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Banshee Names: 100 Irish, Scottish and Dark Names With Meanings

By Metavulgar · updated 2026-11-12 · 7 min read

Banshee names are the names people give a wailing woman of the fairy mound: a character, a roleplay voice, a monster girl in a story. The word itself is the Irish bean sídhe, "woman of the fairy mound", so the best names either come from that tradition or sound like they could. This list keeps the three kinds apart. Folklore names belong to figures in Irish, Scottish or Welsh tradition. Irish given names are real names with real meanings. Invented names are mine, built from Irish roots, and I say so each time.

How a banshee is named in folklore

Most banshees have no personal name at all. The bean sídhe is attached to a family, usually one of the old Gaelic surnames beginning with O or Mac, and she keens when a death is near. The verb "to keen" comes from the Irish caoineadh, a funeral lament, and a professional mourner was a bean chaointe. One theory says the banshee is a dead keening woman who stayed on.

The named exceptions are rare and useful. Clíodhna is tied to Munster and to the coast near Cork, and she is described as queen of the banshees of south Munster. Aoibheall (also Aibell) belongs to Craglea in County Clare and is linked to the Dál gCais family. Both are real regional figures, so they work as names with weight behind them.

Folklore names and titles

• Clíodhna: Munster banshee queen, linked to Carraig Chliona near Cork. Say it KLEE-uh-na.
• Aoibheall: Clare fairy woman, tied to Craglea. The name relates to aoibh, "pleasant, radiant".
• Badb: "crow" or "scald-crow"; a war goddess who appears before death in battle. Often placed beside banshee lore.
• Macha: a war and sovereignty figure of Ulster, one of the three Morrígna.
• Nemain: "frenzy", another of the battle trio.
• Morrígan: usually read as "phantom queen" or "great queen".
• Caoineag: the Highland weeper, who cries by waterfalls before a clan death.
• Bean Nighe: Scottish washerwoman of the ford who scrubs the clothes of those about to die. Gaelic for "washing woman".
• Cailleach: the "veiled one", a hag of winter and mountains.
• Cyhyraeth: a Welsh death spirit heard moaning along the coast.
• Gwrach y Rhibyn: Welsh "hag of the mist", who shrieks beside the house of the dying.
• Bean Chaointe: not a name so much as a title, "keening woman". Good for a human mourner character.

If you want your character to feel authentic, a title plus a given name works well: Aoibheall the Keener, Sorcha of the Cairn.

Irish given names that suit a banshee

These are real names. The meanings are the standard ones given for each.

• Aoibheann / Eevin: "radiant, beautiful".
• Aoibhinn: "delightful".
• Caoimhe: "gentle, precious" (from caomh). Pronounced KEE-va.
• Niamh: "radiance, brightness". The golden-haired woman of Tír na nÓg in the Oisín tale.
• Sorcha: "radiant, bright".
• Síle: Irish form of Cecilia.
• Siobhán: Irish form of Joan, "God is gracious". SHIV-awn.
• Róisín: "little rose".
• Orlaith / Orla: "golden princess".
• Sadhbh: "sweet, goodly". In myth a woman turned into a deer.
• Étaín: heroine of The Wooing of Étaín, reborn across lifetimes.
• Deirdre: Deirdre of the Sorrows, whose story is told as a lament.
• Dearbháil: "true desire".
• Muirne: "beloved, spirited".
• Eithne: "kernel, grain".
• Bríd: Brigid, "exalted one".
• Fionnuala: "white shoulder". Heroine of the swan legend.
• Nuala: short form of Fionnuala.
• Gormlaith: "illustrious princess". A medieval queen of Ireland.
• Aisling: "dream, vision". A fitting name for a spirit who arrives in the night.
• Saoirse: "freedom".
• Ailbhe: an old Irish name, borne by saints and heroines.
• Mór: "great".
• Maeve / Medb: warrior queen of Connacht, name often read as "she who intoxicates".
• Banba, Ériu, Fódla: names of the three goddesses of Ireland.

Names by mood

Pick the sound before the meaning. A banshee voice is long vowels, falling pitch and a lot of breath.

Soft and mournful

Aoibhinn, Nuala, Aisling, Róisín, Muirne, Sadhbh, Eithne. They feel like a lullaby that went wrong.

Regal and cold

Clíodhna, Gormlaith, Medb, Morrígan, Banba, Aoibheall. These suit a queen of the mound who is not hurrying.

Sharp and short

Badb, Mór, Orla, Sile, Macha. One syllable, one blow.

Water and mist

Caoineag, Nighe, Rhibyn, Muirne, Sorcha. Many banshee stories happen at a ford or a lake.

Invented banshee names

These are built from Irish and Welsh roots and not attested in myth. Treat them as original.

