list of Irish county nicknames

!scope="col" style="width: 150px;" |County (GAA link)

!scope="col" style="width: 250px;" |Nickname

!Origins and notes

|The Glensmen

{{cite book |title=Irish Language and Culture |first=Martin |last=Hughes |author2=Gerry Coughlan |chapter=Regional variations: County nicknames |pages=[https://archive.org/details/irishlanguagecul0000unse/page/195 195–202] |date=March 2007 |publisher=Lonely Planet |isbn=978-1-74059-577-3 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/irishlanguagecul0000unse/page/195 }}

{{cite book |title=The GAA book of lists |first=Eoghan |last=Corry |isbn=978-0-340-89695-2 |pages=182–3 |year=2005 |publisher=Hodder Headline Ireland |location=Dublin }}

Dolan 2006, p.108

|From the Glens of Antrim

|The Saffrons

|From the county colours

|The Orchard CountyDolan 2006, p.169

|The rich fruit growing country to the north-east of the city of Armagh is known as the "Orchard of Ireland".

{{cite web |url=http://www.geographia.com/northern-ireland/ukiarm00.htm |title=County Armagh |access-date=23 February 2008 |publisher=Northern Ireland Tourist Board }}

(The local electoral district in that part of Armagh is called "The Orchard".){{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/councilresults/NILE2001/EAs/Ea5_25.htm |access-date=23 February 2008 |title=Northern Ireland Local Elections 2001: ARMAGH / The Orchard |publisher=BBC NI |archive-date=3 August 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030803113527/http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/councilresults/NILE2001/EAs/Ea5_25.htm |url-status=dead }})

|The Cathedral CountyDolan 2006, p.46

|The Primates of All Ireland's seats (both Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic) are in the city of Armagh

|The Dolmen County

|Brownshill Dolmen is near Carlow town

|The Barrowsiders

{{cite news|url=http://archives.tcm.ie/carlownationalist/2003/04/10/story17200.asp |date=10 April 2003 |work=The Nationalist |title=GAA: Battling Barrowsiders are pipped by Slaneysiders |access-date=23 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918081705/http://archives.tcm.ie/carlownationalist/2003/04/10/story17200.asp |archive-date=18 September 2009 }}

|River Barrow

|The Fighting Cocks

|Carlow was famous for cock fighting in the early nineteenth century.

{{cite book |title=Ireland: Her Wit, Peculiarities and Popular Superstitions |url=http://www.libraryireland.com/IrelandSuperstitions/Contents.php |first=William Robert W. |last=Wilde |author-link=William Wilde |year=1852 |location=Dublin |chapter-url=http://www.libraryireland.com/IrelandSuperstitions/III-4.php |chapter=III: Reminiscences of the West |page=87 |quote=Carlow was also celebrated for cock-fighting. About forty years ago, the following attractive notice might be seen in a cutler's window in London—"Carlow spurs sold here." }}

"The Fighting Cocks" is also a crossroads on the N80 road

{{cite web |url=http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1977/en/si/0164.html |title=S.I. No. 164/1977 – Local Government (Roads and Motorways) Act, 1974 (Declaration of National Roads) Order, 1977 |date=1 June 1977|quote=N 80 [...] Fighting Cocks' Cross Roads [...] }}

which names a district between Tullow and Nurney

{{cite web|url=http://www.carlow.ie/SiteCollectionDocuments/Development%20Plans/LADevelopment%20Plans/Rathtoe.pdf |title=Rathoe Village Draft Local Area Plan |publisher=Carlow County Council |page=13 |quote=the Tullow to Fenagh and Nurney via the Fighting Cocks area running east to west }}{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

and its GAA club

Rathoe Village Draft Local Area Plan, p.9 "The Fighting Cocks GAA club and field are located c.2km west of the village"

|The Scallion Eaters

|In the early nineteenth century, most of the onions sold in Leinster were grown near Carlow town

{{cite news |title=An Irishman's Diary |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=1 June 1934 |page=4 |url=http://home.people.net.au/~ousie/carloman.htm |access-date=23 February 2008}}

|The BreffniDolan 2006, p.34

|Mediaeval Kingdom of Breifne, centred on Cavan

|The Lake County

{{cite book |title=Ireland |url=https://archive.org/details/lonelyplanetirel00fion |url-access=registration |first=Fionn |last=Davenport |author2=Charlotte Beech |author3=Tom Downs |author4=Des Hannigan |chapter=Directory: Activities: Fishing |page=[https://archive.org/details/lonelyplanetirel00fion/page/677 677] |year=2006 |publisher=Lonely Planet |isbn=9781740599689 |quote=Cavan, 'the Lake County', is a favourite with hardcore fishermen }}

|Lakes include Loughs Gowna, Oughter, Ramor, and Sheelin

|The Banner County

{{cite journal |last=Milligan |first=Alice L. |date=April 1900 |title=An Account of his Stewardship |journal=Cornhill Magazine |location=London |volume=VIII (3rd Series) |issue=46 |page=528}}

|Either 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 an 1828 by-election for County Clare that led to the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.{{cite book|last=Spellissy|first=Sean|title=A History of County Clare|date=1 January 2003|publisher=Gill & Macmillan|isbn=9780717134601|page=39}}

|The Rebel CountyShare 2001, p.205Dolan 2006, p.190

|Originally 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)

{{cite book |isbn=978-0-906602-22-5 |page=13 |first=John A. |last=Murphy |author-link=John A. Murphy |editor=Patrick O'Hagan & Cornelius G. Buttimer |chapter=Anatomy and Essence |title=Cork History & Society |year=1993 |location=Dublin |publisher=Geography Publications }}

