Erin is a
Hiberno-English derivative of the
Irish word
"Éirinn". "Éirinn" is the
dative case of the Irish word for
Ireland - "Éire", genitive "Éireann", the dative being used in prepositional phrases such as
"go hÉirinn" "to Ireland",
"in Éirinn" "in Ireland",
"ó Éirinn" "FROM IRELAND". The dative has replaced the nominative in a few regional Irish dialects (particularly Galway-Connamara and Waterford). Poets and nineteenth-century
Irish nationalists used
Erin in
English as a
romantic name for Ireland. Often, "Erin's Isle" was used. In this context, along with
Hibernia, Erin is the name given to the female
personification of Ireland, but the name was rarely used as a given name, probably because no
saints, queens, or literary figures were ever called Erin.
