Aisling is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

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 ...

meaning "dream" or "vision". It refers to an

aisling The aisling (, , approximately ), or vision poem, is a poetic genre that developed during the late 17th and 18th centuries in Irish language poetry. The word may have a number of variations in pronunciation, but the ''is'' of the first sylla ...

, a poetic genre that developed in Irish poetry during the 17th and 18th centuries. There is no evidence that it was used as a given name before the 20th century. The name is included in Reverend Patrick Woulfe's 1923 collection of Irish names, with the comment that the name was in use in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

and

Omeath Omeath (; or ''Uí Meth'') is a village on the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth, Ireland, close to the border with Northern Ireland. It is roughly midway between Dublin and Belfast, very near the County Louth and County Armagh / County Down bo ...

. There are many variant anglicised forms of the name including Ashling, Aislin, Aislinn, Aislene, Ashlyn, and Ashlynn. Pronunciation of the name also varies, with the most common pronunciation being ; other forms acceptable to Irish speakers are and . Others, such as , , and , do not follow the Irish pronunciation. Aisling held steady in the top 20 girls' names in Ireland from 1984 to 1996 and is therefore often linked with the

millennial Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western world, Western demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as start ...

generation in Ireland, most notably in the "Oh My God What A Complete Aisling" novels. Aisling was the 31st most popular name for baby girls in Ireland in 2005, while Ashlyn was the 140th most popular name for baby girls in the United States in 2006, and the variant spelling Ashlynn the 293rd most popular name for baby girls in the United States in 2006. Ashlyn is also occasionally regarded as a modern name derived from both

Ashley Ashley is a place name derived from the Old English words '' æsc'' (“ash”) and '' lēah'' (“meadow”). It may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ashley (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...

and Lynn.

People

Aisling Bea Aisling Clíodhnadh O'Sullivan (born 16 March 1984), known professionally as Aisling Bea ( ), is an Irish comedian, actor and writer. She created, wrote and starred in the comedy series '' This Way Up'' on Channel 4. As a stand-up comedian, she ...

(born 1984), Irish comedian *

Aisling Burnand Aisling Maria Burnand (born 22 December 1964; died 19 September 2022) was a British business executive and consultant. In 2009, she joined Cancer Research UK as Executive Director of Policy & Public Affairs. In 2014, she became chief executive of ...

(born 1964), British businesswoman and lobbyist *

Aisling Daly Aisling Daly ( ; born 24 December 1987) is a retired Irish female professional mixed martial artist who last competed in the UFC women's strawweight division. Daly had been a professional MMA competitor since 2007. Daly is well known for her ...

(born 1987), Irish mixed martial arts fighter *

Aisling Franciosi Aisling Franciosi ( , ; born 6 June 1993) is an Irish actress. She won an AACTA Award for her leading performance in the film '' The Nightingale'' (2018). On television, she is known for her roles in the RTÉ-BBC Two crime drama '' The Fall'' (20 ...

(born 1993), Irish-Italian actress * Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace (born 1978), British glamour model and ''Big Brother'' contestant *

Aislinn Hunter Aislinn Hunter (born 1969 in Belleville, Ontario) is a Canadian poetry and fiction author. She studied art history and writing at the University of Victoria where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Her Master of Fine Arts degree c ...

(born 1969), Canadian writer * Aislin Jones (born 2000), Australian skeet shooter *

Aisling Loftus Aisling Sinead Katie Loftus (born 1 September 1990) is a British actress. She began her career as a child actress and gained prominence through her roles in the BBC dramas ''Five Daughters'' (2010) and '' Dive'' (2010), the play ''Spur of the Mo ...

(born 1990), English actress of Irish parentage *

Aislín McGuckin Aislín McGuckin (born May 1974) is a Northern Irish actress. She has appeared in theatre, television, and film roles. Her early film work includes ''The Nephew'' and ''The White Countess''. From 2014 to 2015, she starred as Letitia MacKenzie ...

(born 1974), Northern Irish actress * Aislinn Meaney (born 1998), Irish association footballer *

Ashling Murphy Ashling Murphy was a 23-year-old Irish primary school teacher and traditional Irish musician. On the afternoon of 12 January 2022, she was attacked and killed while jogging along the Grand Canal (Ireland), Grand Canal just outside Tullamore, Coun ...

(died 2022), Irish primary school teacher and traditional musician, suspected of being murdered * Aisling O'Neill, Irish actress *

Aisling O'Sullivan Aisling O'Sullivan (born in Tralee, County Kerry) is an Irish actress. Career O'Sullivan attended the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin and joined the Abbey Theatre in 1991. Theatre In 2011 and 2012, she toured Ireland with Druid, playing the ...

(born 1968), Irish actress *

Aislinn Paul Aislinn Claire Paul (; born March 5, 1994) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role in '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' as Clare Edwards, for which she has won two Canadian Screen Awards (2015 and 2016) for Best Performance in a Ch ...

(born 1994), Canadian actress *

Aisling Swaine Aisling Swaine (Irish pronounced Ashling) is from Ballitore, County Kildare, Ireland and is an associate professor of practice of international affairs, focusing on women, security and development at the Elliott School of International Affairs of ...

, Irish academic *

Aislinn Sharp Aisling is an Irish feminine given name meaning "dream" or "vision". It refers to an aisling, a poetic genre that developed in Irish poetry during the 17th and 18th centuries. There is no evidence that it was used as a given name before the 20th ...

