Eileen ( or ) is an Irish feminine

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

anglicised from Eibhlín, an Irish form of the Norman French name Aveline, which is derived from the Germanic ''Avi'', possibly meaning ''

desire Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of affa ...

'' in combination with the

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

''el'' and ''-in''. It is related to the English name Evelyn and the variant name

Aileen Aileen is an Irish feminine given name, a variant of Eileen. Notable people with this name include: People * Aileen Adams (born 1923), British consultant anaesthetist * Aileen Allen (1888–1950), American diver * Aileen Armitage (born 1930), ...

. The name Eileen has been featured in classic Irish songs. It may refer to:

People

Artists

* Eileen Agar (1899–1991), British Surrealist painter and photographer * Eileen Andjelkovitch (1896–1941), British violinist *

Eileen Fisher Eileen Fisher (June 6, 1951) is an American fashion designer and entrepreneur. She is the founder of the women's clothing brand Eileen Fisher Inc. Biography Fisher grew up in Des Plaines, Illinois, the second of the seven children. When Fisher ...

(born 1951), clothing retailer and designer * Eileen Folson (1956–2007), Broadway composer *

Eileen Ford Eileen Cecile Ford (née Otte; March 25, 1922 – July 9, 2014) was an American modeling agency executive. Along with her husband Gerard W. Ford, Gerard "Jerry" Ford, she co-founded Ford Models in 1946, which emerged as one of the earliest and m ...

(1922–2014), American model agency executive *

Eileen Gray Eileen Gray (born Kathleen Eileen Moray Smith; 9 August 187831 October 1976) was an Irish interior designer, furniture designer and architect who became a pioneer of the Modern architecture, Modern Movement in architecture. Over her career, s ...

(1878–1976), Irish furniture designer and architect * Eileen Hazell (1903–1984), Canadian sculptor and potter * Eileen Ramsay (1915–2017), British maritime photographer * Eileen Shields (born 1970), American footwear designer and entrepreneur

Entertainers

* Eileen (singer) (born 1941), American-born singer in France *

Eileen Atkins Dame Eileen June Atkins (born 15 June 1934) is an English actress. She has worked in the theatre, film, and television consistently since 1953. In 2008, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting ...

(born 1934), English actress * Eileen Barton (1924–2006), American singer * Eileen Bellomo, member of rock group The Stilettos *

Eileen April Boylan Eileen April Boylan (born May 10, 1987) is an American film and television actress. She stands and is of Filipino and Irish descent. Biography Boylan was born in Acton, California. Film Boylan made her film debut playing a younger versio ...

(born 1987), Filipina/Irish-American actress *

Eileen Brennan Eileen Brennan (born Verla Eileen Regina Brennen; September 3, 1932 – July 28, 2013) was an American actress. She made her film debut in the satire '' Divorce American Style'' (1967), followed by a supporting role in Peter Bogdanovich's ''The ...

(1932–2013), American actress * Eileen Catterson, Scottish fashion model and former Miss Scotland *

Eileen Daly Eileen Mary Theresa Daly (born 1 June 1963) is an English actress, director, film producer, writer, singer, presenter, songwriter and former adult film performer. She is also a contemporary scream queen, having starred in numerous cult film, cu ...

(born 1963), English actress, singer and director *

Eileen Davidson Eileen Marie Davidson (born June 15, 1959)Peterson, Bettelou (Knight-Ridder)"Here's the Lowdown on Eileen Davidson". ''The Ledger Enquirer TV Book''. June 12, 1988. p. 60. Retrieved August 28, 2023.Barrand, Roderick (March 30, 1988)"After ...

(born 1959), American film actress *

Eileen Derbyshire Eileen Derbyshire (born 6 October 1931) is an English retired actress, best known for her role as Emily Bishop in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. She played the character for 55 years from January 1961 to January 2016 (w ...

(born 1930), English character actress *

Eileen DeSandre Eileen DeSandre is an American stage actor and a member of the Actors' Equity Association. Known for much of her career as a character actor in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, she has more recently taken lead roles in a vari ...

, American actress *

Eileen Essell Eileen Joan Essell (8 October 1922 – 15 February 2015) was an English actress, noted in part for not beginning her screen acting career until the age of 79. Career Essell retired from stage acting in 1958 following her marriage to playwright ...

(1922–2015), Irish actress *

Eileen Farrell Eileen Farrell (February 13, 1920 – March 23, 2002) was an American soprano who had a nearly 60-year-long career performing both classical and popular music in concerts, theatres, on radio and television, and on disc. NPR noted, "She possessed ...

(1920–2002), American opera and concert singer *

Eileen Fulton Eileen Fulton (born Margaret Elizabeth McLarty; September 13, 1933) is an American actress, singer, and author. She is known for her television role as Lisa Grimaldi on the CBS soap opera ''As the World Turns'', which she played almost continuo ...