In 2011, Cork GAA's youth development section was rebranded as "Rebel Óg" (Irish {{lang|ga|óg}} = "young").{{cite web |title=About us |url=http://sportsmanager.ie/cake/gaa2/coiste/contentPage/103947/about_us |website=Rebel Óg |publisher=Cork GAA |access-date=26 November 2019}}; {{cite news |last1=Reilly |first1=Terry |title=Rebel Óg's appliance of science to eradicate burnout in players |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/rebel-ogs-app-liance-of-science-to-eradicate-burnout-in-players-256404.html |access-date=26 November 2019 |work=Irish Examiner |date=24 January 2014 |language=en}}

|The Leesiders

{{cite news |title=O'Flynn's late point leaves Leesiders on top |date=2 October 2006 |newspaper=The Irish Times |first=Gavin |last=Cummiskey }}

|River Lee

|The Donkey Aters (Eaters)

|Applied in particular to the vicinity of Skibbereen in west Cork, where people resorted to eating donkeys during the Great Famine{{cite book |first=Jim |last=O'Keeffe |author-link=Jim O'Keeffe |title=Dáil Éireann Parliamentary Debates – Volume 423 |chapter=Private Members' Business. – Overseas Development Aid: Motion. |chapter-url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0423/D.0423.199210070309.html |date=7 October 1992|pages=458–9 |publisher=Government of Ireland |location=Dublin |quote=The people of Skibbereen are known as the "donkey eaters" because in the last century the town of Skibbereen suffered more than any other part of the country from the Famine. It is still a folk memory there}}

|The Hills

|The Derryveagh Mountains and Bluestack Mountains are called The Hills of Donegal in many folk songs

|Tír Chonaill or Tyrconnell

|Mediaeval kingdom, often used in place of the official Dún na nGall as the Irish name for the county

|The O'Donnell CountyDolan 2006, p.166

|Mediaeval lords

|The Herring Gutters

|The fishing industry is important, especially in Killybegs

|The Forgotten County

|Donegal is almost cut off from the rest of the Republic of Ireland by Northern Ireland

|The Mourne County; The Mournemen

{{cite news |title=Hitting the Target – Ulster Council decision not to be taken light(ly) |last=Archer |first=Kenny |date=28 May 2008 |work=Irish News |page=58 |quote=The footballers are 'the Mournemen' while the hurlers are 'the Ardsmen', even though there are many Down footballers from outside the Kingdom of Mourne and a few decent hurlers on 'the mainland'}}

|Mourne Mountains. In GAA contexts, "Mournemen" is often applied specifically to the football rather than the hurling team; though not alwayse.g.

{{cite news |title=The Championship – Derry hurlers in fine form for title holders |date=26 July 2008 |work=Irish News |page=73 |quote=Derry were given little chance of beating the Mournemen but they produced a sparkling performance}}

{{cite news |title=Happy days for Down hurler Johnston |last=Campbell |first=John |date=7 June 2007 |work=Belfast Telegraph |quote=Even before last Sunday's embarrassing mauling by Antrim, the Mournemen were already destined for the Christy Ring Cup}}

|The Ardsmen

{{cite web |url=http://www.ulstergaa.ie/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/runai-report-for-convention-2006.pdf |title=Rúnaí report for 2006 |last=Ó Murchú |first=Donall |publisher=Ulster GAA |page=5 |access-date=8 March 2009 |quote=despite the best efforts of the Ards men, representing Down, it was Antrim who lifted the Senior Hurling Championship}}

{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2005/0529/ulster.html |title=Down advance to Ulster hurling final |date=29 May 2005 |publisher=RTÉ|quote=the Ardsmen run out nine-point winners |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091008074540/http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2005/0529/ulster.html |archive-date=8 October 2009 }}

|Applied specifically to the hurling team. From the Ards peninsula, stronghold of hurling in the county

|The DubsDolan 2006, p.81

|Clipped form of "Dubliners"

|The Liffeysiders

|River Liffey

|The Jackeens

|Pejorative term for Dubliners; contrasted with culchies

|The Jacks

{{cite journal|url=http://www.village.ie/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=2234|title=The Jacks are back |journal=Village |date=1 June 2006 |first=Paul |last=Rouse|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071119044450/http://www.village.ie/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=2234 |archive-date=19 November 2007 }}

{{cite news|url=http://archives.tcm.ie/roscommonherald/2005/07/20/story1647.asp |title=The Jacks are back |work=Roscommon Herald |date=20 July 2005 |first=Liam |last=Devine|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070628204957/http://archives.tcm.ie/roscommonherald/2005/07/20/story1647.asp |archive-date=28 June 2007 }}

{{cite web |url=http://www.mee.tcd.ie/rik/ |title=Dubliners who have made it into my hall of fame and why |date=23 May 1995|first=Richard |last=Bolger |quote=Kevin Heffernan [...] Destined to immortality in the chant:
   "The Jacks are back, The Jacks are back,
   Let the railway end go barmy,
   Hill 16, Has never seen,
   The likes of Heffos army }}

|Reclaimed version of Jackeen

|The Metropolitans

|Dublin city is the metropolis, i.e. the capital city

|The Pale

|The Pale was the region around Dublin subject to English control in the 14th and 15th centuries

|The Big Smoke

| A reference to severe smog problems that endured until the late 1980s

|The Maguire County

|Mediaeval lords (cf. Baron Maguire from the 17th century)

|The Lakeland County; the Lake County

{{cite web|url=http://www.fermanagh.gov.uk/minuteuploads/23.2.05.doc |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071116051250/http://www.fermanagh.gov.uk/minuteuploads/23.2.05.doc |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 November 2007 |title=Minutes of the meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee |publisher=Fermanagh District Council |location=Council Chamber, Townhall, Enniskillen |date=23 February 2005|quote=The Committee also considered a letter from Westmeath County Council which expressed a desire to develop links between County Westmeath and County Fermanagh, highlighting similarities including the status as a 'Lake County' [...] }}

