Mairead, also spelt Maighread, is a feminine given name, the

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

equivalent of

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

. The Irish form is spelt Mairéad, Máiréad, Maighréad, or Máighréad. Maisie is the

pet form A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek ; sometimes also ''hypocoristic''), or pet name, is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as '' Izzy'' for Isabel or '' Bob'' for Robert, or it ...

of Mairead. Margaret is derived via French () and Latin () from () meaning "

pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pear ...

". The Greek is borrowed from

Indo-Iranian languages The Indo-Iranian languages (also known as Indo-Iranic languages or collectively the Aryan languages) constitute the largest branch of the Indo-European language family. They include over 300 languages, spoken by around 1.7 billion speakers ...

(Persian). Notable people with the name include: * Mairead Buicke (born 1981), Irish operatic soprano also active in concert and recital work * Mairéad Byrne (born 1957), Irish poet * Mairéad Carlin (born 1988), Irish singer * Mairead Curran (born 1968), Australian-born children's entertainer, actress and voiceover artist * Mairéad Farrell (1957–1988), Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) * Mairéad Farrell, Irish Sinn Féin politician * Mairéad Graham, camogie player with St Anne’s Dunhill, winner of an All Ireland Junior Club championship Medal and the winner of a Club Player of the Year award later the same year * Mairead inghean Eachainn, spouse of Alexander Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan and mother of Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar * Mairead Maguire (born 1944), Irish peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate * Mairéad McAtamney (born 1944), retired Irish sportsperson *

Mairead McGuinness Mairead McGuinness (born 13 June 1959) is an Irish politician who served as the European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union from October 2020 to November 2024. A member of Fine Gael, she pr ...

(born 1959), Irish EU Commissioner * Mairead McKinley, award-winning Irish actress * Mairead Nash of ''Queens of Noize'', English indie/disco or Wonky pop DJ duo based in London * Maighréad Ní Dhomhnaill (born 1955), Irish traditional singer from Kells, County Meath * Máiréad Ní Ghráda (1896–1971), Irish poet, playwright, and broadcaster born in Kilmaley, County Clare * Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh (born 1962), Irish fiddler and the lead vocalist for the Irish traditional band ''Altan'' * Máiréad Nesbitt (born 1979), classical and Celtic music performer, most notably as a violinist * Mairead Ronan (nee Farrell), Irish radio presenter and television personality

References

{{given name Given names derived from gemstones Irish feminine given names Irish-language feminine given names Feminine given names

See also

References