(born 1933), American actress *

Eileen Heckart Anna Eileen Heckart ( Herbert; March 29, 1919 – December 31, 2001) was an American stage and screen actress whose career spanned nearly 60 years. Early life Heckart was born Anna Eileen Herbert in Columbus, Ohio. Her mother Esther () wed Leo ...

(1919–2001), American actress * Eileen Helsby (born 1937), British actress *

Eileen Herlie Eileen Herlie (8 March 1918 – 8 October 2008) was a Scottish-American actress. Personal life Eileen Herlie was born Eileen Isobel Herlihy to an Irish Catholic father, Patrick Herlihy, and a Scottish Protestant mother, Isobel Cowden, in ...

(1918–2008), Scottish-American actress *

Eileen Ivers Eileen Ivers (born July 13, 1965) is an American fiddler. Ivers was born in New York City of Irish-born parents, grew up in the Bronx and attended St. Barnabas High School. She spent summers in Ireland and took up the fiddle at the age of nin ...

(born 1965), Irish-American musician * Eileen Joyce (1908–1991), Australian pianist *

Eileen McCallum Eileen McCallum, MBE (born 2 December 1936) is a Scottish actress who is best known for playing the part of shopkeeper Isabel Blair through the complete run of soap opera ''Take the High Road'' from 1980 to 2003, and as Liz Hamilton from 2005 t ...

(born 1936), Scottish actress *

Eileen O'Brien (actress) Eileen O'Brien is an English actress who has played a wide variety of roles in British television over many years. She appeared in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' as Beattie Dixon in 2013, having previously appeared in the show as teacher Bri ...

, English actress * Eileen Pollock (1947–2020), Northern Ireland actress * Eileen Rodgers (1930–2003), American singer and Broadway performer * Eileen Rose (born 1965), American singer/songwriter * Eileen Ryan (1927–2022), American actress * Eileen Sedgwick (1898–1991), American silent film actress * Eileen Walsh (born 1977), Irish actress * Eileen Way (1911–1994), English actress * Eileen Whitfield, Canadian journalist and playwright * Eileen Wilson (1923–2018), American television star *

Eileen Yeow Eileen Yeow (born 4 January 1972), also known as Yiu Ying-ying, is a Hongkonger-Singaporean actress and beauty pageant titleholder. She was named as one of the Five Fresh Beauties of TVB in 1995. Career Yeow won the title of Miss Singapore Univ ...

(born 1972), Singaporean actress

Politicians

* Eileen Anderson (1928–2021), Hawaii politician *

Eileen Bell Eileen Bell Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 15 August 1943) is a retired Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, Alliance Party politician from Dromara, Northern Ireland. She was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Dow ...

(born 1943), Northern Ireland politician * Eileen Desmond (1932–2005), British politician * Eileen C. Dugan (1945–1996), New York politician * Eileen Gordon (born 1946), United Kingdom politician * Eileen Hickey (New York politician) (1945–1999), New York politician * Eileen M. Hickey (1886–1960), Northern Irish politician * Eileen Lemass (born 1932), Irish politician * Eileen Malloy (born 1954), US ambassador *

Eileen Paisley, Baroness Paisley of St George's Eileen Emily Paisley, Baroness Paisley of St George's, Baroness Bannside (; born 2 November 1931), is a Northern Irish Unionist politician from Belfast. She is the widow of Ian Paisley, Lord Bannside. Baroness Paisley became a life peer in 2006 ...

(born 1931), Northern Irish politician * Eileen Parsons, British Virgin Islands politician

Sportspeople

* Eileen Ash (1911–2021), English cricketer * Eileen Coparropa (born 1981), freestyle swimmer from Panama *

Eileen Ellison Eileen Ellison (12 December 1910 – 29 July 1967) was a British Grand Prix racer. Born in Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire, she was a daughter of Sidney and Theresa Ellison (formerly Vinter). She had a sister, Diana, and a brother, Tony. Backgroun ...

(1910–1967), English Grand Prix racer * Eileen Gleeson (born 1972), Irish football manager * Eileen Gu (born 2003), Chinese freestyle skier * Eileen Hiscock (1909–1958), British athlete * Eileen McNamara (born 1952), equestrian * Eileen O'Keeffe (born 1981), Irish hammer thrower * Eileen Bennett Whittingstall (1907–1979), UK tennis player

Writers

* Eileen Albrizio (born 1960), American writer * Eileen Chang (1920–1995), Chinese writer *

Eileen Dunne Eileen Dunne (born 28 April 1958) is an Irish retired journalist, newsreader and presenter with RTÉ, Ireland's national radio and television station, where she presented the main television news programmes '' Six One News'', '' Nine O'Clock New ...