{{cite web|title=Down beat Fermanagh in game of attrition |url=http://www.rte.ie/sport/2005/0618/down.html |date=18 June 2005|publisher=Raidió Teilifís Éireann |quote=Colum Bradley looked very sharp for the Lake County |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091008074139/http://www.rte.ie/sport/2005/0618/down.html |archive-date= 8 October 2009 }}

|Lough Erne dominates the topography

|The Erne County; the Ernesiders

{{cite news |title=Football: DIVISION 1 A – FERMANAGH The Ernesiders |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20060205/ai_n16049486 |date=5 February 2006 |work=Sunday Mirror}}

|River Erne and Lough Erne

|The Tribesmen

|Galway city is "the city of the tribes", those being fourteen historically prominent families

|The Herring Chokers

|The fishing industry

|The Kingdom

|John 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"

{{cite book |last=Curran |first=John Philpot |author-link=John Philpot Curran |title=The Speeches of the Right Honourable John Philpot Curran |editor=Thomas Osborne Davis |publisher=James Duffy |location=Dublin |year=1855 |edition=2nd |page=[https://archive.org/details/speechesrightho01currgoog/page/n66 67] |url=https://archive.org/details/speechesrightho01currgoog |quote=I say Kingdom, for it seems absolutely not a part of the same country.. |editor-link=Thomas Davis (Young Irelander)}}

|The LilywhitesShare 2001, p.170

|From the county colours

|The Short Grass CountyDolan 2006, p.210

|The open pastureland of the Curragh. Attested from at least 1897

{{cite news |newspaper=The Irish Times |page=6 col. I |date=14 July 1897 |title=Co. Kildare Cricket Club: Tour in the South |quote=The following players will represent the "short grass" county [etc.]}}

|The Thoroughbred CountyShare 2001, p.224

{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1999/1116/Pg021.html |title=Kildare exploits its 'horsey' image |last=Cassidy |first=Colman |date=16 November 1999 |newspaper=The Irish Times |page=16|quote=Kildare has adopted the horse as its official logo by assuming a new identity as the "thoroughbred county". The brand was officially introduced yesterday by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy [...] Kildare is home to the Irish Turf Club, the Curragh, Punchestown and Naas racecourse, the National Stud, the Irish Equestrian Centre, Weatherbys (keeper of the Stud Book) and Goffs – with more than 120 stud farms and more than 60 training establishments }}

|Centre for breeding and training of racehorses. A marketing slogan, introduced in November 1999

|The CatsShare 2001, p.112

|Kilkenny cats are proverbially tenacious fighters

|The Marble County

|Kilkenny city was "the Marble City" because of the nearby quarry of Kilkenny marble (actually limestone{{cite web |last1=Clarke |first1=Aaron |last2=Parkes |first2=Matthew |last3=Gatley |first3=Sarah |date=2007 |url=https://secure.dccae.gov.ie/GSI_DOWNLOAD/Geoheritage/Reports/Kilkenny_Audit.pdf#page=25 |page=24|publisher=Geological Survey Ireland |title=The Geological Heritage of Kilkenny}}) featured in its buildings and pavements.

|The Noresiders

|River Nore

|Wet-the-guns

{{cite journal |last=Smyth |first=P. G. |date=November 1899 |title=The Revolt of Wogan's Wolf-Dogs |journal=Catholic World |volume=70 |issue=416 |page=208 |url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moajrnl&cc=moajrnl&idno=bac8387.0070.416&node=bac8387.0070.416%3A6&frm=frameset&view=image&seq=220}}

| 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.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

|The O'Moore County

|Mediaeval lords (cf. Rory O'Moore in the 17th century)

|"Poor and proud"{{cite web|url=http://laoisheritagesociety.com/chairmans-address-page.html |title=Laois – a county steeped in history and heritage |last=Fennelly |first=Teddy |publisher=Laois Heritage Society |access-date=14 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120905003739/http://laoisheritagesociety.com/chairmans-address-page.html |archive-date= 5 September 2012 }}{{cite news|title=An Irishman's Diary|last=Quidnunc|date=18 February 1939|newspaper=The Irish Times|page=6|location=Dublin}}

|Disused.

|"Lovely Leitrim"

{{cite news |title=Social isolation and poverty blamed for early death |url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/social-isolation-and-poverty-blamed-for-early-death-1453658.html |last=Guidera |first=Anita |date=13 August 2008 |work=Irish Independent|quote=Men in the county known as 'Lovely' Leitrim}}

{{cite news |title=Leitrim aims to stop the laughing |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/newsfeatures/2007/0623/1181771676422.html |last=McGreevy |first=Ronan |date=23 June 2007 |newspaper=The Irish Times |page=5| quote=Even in the bad old days the county was known as "Lovely Leitrim"}}

|From the song "Lovely Leitrim", written in by Phil Fitzpatrick, an NYPD member from Mohill killed in 1947.

{{cite news |title=Lovely Leitrim recorded |date=27 November 1965 |work=Leitrim Observer |page=2 }}

It was a 1966 Number One single for Larry Cunningham.

