Kildare’s historical landscape includes a county town name, a major administrative centre at Naas and territorial labels that crossed later boundaries.
⊕Recorded locationKildare53.18227° N · 6.82181° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
Cill Dara· Irish · main form · validated name
Kildare· English · main form
Place & story
An inland Leinster setting
Lewis’s 1837 county article places Kildare between Dublin and Wicklow to the east and the then King’s and Queen’s counties to the west. The Liffey, Barrow, Bog of Allen and Wicklow uplands recur in his descriptions.[2]
The county and the town of Kildare
Kildare town grew around Brigid’s religious foundation and retained a diocesan role. Naas developed separately as a market and assize town on the southern road.[3][4]
People & connections
Ernest Shackleton’s Kilkea connection
The polar explorer Ernest Shackleton was born at Kilkea in County Kildare in 1874. His family later moved to London, and his seafaring career began as a teenage apprentice.[5]
Shackleton joined the Discovery expedition in 1901, beginning the Antarctic career for which he is remembered. The Kilkea association links a rural county home with the international networks of shipping, exploration and migration.[5]
Figures cover the whole county including its cities. CSO recommends this series for long-term comparison, although minor boundary changes have occurred.
View population figures
County Kildare, including its cities — census population
placenames