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Logainmneacha na hÉireann

Baile Beo

Reclaiming Irish place names

Irish place names were anglicised over centuries. We never restored them. Let's start.

Free iPhone & Android App

"Irish placenames dry out when anglicised, like twigs snapped off from a tree."
Tim Robinson — Connemara: Listening to the Wind (2006)

How it works

Logainmneacha

60,000 Irish place names

Towns and villages across the island — each with its Irish name, meaning, and local history.

Léarscáil

Discover what's around you

Open the app anywhere in Ireland and learn about the history that surrounds you, and the ancient monuments that you pass every day.

Stair

Revive our ancient past

Become immersed in the complex history that gave every town and village its very name.

"Once you realise that 'Mainistir Eimhín' means (Saint) Evin's Monastery, and 'Monasterevin' doesn't mean anything at all, then you start to notice that kind of thing on every road sign."
Dave McGinn — Founder, Baile Beo

See it in your hands

Explore Irish place names
Discover Place Names
Journey Mode

About Baile Beo

Baile Beo is an app for Irish place names — and the histories, meanings, and stories they carry.

Every town, village, and parish in Ireland has an Irish-language name that describes the land: its geography, history, ecology, mythology. Through centuries of colonisation, plantation and anglicisation, those names were pushed aside — distorted, displaced from everyday use, and eventually forgotten by most people who pass through them daily.

The Irish language is experiencing a remarkable revival, and with it a renewed curiosity about what our place names actually mean and where they come from.

Baile Beo is part of that. Whether you're fluent in Irish or a foghlaimeoir, it puts the real names of Ireland back in your hands.

Get early access to Baile Beo

Free iPhone & Android App