List of Irish county nicknames

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.[1][2] 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"[3] – while some counties have separate nicknames for the county and people: for example Wexford is often called the Model county,[3] and Wexford people are called "yellowbellies".[3] 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,[2][3] Fermanagh,[4] and Cavan[5] have each been called "the Lake county".

  1. ^ McMahon, Seán; Jo O'Donoghue (2004). Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase & Fable. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-304-36334-6.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference lonelyp was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference gaalists was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference frlake was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference lakecv was invoked but never defined (see the help page).