Service

References

{{given name, Niamh, nocat Irish-language feminine given names