{{cite web |url=http://www.leitrimgaa.ie/ut.php?ut=ddOpfBpsYk4 |title=Lovely Leitrim by Larry Cunningham |publisher=Leitrim GAA |access-date=9 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090628152404/http://www.leitrimgaa.ie/ut.php?ut=ddOpfBpsYk4 |archive-date=28 June 2009 |url-status=dead}}

Another "Lovely Leitrim" was written in Chicago in 1956 by Jim Donnelly of Cloone and Tom Masterson of Carrigallen

{{cite news |title=A tribute to county Leitrim |date=15 September 1956 |work=Leitrim Observer |page=2 }}

|The Ridge CountyDolan 2006, p.192

|Leitrim 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 Leitrim

|The Wild Rose County

|The Wild Rose of Lough Gill, an 1883 historical romance by Patrick G. Smyth set largely in North Leitrim. Wild roses grow profusely in northwest Leitrim

|The O'Rourke County

|Mediaeval lords of western Breifne

|The ShannonsidersDolan 2006, p.198

|The River Shannon, Limerick is the principal city on the longest river in Ireland

|The Treaty County

|Limerick city is "the Treaty city" after the Treaty of Limerick in 1691. Treaty United F.C. was founded in the city in 2020.{{cite news |last1=Malone |first1=Emmet |title=Limerick's Treaty United to apply to play in League of Ireland First Division |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/national-league/limerick-s-treaty-united-to-apply-to-play-in-league-of-ireland-first-division-1.4405382 |access-date=27 September 2021 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=10 November 2020 |language=en}}; {{cite news |last1=Cunneen |first1=Andrew |title=It's enjoyable watching Treaty United play soccer |url=https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/sport/650791/opinion-it-s-enjoyable-watching-treaty-united-play-soccer-andrew-cunneen.html |access-date=27 September 2021 |work=Limerick Leader |date=21 July 2021 |quote=The name Treaty United is horrific. The focus of the name is actually on an agreement that would be later reneged upon by the British who initially guaranteed liberty to Catholics in Ireland – post-surrender in the Siege of Limerick in 1691. I am still to this day unsure why a city with so much more interesting history choose to bear the tagline Treaty given the subject matter.}}

|buttermilks

|

|The Oak-leaf County

|From the leaf on the crest of Derry GAA; Derry is an anglicisation of Irish language Doire "oak-grove"

|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).{{Cite web|url=http://www.irishcentral.com/county-longford-87157902-237774081.html|title=What's your Irish County? County Longford|date=18 May 2023|website=IrishCentral.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishamericanmom.com/county-longford-the-heart-of-ireland/|title=County Longford - The Heart of Ireland|date=4 January 2019}}

|The Slashers

|Longford 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.

{{cite news|url=http://archives.tcm.ie/kildarenationalist/2000/10/20/story9914.asp |title=Eye on the Past – No. 420 |work=Kildare Nationalist |date=20 October 2000 |first=Frank |last=Taaffe|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090919010712/http://archives.tcm.ie/kildarenationalist/2000/10/20/story9914.asp |archive-date=19 September 2009 }}

"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 locals

|The O'Farrell County

|Medieval O'Farrell family

|The Wee County

|The smallest county in Ireland

|The Yew County

{{cite book |last=Whittow |first=John Byron |title=Geology and Scenery in Ireland |publisher=Penguin |location=Harmondsworth |year=1974 |series=Pelican geography and environmental studies |page=169 |isbn=978-0-14-021791-9 }}

{{cite news|url=http://archives.tcm.ie/westernpeople/2006/06/13/story31446.asp |title=Mayo's finest fighters to be honoured at Night of the Champs |date=13 June 2006 |work=Western People|quote=With men and women of the highest administrative standing overseeing the promotion, development and expansion of boxing within Mayo, the titles have continued to filter back to the Yew County |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918081853/http://archives.tcm.ie/westernpeople/2006/06/13/story31446.asp |archive-date=18 September 2009 }}

| The name Mayo is anglicised from the Irish Maigh Eo, "plain of the yew", the site of a mediaeval abbey

|The Heather County

|Heather is common in western Mayo

|The Maritime County

|The longest Atlantic coastline

|"Mayo, God help us!"

{{cite book |title=Irish Journal [Irisches Tagebuch] |others=translated by Leila Vennewitz |chapter=Ch.4: Mayo – God help us |first=Heinrich |last=Böll |author-link=Heinrich Böll |page=25 |quote=Now the Irish have a strange custom: whenever the name of County Mayo is spoken (whether in praise, blame or noncommittally), as soon as the mere word Mayo is spoken, the Irish add: "God help us!" |year=1998 |orig-year=1957 |publisher=Northwestern University Press |isbn=978-0-8101-6062-0 }}

|Mayo was the county worst affected by the Great Famine

{{cite book |title=Black '47 and Beyond: The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy, and Memory |first=Cormac |last=Ó Gráda |pages=[https://archive.org/details/black47beyondgre00ogra/page/28 28, 92] |isbn=978-0-691-01550-7 |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1999 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/black47beyondgre00ogra/page/28 }}

|"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:

{{cite book |title=The Spirit of the Nation: Ballads and Songs by the Writers of "The Nation" |first=Thomas Osborne |last=Davis |author-link=Thomas Davis (Young Irelander) |pages=264–5 |chapter=The Green above the Red |publisher=James Duffy |location=Dublin |year=1845 }}

