This is a list of nicknames for the traditional counties of Ireland and their inhabitants. The nicknames are mainly used with reference to the county's representative team in gaelic games organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). A few of the names are quite old and well-known; most are recent coinages mainly used by journalists. Some refer specifically to the Gaelic games county colours.
Many counties have multiple nicknames – for example, Kildare may be called "the short grass county" or "the thoroughbred county" – while some counties have separate nicknames for the county and people: for example Wexford is often called the Model county, and Wexford people are called "yellowbellies". A few nicknames are shared: any Connacht county playing a team from elsewhere may be dubbed "the Westerners"; London GAA or New York GAA may be called "the Exiles"; Westmeath, Fermanagh, and Cavan have each been called "the Lake county".
List County (GAA link)NicknameOrigins and notesAntrim (GAA) The GlensmenDolan 2006, p.108From the Glens of AntrimAntrim (GAA)The SaffronsFrom the county coloursArmagh (GAA)The Orchard CountyDolan 2006, p.169The rich fruit growing country to the north-east of the city of Armagh is known as the "Orchard of Ireland". (The local electoral district in that part of Armagh is called "The Orchard".))Armagh (GAA)The Cathedral CountyDolan 2006, p.46The Primates of All Ireland's seats (both Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic) are in the city of ArmaghCarlow (GAA)The Dolmen CountyBrownshill Dolmen is near Carlow townCarlow (GAA)The BarrowsidersRiver BarrowCarlow (GAA)The Fighting CocksCarlow was famous for cock fighting in the early nineteenth century. "The Fighting Cocks" is also a crossroads on the N80 road which names a district between Tullow and Nurney and its GAA clubRathoe Village Draft Local Area Plan, p.9 "The Fighting Cocks GAA club and field are located c.2km west of the village"Carlow (GAA)The Scallion EatersIn the early nineteenth century, most of the onions sold in Leinster were grown near Carlow town Cavan (GAA)The BreffniDolan 2006, p.34Mediaeval Kingdom of Breifne, centred on CavanCavan (GAA)The Lake CountyLakes include Loughs Gowna, Oughter, Ramor, and Sheelin Clare (GAA)The Banner CountyEither the banners captured by Clare's Dragoons at the Battle of Ramillies; or the banner of "Catholic emancipation" raised by Daniel O'Connell's victory in the 1828 County Clare by-election that led to the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.Cork (GAA)The Rebel CountyShare 2001, p.205Dolan 2006, p.190Originally from Cork city's support for pretender Perkin Warbeck in 1495; reinforced by Cork's prominence in the Irish War of Independence (1919–21) and the Irish Civil War (1922–23) In 2011, Cork GAA's youth development section was rebranded as "Rebel Óg" (Irish = "young").; Cork (GAA)The LeesidersRiver LeeCork (GAA)The Donkey Aters (Eaters)Applied in particular to the vicinity of Skibbereen in west Cork, where people resorted to eating donkeys during the Great FamineDonegal (GAA)The HillsThe Derryveagh Mountains and Bluestack Mountains are called The Hills of Donegal in many folk songsDonegal (GAA)Tír Chonaill or TyrconnellMediaeval kingdom, often used in place of the official Dún na nGall as the Irish name for the countyDonegal (GAA)The O'Donnell CountyDolan 2006, p.166Mediaeval lordsDonegal (GAA)The Herring GuttersThe fishing industry is important, especially in KillybegsDonegal (GAA)The Forgotten CountyDonegal is almost cut off from the rest of the Republic of Ireland by Northern IrelandDown (GAA)The Mourne County; The MournemenMourne Mountains. In GAA contexts, "Mournemen" is often applied specifically to the football rather than the hurling team; though not alwayse.g. Down (GAA)The ArdsmenApplied specifically to the hurling team. From the Ards peninsula, stronghold of hurling in the countyDublin (GAA)The DubsDolan 2006, p.81Clipped form of "Dubliners"Dublin (GAA)The LiffeysidersRiver LiffeyDublin (GAA)The JackeensPejorative term for Dubliners; contrasted with culchiesDublin (GAA)The JacksReclaimed version of JackeenDublin (GAA)The MetropolitansDublin city is the metropolis, i.e. the capital cityDublin (GAA)The PaleThe Pale was the region around Dublin subject to English control in the 14th and 15th centuriesDublin (GAA)The Big Smoke A reference to severe smog problems that endured until the late 1980sFermanagh (GAA)The Maguire CountyMediaeval lords (cf. Baron