Brought to you by Casumo.com
Is luck a real thing? Is it a tangible thing you can gain or lose? Is there a guiding force in the universe? Or do you just make your own luck?
If luck is a thing, then there’s little doubt who the most people would consider the luckiest nation on the planet: the Irish.
Are the Irish actually more fortunate than people from other lands? Edward T. O’Donnell, Associate Professor of History at Holy Cross College, suggests that the phrase ‘luck of the Irish’ was actually coined during the American gold rushes over a century ago. “During the gold and silver rush years in the second half of the 19th century, a number of the most famous and successful miners were of Irish and Irish American birth… Over time this association of the Irish with mining fortunes led to the expression ‘luck of the Irish’.”
Whatever the reason, the idea has stuck. And with St Patrick’s Day this weekend – falling on a Saturday, no less – online casino Casumo.com decided to find out what made the Irish so lucky. In a poll of 1000 Irish people, they found that over half believed that lucky people made their own luck – but only 41% of those asked thought they themselves were lucky.
They also asked people what was the first name of the luckiest Irish man or woman they knew, in an attempt to uncover the luckiest Irish names of all. For men, John came out top, and Mary was considered the luckiest for women.
What are the luckiest regions though? The survey found a clear trend of Dubliners believing they were lucky more than those any other region of the country. On the other hand, people from Ulster were the most likely to believe than they were unlucky.
Here at the top five male names:
1: John
2: Michael
3: David
4: Sean
5: Mark
And for women:
1: Mary
2: Lisa
3: Margaret
4: Susan
5: Sarah
Richard Gargan from Casumo.com who commissioned the study said “Nothing is more welcome than good luck and we found that Dubliners are the luckiest of the lot. If your name is John or Mary then perhaps you’ve been blessed with the luck of the Irish too.”