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,

They proudly set the Irish Green above the English Red

|The Royal countyShare 2001, p.209Dolan 2006, p.194

|The Hill of Tara, seat of the legendary High Kings of Ireland, is in Meath

|The FarneyDolan 2006, p.89

|Mediaeval territory of Farney, later the Barony of Farney in south County Monaghan. A 2004 article suggests the nickname dates from the prominence of Farneymen in the early years of Monaghan GAA.{{cite web |url=http://www.irishidentity.com/extras/island/stories/farney.htm |title=Farney is just part of Oriel |last=McCluskey|first=Seamus|date=December 2004 |work=Monaghan's Match}}

| The Oriel County

| Airgíalla, anglicised Oriel, a medieval kingdom with territory overlapping the modern county; north Monaghan people prefer the nickname "Oriel" to "Farney".{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/regionals/kerryman/sport/other-sports/a-quick-guide-to-monaghan-football-27375089.html|title=A quick guide to Monaghan football|date=8 August 2007|work=Irish Independent}}

|The Drumlin County

|Drumlin fields dominate the local topography

|The Faithful CountyShare 2001, p.133

|In 1953, Andy Croke wrote, 'If ever Offaly earns a name like "Rebel" Cork or "Premier" Tipperary, I believe it will be the "Faithful" County, for nowhere else are hurlers and football more intent on sticking to their colours, which incidentally are green, white and gold.'

{{cite news |work=Sunday Independent |date=14 June 1953 |page=10 |title=Fate was unkind to Offaly |first=Andy |last=Croke}}

Also attributed to Martin O'Neill (Leinster GAA secretary 1927–69){{cite web|url=http://offaly.gaa.ie/history/|title=History |quote=the prophetic words of the then Leinster Council Secretary Martin O’Neill over 60 years ago when he proclaimed Offaly "The Faithful County"|publisher=Offaly GAA|access-date=22 February 2018}}; {{cite web|url=https://crokepark.ie/getattachment/27bbedef-63f6-4ea8-a991-4dff9d6ff63a/Leinster-Provincial-Council-Minute-Books.aspx#page=5|title=GAA/LEN/01 : Leinster Provincial Council Minute Books, 1915–1980|work=crokepark.ie/|publisher=GAA|page=iii|access-date=22 February 2018}} and Bob O'Keeffe (GAA president from 1935–38).

{{cite web|url=http://www.gaa.ie/main/?c=sb-plugin-gocontacts&sb-plugin-gocontacts_task=view_item_details&id=116641737211 |title=GAA Presidents: Robert O'Keeffe |publisher=GAA |access-date=11 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720113207/http://gaa.ie/main/?c=sb-plugin-gocontacts&sb-plugin-gocontacts_task=view_item_details&id=116641737211 |archive-date=20 July 2008 }}

Possibly because the county is strong in both hurling and gaelic football. The motto on the 1983 county coat of arms is Esto Fidelis "Be You Faithful"

{{cite web|author=Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society |location=Tullamore |date=9 January 2007 |url=http://www.offalyhistory.com/articles/8/1/Offaly----Ai-Failghe-The-Faithful-County-Coat-of-Arms/Page1.html|title=Offaly – Úi Failghe (The Faithful County Coat of Arms) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117031703/http://www.offalyhistory.com/articles/8/1/Offaly----Ai-Failghe-The-Faithful-County-Coat-of-Arms/Page1.html |archive-date=17 November 2007 }}

|The Biffos

|Acronym for "Big ignorant fucker from Offaly".{{cite book |editor1-last=McMahon |editor1-first=Sean |editor2-last=O'Donoghue |editor2-first=Jo |title=Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable |date=2009 |publisher=Chambers Harrap |url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/orionirishpf/biffo/0 |access-date=January 4, 2022 |chapter=BIFFO |via=Credo Reference}}{{cite web |last1=Black |first1=Fergus |title=Biffo is OK to use on air 'because the minister thinks that it's Offaly funny' |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/biffo-is-ok-to-use-on-air-because-the-minister-thinks-that-its-offaly-funny-25993106.html |website=Independent.ie |access-date=January 4, 2022 |date=March 3, 2005}}{{cite web |last1=McKittrick |first1=David |title=Introducing Biffo, Ireland's Taoiseach waiting in the wings |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/introducing-biffo-ireland-s-taoiseach-waiting-in-the-wings-805134.html |website=The Independent |access-date=January 4, 2022 |date=April 6, 2008}}

|The Rossies

|

|The SheepstealersDolan 2006, p.209

|A common cause of transportation to Australia, the crime was common in Roscommon as it was easy to cross the River Shannon to raid Westmeath and Longford

|The Cattle Rustlers

|Queen Medb the Queen of going to war to steal cattle was born here

|The Yeats County

|Childhood and spiritual home of William Butler Yeats

|The Herring Pickers

|The fishing industry

|Land of Heart's Desire

|Tourist branding from Yeats's 1894 play The Land of Heart's Desire, set in the barony of Kilmacowen.{{cite book|last=Gaffey|first=Sheila|title=Signifying Place: The Semiotic Realisation of Place in Irish Product Marketing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35pyHG8zboUC&pg=PA62|year=2004|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-3934-3|page=62}}

|The Zebras

|From the county colours (black and white)

|The Magpies

|From the county colours (black and white)

|The Premier CountyShare 2001, p.201

|In the 1840s editor of the Nation newspaper stated that "Where Tipperary leads Ireland follows" due to the nationalistic feeling in Tipperary. The title of The Premier county was further strengthened by the foundation of the GAA and starting the war for Irish independence within County Tipperary. .

