County nicknames
Irish county nicknames
Every county has one, from Kerry’s Kingdom to Wexford’s Yellowbellies — and most of them have a story.
These are the names used on the terraces and in everyday speech. Many come from Gaelic games, others from an old kingdom, a local trade or a very old joke.
Connacht
Galway
The Tribesmen
The Tribes were fourteen merchant families who ran the walled port through the Middle Ages.
Leitrim
The Wild Rose County · The Ridge County
The second translates the county’s own name. Fewer people live here than in any other county in Ireland.
Mayo
The Green Above the Red · The Westerners
From the county colours and the song. Mayo’s wait for an All-Ireland title is the most famous drought in Irish sport.
Roscommon
The Rossies · The Sheepstealers
The second began as a jibe and is now worn as a badge.
Sligo
The Yeats County · The Magpies
W. B. Yeats is buried at Drumcliffe beneath Ben Bulben. The Magpies play in black and white.
Leinster
Carlow
The Barrowsiders · The Scallion Eaters
The Barrow runs the length of the county. The second name began as market-day banter and is now worn with pride.
Dublin
The Dubs · The Boys in Blue
Supporters fill Hill 16 in sky blue. Rural Ireland has long called the city’s people Jackeens.
Kildare
The Lilywhites · The Short Grass County
The white jersey gives the first; the close-cropped turf of the Curragh, the county’s great racing plain, gives the second.
Kilkenny
The Cats
From a tale of two cats that fought until nothing was left but their tails. Kilkenny are the most decorated side in hurling.
Laois
The O’Moore County
For Rory O’More, who led a rebellion against the plantation of his family’s lands here.
Longford
The Slashers
Carried over from the county town’s long-dominant club side.
Louth
The Wee County
Louth is the smallest county in Ireland by area. Its lands once belonged to Oriel, a kingdom shared with Monaghan and Armagh.
Meath
The Royal County
For the Hill of Tara, seat of the High Kings of Ireland.
Offaly
The Faithful County
Offaly hurlers came from five points down in the closing minutes of the 1994 All-Ireland final to win it.
Westmeath
The Lake County
Lough Owel, Lough Ennell and Lough Derravaragh all lie inside the county; Lough Ree it shares with Roscommon and Longford.
Wexford
The Model County · The Yellowbellies
The Model County comes from nineteenth-century model farms. Yellowbellies is much older, and its origin is disputed.
Wicklow
The Garden of Ireland · The Garden County
For the wooded valleys and gardens of a county whose mountains rise straight out of Dublin’s southern suburbs.
Munster
Clare
The Banner County
Usually traced to the banners carried at Daniel O’Connell’s election rallies in the county in 1828.
Cork
The Rebel County
From 1491, when the city backed Perkin Warbeck against the crown. The name took on a wider meaning after the War of Independence.
Kerry
The Kingdom
Usually credited to a nineteenth-century description of the county as a kingdom of its own. Kerry have won more All-Ireland senior football titles than anyone.
Limerick
The Treaty County · The Shannonsiders
For the treaty signed on a stone by the Shannon in 1691, at the end of the Williamite war.
Tipperary
The Premier County
From Thomas Davis, who wrote that where Tipperary leads, Ireland follows.
Waterford
The Déise
The Déisi were a people who moved south into Munster in the early Middle Ages, and the county still carries their name.
Ulster
Antrim
The Saffrons · The Glensmen
The saffron jersey has been worn for over a century. The Glens are the nine valleys running down to the north-east coast.
Armagh
The Orchard County
The apple orchards of the county’s lowlands have been worked for centuries; Armagh Bramleys carry protected status.
Cavan
The Breffni County
Breifne was the kingdom of the O’Reillys and O’Rourkes, whose lands were divided between two modern counties.
Derry
The Oak Leaf County
The oak leaf translates the county’s own name. The walled city is separately known as the Maiden City, its walls unbreached in the siege of 1689.
Donegal
The Herring Gutters · The Forgotten County
The first comes from the fishing ports along the Atlantic coast; the second from being cut off from most of its province by mountains and the border.
Down
The Mourne County
For the granite range along the southern coast. Down were the first county from Northern Ireland to win the Sam Maguire Cup, in 1960.
Fermanagh
The Erne County · The Ernemen
One of the few county nicknames taken from a river rather than a person, a colour or a trade.
Monaghan
The Farney County
Farney is a barony in the south of the county, once the heartland of the MacMahons.
Tyrone
The Red Hands · The O’Neill County
The red hand is the emblem of the O’Neills, the county’s ruling family and later its earls.
Why is Cork called the Rebel County?
Cork backed Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the English throne, in 1491. The name stuck, and later took on a wider meaning after the county’s part in the War of Independence.
Why is Kerry called the Kingdom?
The usual story credits a nineteenth-century judge who described the county as a kingdom of its own. Kerry footballers have won more All-Ireland senior titles than any other county.
What does the Déise mean?
The Déisi were a people who moved south into Munster in the early Middle Ages. Waterford still carries their name.
Sources
Every nickname and origin here was checked against a written reference, and in the game the answer card links the one used for that county. Checking corrected seven of them. Where an origin is genuinely disputed the wording says so rather than picking a side.