Brigid

BRIJ-id

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The name Brigid means “exalted one, strength.” It comes from the Irish language tradition.

One of Ireland's most sacred names, honoring both the Celtic goddess of fire, poetry, and healing, and Saint Brigid of Kildare, one of Ireland's patron saints. Her feast day, Imbolc (February 1), marks the beginning of spring. The name embodies feminine divine power.

Wiktionary derives Brigid from Brighid and Brigit, meaning high or exalted, confirming that part of the existing gloss; the added strength sense is separately supported by the Wikipedia source fetched for the related name Brigitta, which gives the shared Gaelic root brigh as meaning power, strength, vigor, virtue, with exalted one as an alternative reading.

Wikipedia identifies Brigid as a feminine given name of which Bridget is a later variation. The same Brigitta source describes a Saint Brigid of Kildare so popular in Ireland she was called Mary of the Gael, and an earlier Celtic goddess Brigid associated with agriculture and healing, and possibly also poetry and fire — though the specific feast day and patron-saint status mentioned elsewhere aren't confirmed by anything found here.

• Saint Brigid of Kildare (patron saint of Ireland)
• Brigid Berlin (American artist and Warhol associate)

Sibling names that share Brigid's rhythm and register without echoing it too closely.