{{cite book |last=Murphy |first=Donal A |title=The two Tipperarys : the national and local politics – devolution and self-determination – of the unique 1838 division into two ridings, and the aftermath |publisher=Relay |location=Nenagh |year=1994 |series=Regional studies in political and administrative history |volume=1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/twotipperarysnat0000murp/page/73 73] |isbn=978-0-946327-13-3 |quote=The origins of the tag, 'The Premier County', perpetuated by sportswriters and in an occasional burst of political rhetoric, are unidentified by eleven other county-wide local historians whom I've consulted |url=https://archive.org/details/twotipperarysnat0000murp/page/73 }}

Attested from 1864

{{cite news |title=The "International Boxing Match" |date=8 October 1864 |work=The Nation |pages=110, col.2 |quote=it redounds infinitely to the credit of this force that such a debasing and inhuman spectacle of English customs and English sport was prevented from being enacted in this country, especially in Tipperary, the premier county of Ireland }};

{{cite journal |title=Irish Local Government |quote=Tipperary ("the premier county") |last=Morris |first=William |journal=Macmillan's Magazine |location=Cambridge |volume=48 |number=286 |date=August 1883 |pages=286–292 : 287 |url=https://archive.org/stream/macmillansmagaz37grovgoog#page/n297}} Tipperary has rich prosperous farmland of the Golden Vale. Another is that Tipperary was the seat of Butlers, Earls of Ormond

|The Stone ThrowersDolan 2006, p.228

|Tipperary agitators were unusually militant during the Land War of the 1870–90s.

{{cite journal |first=Hanna |last=Sheehy-Skeffington |author-link=Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington |title=The Women's Movement – Ireland |journal=Irish Review |date=July 1912 |pages=225–7 |quote=in Land League times 'Tipperary stone-throwers' became proverbial }} cited in {{cite book |title=Gender and Sexuality in Modern Ireland |url=https://archive.org/details/gendersexualityi00brad |url-access=registration |editor=Anthony Bradley, Maryann Gialanella Valiulis |first=Margaret |last=Ward |chapter=Nationalism, Pacifism, Internationalism: Louie Bennett, Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, and the Problems of "Defining Feminism" |isbn=978-1-55849-131-1 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |year=1997 |location=Amherst |page=[https://archive.org/details/gendersexualityi00brad/page/64 64]}}

Stone Throwers Park in Tipperary Hill, Syracuse, New York commemorates an incident in the 1930s when a group of Irish Americans threw stones to prevent an upside-down traffic light being set with the "red above the green".{{cite web |title=Mayor's Proclamations: Stone Throwers Park Day |url=http://www.syracuse.ny.us/mayorDocs/2/Stonethrowers.3-14-07.pdf|first=Matthew J. |last=Driscoll |author-link=Matthew Driscoll |date=14 March 2007 |publisher=City of Syracuse }}

|Tipp

|Clipping of Tipperary.

|The Home of Hurling

|Referring to Tipperary's success in winning the first All Ireland senior hurling title, and winning most "firsts" in hurling.

|The O'Neill CountyDolan 2006, p.168

|Mediaeval lords

|The Red Hand County, the Red Hands{{cite news|url=http://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/gaa/gaelic-football/gaelic-football-news/cathal-mccarron-says-tyrone-up-2119082 |title=Cathal McCarron says Tyrone are up against it when they take on Ulster champions Monaghan at Croke Park – |last=Scully |first=Michael |date=3 August 2013 |work=Irish Daily Mirror|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303234431/http://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/gaa/gaelic-football/gaelic-football-news/cathal-mccarron-says-tyrone-up-2119082 |archive-date=3 March 2016 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.northernsound.ie/sport/after-match-reaction-monaghan-tyrone/ |title=After match reaction: Monaghan–Tyrone |date=3 August 2013 |publisher=Northern Sound Radio|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824091135/http://www.northernsound.ie/sport/after-match-reaction-monaghan-tyrone/ |archive-date=24 August 2013 }}

|The Red Hand of Ulster on the county's GAA crest, also on the arms of the O'Neills

|"Tyrone among the bushes"

|Of unknown origin. Possibly popularised in a poem A Sigh for Old Times by Strabane poet William Collins who took part in the Fenian raids into Canada:

"O God be with the good old times when I was twenty-one

In "Tyrone among the bushes", where the Finn and Mourne run

When my heart was gay and merry, recked then not of care or toil

Blithesome as the bells of Derry ringing o’er the sunny Foyle"

But the phrase is found predating Collins in A Legend of Knockmany in William Carleton's Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry (1845).{{cite book |isbn=978-1402175084 |first=William |last=Carleton |title=Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry |year=1845 |publisher=Adamant Media Corporation }}

|The Déise, DeciesDolan 2006, p.74

|Mediaeval kingdom of the Déisi

|The Suirsiders

|River Suir

|The Gentle County

{{cite news |title=Clicking into the burning heart of Déise connection |url=http://www.examiner.ie/story/sport/qlkfcwgbsn/rss2/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216233754/http://www.examiner.ie/story/sport/qlkfcwgbsn/rss2/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 February 2012 |date=2 September 2008 |work=Irish Examiner|quote=The viking logo is somewhat at odds with Waterford's Gentle County nickname}}

{{cite news|title=Honouring memory of Wallace [letter] |url=http://archives.tcm.ie/waterfordnews/2007/09/28/story26714.asp |last=Aulsberry |first=Bill |date=28 September 2007 |work=Waterford News & Star|quote=Waterford, the county that has the nickname of the 'Gentle County' |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090919010828/http://archives.tcm.ie/waterfordnews/2007/09/28/story26714.asp |archive-date=19 September 2009 }}

|The Gentle County: a Saga of the Decies People by Nicholas Whittle was published in 1959.