(born 1958), Irish newsreader * Eileen Gunn (born 1945), American science fiction writer and editor * Eileen Kernaghan (born 1939), Canadian novelist * Eileen McNamara (born 1952), American columnist and professor *

Eileen Myles Eileen Myles (born December 9, 1949) is an American poet and writer who has produced more than twenty volumes of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, libretti, plays, and performance pieces over the last three decades. Novelist Dennis Cooper has des ...

(born 1949), American poet * Eileen Pollock (writer) (1926–2012), American television screenwriter and producer * Eileen Power (1889–1940), British economic historian and medievalist * Eileen Tabios (born 1960), Filipino-American writer and artist *

Eileen Wilks Eileen Wilks (born November 3, 1952) is an American fiction writer living in Midland, Texas. Biography Eileen Wilks moved from West Texas to the town of Norman, Oklahoma in the summer of 2012, and has previously lived in Canada and Venezuela, ...

(born 1952), American fiction writer

Other

Eileen Barker Eileen Vartan Barker (born 21 April 1938, in Edinburgh, UK) is a professor in sociology, an emeritus member of the London School of Economics (LSE), and a consultant to that institution's Centre for the Study of Human Rights. She is the chairp ...

(born 1938), British sociologist *

Eileen Caddy Eileen Caddy Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE (26 August 1917 – 13 December 2006) was a British spiritual teacher and New Age writer, best known as one of the founders of the Findhorn Foundation community at the Fin ...

(1917–2006), founder of the Findhorn Foundation community *

Eileen Collins Eileen Marie Collins (born 19 November 1956) is an American retired NASA astronaut and Air Force colonel. A flight instructor and test pilot, Collins was the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle and the first to command a Space Shuttle missio ...

(born 1956), American astronaut *

Eileen de Coppet, Princess of Albania Eileen ( or ) is an Irish feminine given name anglicised from Eibhlín, an Irish form of the Norman French name Aveline, which is derived from the Germanic languages, Germanic ''Avi'', possibly meaning ''desire'' in combination with the diminut ...

(1922–1985) *

Eileen Rockefeller Growald Eileen Rockefeller (born February 26, 1952) is an American philanthropist. She is the youngest daughter of David Rockefeller and Margaret "Peggy" McGrath. Eileen is a member of the fourth generation of the Rockefeller family widely known as "the ...

(born 1952), daughter of David Rockefeller * Eileen McKenney (1911–1972), wife of American writer Nathanael West * Eileen Nearne (1921–2010), member of UK Special Operations Executive (SOE) * Eileen Costello O'Shaughnessy (died 1947), Irish murder victim * Eileen O'Shaughnessy (1905–1945), wife of British writer George Orwell * Eileen Saxon (1942–1945), infant known as "The Blue Baby" * Eileen Southern (1920–2002), African-American musicologist * Eileen Tallman Sufrin (1913–1999), Canadian author and labour activist * Eileen Vidal (died 2003),

kelper Falkland Islanders, also called FalklandersChater, Tony. ''The Falklands''. St. Albans: The Penna Press, 1996. p. 137. and nicknamed Kelpers, are the people of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Isla ...

telephone and radio operator

Characters

*Eileen Shallot, character in the novella '' The Dream Master'' * The Birthday Girl: Eileen *Eileen the Crow, from the 2015 video game ''

Bloodborne is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. The game follows a Hunter through the decrepit Gothic, Victorian-era–inspired city of Yharnam, whose inhabita ...

'' *Eileen Prince, mother of Severus Snape from the Harry Potter book series *Eileen, from the cartoon ''

Regular Show ''Regular Show'' (known as ''Regular Show in Space'' during its Regular Show season 8, eighth season) is an American animated sitcom created by J. G. Quintel for Cartoon Network. It ran from September 6, 2010, to January 16, 2017, over the cours ...

'' * Eileen Galvin, from the horror video game ''Silent Hill 4'' *

Eileen Grimshaw Eileen Grimshaw (also Phelan) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. Played by Sue Cleaver, the character first appeared on-screen during the episode airing on 3 May 2000. Her storylines have often incl ...

from the British soap opera ''Coronation Street'' *Eileen, a fairy in the charmed ridge level from '' Spyro: Year of the Dragon'' * Eileen, a character from Tyler Perry's 2013 film '' A Madea Christmas'' * Eileen (''Virtua Fighter''), a character in the game ''Virtua Fighter 5'' *Eileen, a character from ''

Craig of the Creek ''Craig of the Creek'' is an American animated television series created by Matt Burnett and Ben Levin for Cartoon Network. The show's pilot episode debuted directly on the TV on December 1, 2017. The series premiered online on February 19, 201 ...

Media

* ''Eileen'' (film), a 2023 psychological thriller * ''Eileen'' (novel), a 2015 novel

References

{{Given name English feminine given names English-language feminine given names Feminine given names