| Eileen ( eye-LEEN or EYE-leen) is an Irish feminine given name. The name Eileen was originated by the name Helen, Elaine, or Ellen. It is the anglicised spelling of the Irish Gaelic Eibhlín, which is in turn a form of the older Irish Gaelic Aibhilín or Eilín (Anglicised as Aveline) or Hazelnut.
Eileen is also considered by many to be the Irish version of Ellen, and while this is not the name's original etymology, it is certainly possible that when Aibhilín was rendered as Eibhlín it became conflated with Ellen, which was also imported to Ireland in the Middle Ages. Ellen itself is the Medieval form of Helen, from the Greek Helene, which could be derived from Selene, from the Proto Indo-European "light, brightness". It can be argued that this is a second meaning of the name Eileen. |