{{cite web |url=http://www.waterfordcountymuseum.org/exhibit/web?task=Display&art_id=21&pagenum=23 |title=People in Waterford History – 20th Century: 23. Nicholas Whittle |last=Fraher |first=Willie |date=26 July 2001 |publisher=Waterford County Museum|display-authors=etal}}

He chose the title because "We in Waterford have never been too prone to blow our own trumpet"

{{cite news |title=City Chatter: The Title |author=Man-about-town |date=27 February 1959 |work=Munster Express |page=9 }}

|The Crystal County

|Waterford Crystal

|The Lake CountyShare 2001, p.167

|Site of many lakes, including Loughs Derravaragh, Ennell, Lene, Owel and Ree

|The Model CountyDolan 2006, p.157

|From its progressive farming methods and model farms The first agricultural school in Ireland was opened in Wexford in the 1850s;Share 2001, p.179 however, the nickname "model county" was established by 1847

{{cite book |last=Meagher |first=Thomas Francis |author-link=Thomas Francis Meagher |title=Speeches on the Legislative Independence of Ireland |publisher=Redfield |location=New York City |year=1853 |pages=95–7 |chapter=Irish Confederation—National Union |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pVwNAAAAYAAJ&q=intitle:Speeches+intitle:on+intitle:the+intitle:Legislative+intitle:Independence+intitle:of+intitle:Ireland|quote=14 January 1847, a meeting of Irish Peers, Commoners, and landed proprictors, of all creeds and partics, convened by the requisition alluded to, took place in the Rotunda, Dublin. [...] Mr. Charles A. Walker, D.L, Co. Wexford, regretted to state, that Wexford, "which hitherto had been the 'model county' of Ireland, was in similar destitution [...]"}}

"Exemplar Hiberniae" is the motto chosen for the county arms in 1987.{{cite web|url=http://wexfordcountyarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/October-1987.pdf |title=Report of General Purposes Committee Meeting |last=Wexford County Council |date=5 October 1987 |publisher=Wexford county archives|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912115915/http://wexfordcountyarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/October-1987.pdf |archive-date=12 September 2014 }}
and {{cite book|last=Creedon|first=William P.|title=Exemplar Hiberniae: 100 Years of Local Government in County Wexford|year=1999|publisher=Institute of Public Administration|isbn=9781902448138}}

|The Yellowbellies

|Said to have been first applied to a Wexford hurling team raised by Sir Caesar Colclough, which won a challenge match in Cornwall in the reign of William III of England while wearing yellow sashes in tribute to William as Prince of Orange.

{{cite book |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ireland02halluoft |title=Ireland: its scenery, character, &c. |chapter=Wexford |page=Vol II, p.151, footnote |publisher=Jeremiah Howe |year=1846 |location=London |first=Samuel Carter |last=Hall |author-link=Samuel Carter Hall |author2=Anna Maria Hall |quote=Out of compliment to William, the Irish were provided with yellow sashes, or handkerchiefs, for their waists, from which circumstance Wexford men are still often called "yellow bellies."|author2-link=Anna Maria Hall }}

The county colours (yellow with purple shoulders) reflect this pre-existing nickname

|The Slaneysiders

|River Slaney

|The Strawberry Pickers

|Due to its relatively warm dry climate, it grows more strawberries than most of Ireland

|{{lang|ga|An Contae Riabhach}} "The Streaked/Grey County"{{multiref|

{{cite web |title=Loch Garman/Wexford |url=https://www.logainm.ie/en/100019 |website=Logainm.ie |access-date=20 December 2021 |language=en}}|

{{cite web |title=Glossary of words commonly found in Irish placenames: riabhach |url=https://www.logainm.ie/en/gls/129-riabhach |website=Logainm.ie |access-date=20 December 2021 |language=en}}

}}

|Former Irish-language name used by Seosamh Laoide{{cite book |last1=Laoide |first1=Seosamh |title=Leabhar geograiphe le haghaidh sgol agus coláisti na hÉireann |date=1906 |publisher=Educational Company |location=Dublin |oclc=7650530 |page=15}}

|The Garden of IrelandShare 2001, p.141 the Garden countyDolan 2006, p.103

|Possibly from the planted estates of estates such as Powerscourt House; or from the county's scenery;

{{cite book |title=The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland |first=J. Stirling |last=Coyne |author-link=Joseph Stirling Coyne |author2=N.P. Willis |display-authors=etal |quote=The county of Wicklow has justly been termed "The Garden of Ireland," for nowhere else is to be found assembled such a variety of natural beauties, heightened and improved by the hand of art |chapter-url=http://www.libraryireland.com/SceneryIreland/VII.php |date=c. 1841 |chapter=Vol. I, Chap. VII |author2-link=Nathaniel Parker Willis }}

or serving as a garden for the adjacent city of Dublin. Formerly "the garden of Ireland" has been applied to: the Blackwater valley between Mallow and Fermoy;

{{cite book |title=Researches in the South of Ireland: Illustrative of the Scenery, Architectural Remains, and the Manners and Superstitions of the Peasantry |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.53161 |first=Thomas Crofton |last=Croker |author-link=Thomas Crofton Croker |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.53161/page/n154 130] |quote= [...] the Blackwater between Mallow and Fermoy, a tract dignified by the name of the garden of Ireland [...] |publisher=John Murray |year=1824 |location=London |chapter=VII: The River Blackwater }}

Carlow town;

{{cite book |url=http://www.bartleby.com/81 |title=Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable |author=Ebenezer Cobham Brewer |year=1898 |publisher=bartleby.com |quote=Garden of Ireland Carlow |isbn=978-1-58734-094-9 |location=Philadelphia }}

{{cite book |title=The Whistler at the Plough ... with Letters from Ireland |first=Alexander |last=Somerville |page=443 |quote=The country around this town [sc. Carlow] is called the garden of Ireland: it well deserves the name. There are about 500 acres of onions and parsnips grown annually [...] |chapter=Letters from Ireland during the Famine of 1847: No III: Kilkenny, 27 January |publisher=James Ainsworth |year=1852 |location=Manchester }}

