These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
An Uaimh· Irish · main form · validated name
Navan· English · main form
Place & story
The Boyne and Blackwater meet
Navan stands where the Blackwater joins the Boyne. Samuel Lewis’s 1837 account describes three principal streets and a provision trade supported by the Boyne navigation towards Drogheda. Flax and flour mills in neighbouring Athlumney parish formed part of the town’s industrial economy; machinery included a steam engine supplementing milling power.[2]
Abbey, walls and government
Lewis associates the medieval town’s development with the Nangle family and a religious foundation, then records charters and grants towards its walls. The later market town combined these older institutions with the mills and river trade of its surrounding district. His account places the nineteenth-century settlement within Lower Navan barony.[2]
People & connections
Francis Beaufort of Flower Hill
Francis Beaufort was born at Flower Hill, Navan, in 1774, the son of Daniel Augustus Beaufort, rector of the town. The Royal Society’s biographical record traces his education in Dublin, early naval career and surveying work. From 1829 to 1855 he served as Hydrographer to the Admiralty, organising the production of charts for a maritime world in which inaccurate coastal information could be fatal.[3]
Beaufort is also remembered for the wind-force scale bearing his name. The Met Office preserves his weather diaries and places his concern for accurate charts in the context of a shipwreck he survived as a young man. His father had published a map of Ireland in 1792. The family’s association with mapping thus connects Navan with both Irish land surveys and the development of systematic observations at sea.[4]
An Uaimh (Navan) — Census 2016 settlement footprint
Population within 2016 settlement boundaries
33,677people · 2022
Both counts use the 2016 settlement boundary, allowing like-for-like comparison. CSO supplies the 2022 count on this older boundary for comparison only. The official 2022 Built Up Area has different boundaries.
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An Uaimh (Navan) — Census 2016 settlement footprint — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 2006 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
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Navan (An Uaimh), Legal Town, Meath — Legal town, CSO 2006 report — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 2006 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
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Navan (An Uaimh), Environs, Meath — Town environs only, CSO 2006 report — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 1996 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
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Navan (An Uaimh), Legal Town, Meath — Legal town, CSO 1996 report — census population
These are the historical areas published in the 1996 census report. Boundaries may differ between censuses and from modern settlements. Legal towns, environs and suburbs are shown separately; none has been combined into a modern settlement total.
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Navan (An Uaimh), Environs, Meath — Town environs only, CSO 1996 report — census population
Figures cover the historical town area printed in the 1986 report. Boundaries may have changed between censuses. Legal town, environs and suburb totals remain separate and differ from modern settlement boundaries.
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Navan (An Uaimh), Meath — Legal town, CSO 1986 report — census population
Navan, Meath — Town environs only, CSO 1986 report
1981–1986: town environs only
8,269people · 1986
Figures cover the historical town area printed in the 1986 report. Boundaries may have changed between censuses. Legal town, environs and suburb totals remain separate and differ from modern settlement boundaries.
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Navan, Meath — Town environs only, CSO 1986 report — census population
These figures use different area definitions. Read the boundary note before comparing them.
Navan (An Uaimh), Meath — 2011 legal town and environs; 2016 census settlement
Published census settlement populations
30,173people · 2016
Settlement boundaries changed during this period. Differences may reflect boundary changes as well as population change. Where a 2011 legal-town-and-environs count is shown, it has not been recalculated onto the 2016 settlement boundary.
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Navan (An Uaimh), Meath — 2011 legal town and environs; 2016 census settlement — census population
Navan Town Hall, County Meath illustration: based on a Navan Town Hall - 2025-12-26 01 by 瑞丽江的河水. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
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