From the swoony lilt of Galway to the soft, dulcet tones of coastal Donegal, we’ve ranked our five sexiest Irish accents based on their relevant counties.
As in many other countries, Ireland’s accent varies depending on what part of the island you’re in. There were innumerable tongues to consider when trying to chalk up the five accents in Ireland that made us really hot under the collar.
However, after much deliberation, we have finally come to a decision. Assessing each one by county, here are our five sexiest Irish accents, ranked.
5. Antrim – passionate tones à la Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson is from County Antrim. Need we say more?
Although it is sometimes quite unadorned as far as Northern accents go, there are nuances in the Antrim accent that we just love. When an Antrim person tells you something, you feel like they mean it. There is passion behind what they say that energises the conversation in a way that would otherwise seem unnatural.
The Antrim accent can range from an up-and-down, sometimes even Scottish-sounding Ballymena accent, to a more neutral Belfast one (depending on what part of the city you’re living in, as it can fall under both County Antrim and County Down).
4. Roscommon – friendly and expressive
At number 4 on our list sits the Roscommon accent. We find this one to be particularly underrated as it’s often overlooked on the upper echelons of Irish accent rankings.
We can’t really pinpoint what exactly it is that makes us score it so highly – perhaps it’s the sharp pronunciations or how expressive it can be, but there’s just something really friendly about the Roscommon accent that makes us feel all warm and nice inside.
Chris O’Dowd also hails from Roscommon, and besides his cracking jokes, we think he has a pretty stellar accent too.
3. Down – swoony sounds à la Jamie Dornan
While quite similar in its acoustics to an Antrim accent, we find that the Down accent is simply more consistently fantastic to listen to.
The honeyed notes of a Down accent are just too nice to listen to for us not to include it highly on this list, and with very few exceptions, we think you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in this county that won’t have your ears perked.
When we think of particularly sexy accents from this area, we immediately place Jamie Dornan in mind. Even with his hunky looks and piercing eyes, it’s Dornan’s tenors that really make us swoon.
2. Galway – because who can resist a Galway girl?
What’s not to like about a Galway accent? Lyrical and soft, refined and clean, with the loveliest lilt if there ever was one.
Many people categorise the Galway accent to be typical of a generic “Irish” accent, i.e., the diluted impressions they hear on TV, making this one of the many differences between Ireland and Northern Ireland. However, you can’t really beat the authenticity of the real thing.
Galway is actually the third most populous city in Ireland, with a pretty hefty population spread out around the county too. That’s a lot of sexy-speaking people!
1. Donegal – soft, dulcet tones à la Enya
Finally – we have Donegal.
Unsurprisingly, this universally adored accent is number one our list of Irish counties with the sexiest accents. The Donegal accent is commonly described as the sexiest accent in all of the Emerald Isle across numerous surveys, and we couldn’t agree more.
These sweet, dulcet tones can’t be found elsewhere in Ireland. The people of Donegal have us weak at the knees and draw us in with their gorgeous tones; they seem to have a way of making even the crudest of profanities seem compelling, tasteful or just outright sexy.
Famous Donegese include the charming Daniel O’Donnell, or international superstar Enya, who became famous globally for her gorgeous voice.
And there you have them—the five sexiest Irish accents. If you’re favourite accent isn’t on here, please know that we had a pretty tough time narrowing this list down to just five.
After all, Ireland as a nation was only just recently voted the best in the entire world as far as sexy accents go, even beating out the Italians. That means there’s a whole lot of sexy moving around the Emerald Isle that’s not on this list, and it’s up to you to explore and find out where.
But it goes without saying that if you are planning a trip to Ireland, you should know that there’s a lot more than just the sexy accents to look forward to. The kindness of its people, their genuine hospitality, and the gorgeous locations offered nationwide make it top-notch in all respects.
Mind you, nice people and gorgeous locations or not, you really can’t beat a good Irish lilt!