• Keenwyn: keen plus the Welsh -wyn, "white".
• Sighra: from sigh, shaped like an Irish name.
• Cairnwen: "white cairn".
• Duskeen: dusk plus the -een diminutive.
• Lorcaine: from lorc, "fierce", softened.
• Aoifer: a darker echo of Aoife, "beauty".
• Mistrael: mist plus a dark ending.
• Wailith: wail plus -ith, after Orlaith.
• Sídhra: from sídhe, the fairy mound.
• Ciarán-Ní: a surname-style name, "dark one's daughter".
• Neala Vey: Nuala with a gothic surname.
• Ravelle Ní Chaoin: "daughter of keening", original.
• Thornveil: an English-style title name.
• Elsedh: invented, soft and ancient-sounding.
• Morvaine: Morrígan crossed with vain.
• Caoin: "weep", used directly as a name.
• Hollowen: hollow plus wen, for a mound that is empty on purpose.
• Rue Ashgrove: grief herb and a place name.
• Vesperin: evening spirit.
• Dúnmara: "fort of the sea".

Banshee names for men and non-binary characters

Folklore has no male banshee, but the fairy-mound world has plenty of male figures. Useful names: Dagda, Lugh, Midir, Fergus, Cú Roí, Aengus. For a gender-neutral keener, Ailbhe, Caoin and Sídh read well.

More names from Irish history and legend

These are real women from Irish tradition. None is a banshee, but each carries the weight of a lament, a queenship or an old story, which is why writers reach for them.

• Gráinne: heroine of the pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne. The meaning is disputed, so the story is the reason to use it.
• Emer: wife of Cú Chulainn, praised for her six gifts, among them beauty, voice and wisdom.
• Fedelm: a prophetess who tells Queen Medb the future in the Táin. A natural seer name.
• Scáthach: warrior woman and teacher of heroes, linked to the Isle of Skye. Often read as "shadowy one".
• Aífe: a rival warrior queen, mother of Cú Chulainn's son.
• Ériu: the goddess who gave her name to Ireland.
• Danu: mother goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
• Boann: goddess of the River Boyne, the "white cow".
• Étaín: see above, the woman who is reborn.
• Cessair: legendary first leader to reach Ireland before the flood.
• Tailtiu: foster mother of Lugh, honoured at the Lughnasadh gatherings.
• Eimear: the older spelling of Emer.
• Ethniu: mother of Lugh in some tellings.
• Liadan: a poet of the seventh century whose love poems survive in Irish tradition.
• Mongfind: "fair-haired", a queen in early Irish legend.

Scottish and Welsh names that work

Gaelic Scotland and Wales have their own wailing and washing women, and their names pair well with the Irish ones if you want a mixed feel.

• Sìne, Mòrag, Ealasaid, Catrìona: Scottish Gaelic forms of Jean, Sarah, Elizabeth and Catherine.
• Eilidh: Scottish form of Helen.
• Ailsa: from Ailsa Craig, an island rock.
• Morven: "big mountain".
• Isla: from the River Islay.
• Gwenllian: Welsh, "white flax"; a medieval princess who led an army.
• Rhiannon: a figure of the Mabinogion, "great queen" in the standard reading, associated with birds and horses.
• Arianrhod: "silver wheel", a goddess of the Mabinogion.
• Morgan, Morwenna, Nia: Welsh and Cornish names, linked to the sea and to Irish Niamh.
• Elen: Welsh name tied to the "Dream of Macsen Wledig".

What the sound of a banshee name does in audio

A banshee is first a sound, so the name should work when spoken in a whisper. Three things help. Long vowels let the voice trail off. Soft consonants like n, m, l and r keep the breath going. A final stressed syllable lets the name fall like a sigh. Nuala, Aisling, Aoibhinn and Sídhra all do this. Hard names like Badb or Mór are better for a sharp command than for a lament.

If you write dialogue for her, let her say the listener's name in the same falling pattern. That small echo is what makes a banshee voice feel like a warning rather than a greeting.

How to pick one for a character or roleplay

1. Decide her source. Irish mound spirit, Highland weeper, Welsh coastal wailer. This sets the language.
2. Say it aloud. If you can wail it on a falling note, it works. Names with a long first vowel carry best.
3. Choose the register. A mournful keener wants soft consonants; a battle crow wants hard ones.
4. Check the spelling. Irish spellings are not phonetic to English eyes. Pick one spelling and give the pronunciation once.
5. Add a title. "The Keener of Clan Ó Briain" does more work than any single name.

Using the name in audio

In my own monster sessions a name is a small hook: it gives you something to say back. A banshee character lets you use falling vowels and breathy pauses, which is the point of this kind of voice. If you want to hear how a creature voice carries a name, begin with the Start Here course, then try the snow woman's lodge for the quietest example of a spirit who speaks in long falling lines. For names of related spirits, see yuki onna names, dullahan names and the wider monster girl names list. If you want the lore behind the wailing woman, banshee meaning and lore goes deeper, and banshee vs siren sorts out the two.

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