Killough Hill near Cashel;

{{cite book |title=Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland |url=https://archive.org/details/fairylegendsand01crokgoog |first=Thomas Crofton |last=Croker |author-link=Thomas Crofton Croker |page=[https://archive.org/details/fairylegendsand01crokgoog/page/n270 258] |chapter=Scath-A-Legaune |quote=From the Cashel road the hill of Killough is pointed out to the traveller as Gardeen a Herin, the garden of Ireland, in consequence of a belief that it is a national natural botanic establishment, and that every plant which grows in Ireland is to be found upon it. |publisher=John Murray |year=1828 |edition=2nd |location=London }}

eastern County Westmeath;

{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/w.php |access-date=26 February 2008 |title=A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland |chapter=Westmeath (County of) |quote=Throughout the eastern part of the county the soil is a heavy loam from seven to twelve inches (305 mm) deep, resting on a yellow till: the land here is chiefly under pasture and feeds the fattest bullocks; from its great fertility it has been called the "garden of Ireland;" |first=Samuel |last=Lewis |author-link=Samuel Lewis (publisher) |year=1837 |publisher=S. Lewis & Co. |location=London }}

and the province of Ulster

The Earl of Derby, speaking in the House of Lords in opposition to the Irish Church Act 1869; quoted in {{cite book |series=The Prime Ministers of Queen Victoria |others=ed. Stuart J. Reid |publisher=Harper & Brothers |location=New York |year=1892 |title=The Earl of Derby |url=https://archive.org/details/earlderby00saingoog|first=George |last=Saintsbury |author-link=George Saintsbury |page=[https://archive.org/details/earlderby00saingoog/page/n211 192] |quote=These are the men who, united by you to settle in Ireland, converted Ulster from a barren waste into a thriving province; and who, by their energy, their industry, and their steady conduct, have made the province of Ulster not merely the 'garden of Ireland' but the most gratifying and wonderful contrast to those parts of Ireland in which the Protestant religion does not prevail }}

|The Goat Suckers

{{cite news |work=Wicklow People |title=Gearing up for the championship|date=27 March 2008 |quote=I knew a man once who used to say the {{sic}} Dublin would win nothing without a Wicklow man on the team, a bit of an exaggeration perhaps but if you look through the record books you will find quite a few 'goat-suckers' on Dublin teams in the past }}

|Feral goats roam the Wicklow Mountains.

|The Last County{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WWrZGAAACAAJ&q=The+Last+County+-+The+Emergence+of+Wicklow+as+a+County+1606-1845|title=The Last County: The Emergence of Wicklow as a County 1606–1845|first=County Wicklow Heritage|last=Project|date=1 February 1993|publisher=County Wicklow Heritage Project}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.irishidentity.com/extras/clans/stories/wicklow.htm|title=Wicklow – Ireland's last county|website=www.irishidentity.com}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.countywicklowheritage.org/page/the_last_county_-_a_general_view_of_county_wicklow?path=0p2p|title=A General View of County Wicklow | The Last County | Places | County Wicklow Heritage|first=Community|last=Sites (www.communitysites.co.uk)|website=www.countywicklowheritage.org}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.countywicklowheritage.org/page/the_last_county_-_wicklow_on_the_eve_of_the_famine?path=0p4p67p|title=The Last County – Wicklow on the Eve of the Famine | THE LAST COUNTY | Topics | County Wicklow Heritage|first=Community|last=Sites (www.communitysites.co.uk)|website=www.countywicklowheritage.org}}

|Wicklow was the last part of Ireland to be formed into a county by English administrators (in 1606), due to the rebellious O'Byrne and O'Toole clans.

!County

!Nickname

!Origins and notes

|The Ravens

| Ravens appear on the crest of Fingal.

| The Northsiders

| Fingal is north of the River Liffey (although "Northsider" often refers to part of Dublin city rather than rural Fingal).

|Herts

|Clipping of Hertfordshire{{cite web|url=http://www.hertsgaa.co.uk/ |title=Hertfordshire County Board |access-date=7 May 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080106232628/http://hertsgaa.co.uk/ |archive-date= 6 January 2008 }}

|Lancs

|Clipping of Lancashire{{cite web|url=http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/winter.aspx|title=Winter in Lancashire – Lancashire County Council|first=Lancashire County|last=Council}}

|Red Rose County{{cite web|url=http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/weird-news/britains-dogging-hotspot-revealed-county-9618173|title=UK's dogging hotspot revealed as county voted best place for sex with strangers|first=Paul|last=Byrne|date=13 January 2017}}

|Red Rose of Lancaster, badge of Henry IV of England and symbol of the county of Lancashire

|The men from the county Hell

|"Boys from the County Hell", 1984 song by the Pogues

|The Exiles

|Recruited from Irish emigrants "exiled" in Britain. The nickname is also used for New York GAA and London Irish rugby union club

|The Exiles

|Recruited from Irish emigrants "exiled" in New York. The nickname is also used for London GAA

|The non-Ardsmen

{{cite news|url=http://www.irishnews.com/appnews/597/5776/2009/2/9/609691_371723114482NonArdsme.html |title=Non-Ardsmen have 'keeper to thank |last=Fitzpatrick |first=Matt |date=9 February 2009 |work=Irish News|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303173614/http://www.irishnews.com/appnews/597/5776/2009/2/9/609691_371723114482NonArdsme.html |archive-date=3 March 2016 }}

|Players are selected from outside the Ards peninsula, the stronghold of Down hurling

|Warks

|Clipping of Warwickshire