, Australian singer/songwriter, Mental health advocate *Aislin, the pen name of Canadian political cartoonist

Terry Mosher Christopher Terry Mosher, (born 11 November 1942) is a Canadian political cartoonist for the ''Montreal Gazette''. He draws under the name Aislin, a rendition of the name of his eldest daughter Aislinn (without the second 'n'). Aislin's drawing ...

(born 1942)

Fictional characters

*Aisling, the titular subject in the song "Aisling", on Shane MacGowan's 1994 album '' The Snake'' *Aisling, the main character in Malinda Lo's novel ''

Ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non-gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

'' *Aisling in the Irish animated TV programme ''

Ballybraddan ''Ballybraddan'' is an Irish animated television series first broadcast on RTÉ Two in April 2009. The series is produced in Ireland by Monster Animation in association with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and the Irish Film Board. Backgroun ...

'' *Aisling in the anonymous novel ''

Diary of an Oxygen Thief ''Diary of an Oxygen Thief'' is a 2006 Dutch novel, written by Anonymous and published in Amsterdam by NLVI. ''Diary of an Oxygen Thief'' was called a "surprise dark-horse Williamsburg best seller" by ''New York Magazine'', referring to the indepe ...

'' *Aisling, a hero in the video game '' Gigantic'' *Aisling in the novel ''

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 ...

'' *Aisling, aspiring film director in the play ''

Stones in His Pockets ''Stones in His Pockets'' is a two-hander written in 1996 by Marie Jones for the DubbleJoint Theatre Company in Dublin, Ireland. The play is a tragicomedy about a small rural town in Ireland where many of the townspeople are extras in a Hollywo ...

'' *Aisling, a young faerie girl in the animated film ''

The Secret of Kells ''The Secret of Kells'' is a 2009 animated fantasy film about the making of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript from the 9th Century. The film is an Irish-French-Belgian co-production animated by Cartoon Saloon, which premiered on 8 F ...

'' *Aisling, the protagonist of the Aisling book series by

Emer McLysaght Emer McLysaght (born 1980) is an Irish journalist and co-author of the ''Aisling'' series of novels. Background McLysaght is from Kill, County Kildare. After secondary school, she attended Trinity College Dublin, where she studied biology for a ...

and Sarah Breen, Irish Book Awards 2018 & 2019 winner *Ashling, the Pilgrim, a character in the TCG ''

Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...

'' female fire elemental, traveling through her world *Aisling, a recurring character in the British-made sitcom ''

Derry Girls ''Derry Girls'' is a British teen sitcom created and written by Lisa McGee that premiered on 4 January 2018 on Channel 4. The channel's most successful comedy since ''Father Ted'', the series was inspired by McGee's own experiences growing up ...

'' *Queen Aislinn, wife of the tyrant King Freyne and mother of King Einon in the movie ''

Dragonheart ''Dragonheart'' (stylized as ''DragonHeart'') is a 1996 fantasy adventure film directed by Rob Cohen and written by Charles Edward Pogue based on a story created by him and Patrick Read Johnson. The film stars Dennis Quaid, David Thewlis, ...

'' * Ashelin in the ''

Jak and Daxter ''Jak and Daxter'' is an action-adventure video game franchise created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series was originally developed by Naughty Dog with a number of installments being outsourced ...

'' video game series, introduced in ''

Jak II ''Jak II'' is an action-adventure video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 in 2003. It is the second game of the ''Jak and Daxter'' series and it is both a sequel and a prequel to ...

'' *Aisling Duval, a princess of the Empire in the video game '' Elite: Dangerous'' *Aislinn Foy, the main character in Melissa Marr's novel ''

Wicked Lovely ''Wicked Lovely'' is a young adult/urban fantasy novel by author Melissa Marr. The story follows protagonist Aislinn, who has the Sight (the ability to see faeries), and whose life begins to unravel when it seems the fey-folk develop a sudden int ...

'' *Aisling Laffrey, a character in the video game ''

Path of Exile ''Path of Exile'' is a free-to-play action role-playing video game developed and published by Grinding Gear Games. Following an open beta phase, the game was released for Microsoft Windows in October 2013. A version for Xbox One was released i ...

'', member of ''Immortal Syndicate'' *Aisling "Ash" McCarthy, one of the two main characters in the novel ''

Like In English, the word ''like'' has a very flexible range of uses, ranging from conventional to non-standard. It can be used as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, particle, conjunction, hedge, filler, and quotative. Uses Comparisons ' ...

'' *Aisling O'Connor, a main character in the novel '' Light a Penny Candle'' *Aisling O'Dowd, a character in the television show ''

Can't Cope, Won't Cope ''Can't Cope, Won't Cope'' is an Irish comedy-drama television series. It was created by Stefanie Preissner and produced for RTÉ2 in 2016. Seána Kerslake played fund manager Aisling and Nika McGuigan played art student Danielle. They are twent ...

'' *Aisling Querelle, a character in the television show ''

Carnival Row ''Carnival Row'' is an American neo-noir fantasy television series created by René Echevarria and Travis Beacham, based on Beacham's unproduced film spec script, ''A Killing on Carnival Row''. The series stars Orlando Bloom, Cara Delevingne, S ...

'' *Aislinn Wishart, a character in the Japanese manga '' Saki'' *Aisling Noon, a character in ''

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 ad ...

'' book series by

Robert Jordan James Oliver Rigney Jr. (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007), better known by his pen name Robert Jordan," Robert Jordan" was the name of the protagonist in the 1940 Hemingway novel ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'', though this is not how the n ...

References

{{given name Irish-language feminine given names

People

Fictional characters

See also

References