Dubh Linn from which the Anglicised modern name derives, translates as Black Pool which was located on the Poddle close to where Dublin Castle stands today. The modern Irish name for Dublin is Baile Atha Cliath which means 'Town of the Hurdled Ford'. You will often see both Dublin and Ath Cliath listed as a destination on cross-country buses.

Over the decades that followed the area now occupied by Dublin Castle and Christchurch was fortified and Dublin became a centre for Norse trading and raiding in the Irish Sea.

After many years and many battles the Norse, who controlled only a small portion of the coast around Dublin, recognised the authority of the Irish King and, after the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 continued with their commercial trading activites but were left a minor political force.

With the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in 1171, Dublin became the capital of Ireland replacing Tara, the capital of the High Kings. King John granted Dublin a charter in 1192. From this point Dublin and much of the surrounding area was subject to an influx of English, Welsh and Scottish settlers.

In 1366 the Statutes of Kilkenny were passed in an act of parliament by the Duke of Clarence. These were a set of apartheid style laws which aimed to restrict the power of the Irish and of the Hiberno-Normans. Edward III was concerned by several rebellions of Hiberno-Norman lords in parts of Ireland, these English had become "more Irish than the Irish themselves". The statutes state "many English of the said land, forsaking the English language, manners, mode of riding, laws and usages, live and govern themselves according to the manners, fashion, and language of the Irish enemies". The laws forbade the marriage between the Irish and English, use of Irish names, adoption of Irish children among the English, forbade Irish from entering cathedrals and prevented Irish minstrels and storytellers from visiting English areas.

As of the 2011 census, the population of Dublin is 1.27 million inhabitants, this represents an increase over the 2006 figure despite the severe economic downturn. The Republic of Ireland has a population of 4.6 million inhabitants.