 An 1883 painting by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes depicting an aisling | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈaʃl̠ʲəɲ] |
|---|---|
| Gender | Feminine |
| Language(s) | Irish |
| Origin | |
| Meaning | 'dream' or 'vision' |
| Other names | |
| Short form(s) | Ash |
Aisling is an Irish language feminine given name meaning "dream" or "vision". [1] [2] [3] 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 century. [4] 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 and Omeath. [5]
Contents
There are many variant anglicised forms of the name including Ashling, Aislin, Aislinn, Aislene, Ashlyn, and Ashlynn. [4] Pronunciation of the name also varies, with the most common pronunciation being /ˈæʃlɪŋ/ ASH-ling; other forms acceptable to Irish speakers are /ˈæʃlɪn/ ASH-lin and /ˈæʃliːn/ ASH-leen. Others, such as /ˈeɪzlɪŋ/ AYZ-ling, /ˈæslɪŋ/ ASS-ling, and /ˈeɪslɪŋ/ AYSS-ling, do not follow the Irish pronunciation.
Aisling held steady in the top 20 girls' names in Ireland from 1984 to 1996 [6] and is therefore often linked with the millennial generation in Ireland, most notably in the Oh My God What A Complete Aisling novels. [7] Aisling was the 9th most popular name for baby girls in Ireland in 1990 (471 times used), and the 8th most popular in 1991 (451 times used), though by 2018 it had dropped to the 96th most popular (62 times used). [8]