Maguire from the 17th century)Fermanagh (GAA)The Lakeland County; the Lake CountyLough Erne dominates the topographyFermanagh (GAA)The Erne County; the ErnesidersRiver Erne and Lough ErneGalway (GAA)The TribesmenGalway city is "the city of the tribes", those being fourteen historically prominent familiesGalway (GAA)The Herring ChokersThe fishing industryKerry (GAA)The KingdomJohn Philpot Curran, MP, magistrate, and wit, said in the Irish House of Commons on 23 January 1787: "The low and contemptible state of your magistracy is the cause of much evil, particularly in the Kingdom of Kerry. I say Kingdom, for it seems absolutely not a part of the same country"Kildare (GAA)The LilywhitesShare 2001, p.170From the county coloursKildare (GAA)The Short Grass CountyDolan 2006, p.210The open pastureland of the Curragh. Attested from at least 1897Kildare (GAA)The Thoroughbred CountyShare 2001, p.224 Centre for breeding and training of racehorses. A marketing slogan, introduced in November 1999Kilkenny (GAA)The CatsShare 2001, p.112Kilkenny cats are proverbially tenacious fightersKilkenny (GAA)The Marble CountyKilkenny city was "the Marble City" because of the nearby quarry of Kilkenny marble (actually limestone) featured in its buildings and pavements.Kilkenny (GAA)The NoresidersRiver NoreKilkenny (GAA)Wet-the-guns Dates back to the 1798 Rebellion: rebels from Castlecomer, County Kilkenny, were mocked for allowing their gunpowder to get wet (and thus useless) prior to the Battle of Kilcumney.Laois (GAA)The O'Moore CountyMediaeval lords (cf. Rory O'Moore in the 17th century)Laois (GAA)"Poor and proud"Disused.Leitrim (GAA)"Lovely Leitrim"From the song "Lovely Leitrim", written in by Phil Fitzpatrick, an NYPD member from Mohill killed in 1947. It was a 1966 Number One single for Larry Cunningham. Another "Lovely Leitrim" was written in Chicago in 1956 by Jim Donnelly of Cloone and Tom Masterson of Carrigallen Leitrim (GAA)The Ridge CountyDolan 2006, p.192Leitrim town's name is anglicised from the Irish Liath Druim, "grey ridge"; Carrick-on-Shannon is Cora Droma Ruisc – "the weir of the marshy ridge". The method of growing potatoes in ridges separated by ditches was especially common in LeitrimLeitrim (GAA)The Wild Rose CountyThe Wild Rose of Lough Gill, an 1883 historical romance by Patrick G. Smyth set largely in North Leitrim. Wild roses grow profusely in northwest LeitrimLeitrim (GAA)The O'Rourke CountyMediaeval lords of western BreifneLimerick (GAA)The ShannonsidersDolan 2006, p.198The River Shannon, Limerick is the principal city on the longest river in IrelandLimerick (GAA)The Treaty CountyLimerick city is "the Treaty city" after the Treaty of Limerick in 1691. Treaty United F.C. was founded in the city in 2020.; Limerick (GAA)buttermilksLondonderry (Derry GAA)See Derry/Londonderry name dispute; the GAA uses "Derry".The Oak-leaf CountyFrom the leaf on the crest of Derry GAA; Derry is an anglicisation of Irish language Doire "oak-grove"Longford (GAA)Annaly, Land of AnnalyO'Hart, J. (1876:280). Irish Pedigrees: Or, The Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation. Ireland: McGlashan & Gill.The county is roughly coterminous with the ancient kingdom of Annaly (Anghaile).Longford (GAA)The SlashersLongford Slashers is a GAA club in Longford town. "Slasher" in the sense "man of valour" comes from Myles 'the Slasher' O'Reilly, killed defending the bridge of Finnea in 1646 during the Irish Confederate Wars. "Slasher" became a pejorative for Longford people, notably former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, with a sense akin to culchie. Still more recently it has been reclaimed by the localsLongford (GAA)The O'Farrell CountyMedieval O'Farrell familyLouth (GAA)The Wee CountyThe smallest county in IrelandMayo (GAA)The Yew County The name Mayo is anglicised from the Irish Maigh Eo, "plain of the yew", the site of a mediaeval abbeyMayo (GAA)The Heather CountyHeather is common in western MayoMayo (GAA)The Maritime CountyThe longest Atlantic coastlineMayo (GAA)"Mayo, God help us!"Mayo was the county worst affected by the Great Famine Mayo (GAA)"The Green above the Red"From the county colours (green shoulders, red breast); themselves inspired by "The Green Above The Red", a rebel song to the tune of "Irish Molly O" with lyrics by Thomas Osborne Davis: Full often when our fathers saw the Red above the Green, They rose in rude but fierce array, with sabre, pike and skian, And over many a noble town, and many a field of dead,