What Is a Leprechaun?

The leprechaun of Irish tradition is a solitary fairy: a small, aged, usually male figure encountered alone, most often at dusk, and most often engaged in shoemaking. He is traditionally in possession of hidden money, and traditionally impossible to profit from. The name is commonly connected to the Irish leipreachán / luchorpán, often glossed as "small body"; an older folk etymology from leith bhrógan, "maker of one shoe," reflects the persistent detail that he is seen working on a single shoe, never the pair. The archive takes no side in the etymological dispute.

Yeats' division of the fairies into trooping and solitary kinds places the leprechaun firmly among the solitary: no processions and no courts. Accounts of gregarious, parade-forming, or crowd-pleasing leprechauns should be treated with caution and are generally promotional in origin (see Carlingford, 1989).

Dress

Contrary to modern expectation, the older sources dress the leprechaun in red at least as often as green: a red square-cut coat, sometimes described with rows of buttons, with a cocked or conical hat. Green becomes standard only in the twentieth century, alongside the rainbow, the pot of gold, and the breakfast cereal. Consequences for the field observer:

A small figure in red is consistent with the traditional record (see Killough, 1908 and Co. Derry, 1936).
A small figure in bright green with a buckled hat and a sign saying anything is consistent with the gift trade.
Buckles, where present, face forward. A diagram was added in 2000 and corrected in 2001.

Recorded types

The following working taxonomy is the archive's own, developed for filing purposes. It has no standing in the academic literature.

Type	Field marks	Notes
Common or Garden Leprechaun	Small; solitary; red or green coat; may carry cobbler's tools; vanishes when the observer's attention is directed elsewhere.	The reference type. All archive classifications are made against this standard.
Domestic Leprechaun	Reported indoors. Associated displacements of spoons, thimbles and coins, usually of under five inches.	Reports rarely survive the discovery of a draught, a mouse, or another member of the household.
Municipal Leprechaun	Reported on council land: parks, verges, bowling greens, the vicinity of bins.	See Liverpool, 1964, the defining case. Council responsibility has never been established in either direction.
Greater Web-Footed Leprechaun	As Common, but reported near water with a distinctive flat-footed gait.	Recorded in exactly one letter of 1987, which the archive preserves, and which the archive notes was postmarked the first of April.
False Leprechaun	Any small figure produced by a hedge, a bin bag, low sun, or an honest mistake.	The most numerous type by a wide margin. No discredit attaches to reporting one.
Decorative Leprechaun	Stationary; cheerful; weatherproof; frequently holding a sign reading "Welcome" or a small windmill.	Not a leprechaun. Garden centres are the primary habitat. See the Basingstoke report of 2004 for an instructive boundary case.
Man Standing Far Away	Apparent small stature; resolves upon approach.	Responsible for an estimated majority of all candidate observations. The archive keeps a measuring protocol on file for correspondents who dispute this.

Common false identifications

Before reporting, please eliminate in order: garden ornaments; children in costume, particularly in March; escaped or wandering animals (the Killough correspondence proposed a circus baboon, and the archive has since received red squirrel, pheasant, and on one occasion heron); reflections and low sun; and men standing far away. This list is the product of experience.

Decision tree

The tree below reproduces the laminated card issued to volunteers in 2002. Begin at Question 1 and be honest with yourself, particularly at Question 3.

Q1. Did you see a small figure?
    NO  ...................................... INFORMATION INSUFFICIENT
    YES ...................................... go to Q2

Q2. Was it stationary for the entire observation?
    YES ...................................... go to Q3
    NO  ...................................... go to Q4

Q3. Is it still there now?
    YES ...................................... PROBABLY NOT A LEPRECHAUN
                                               (consult garden centre receipts)
    NO  ...................................... go to Q4

Q4. Did the figure resolve into something else on approach?
    YES ...................................... PROBABLY NOT A LEPRECHAUN
    DID NOT APPROACH ......................... go to Q5
    COULD NOT APPROACH ....................... note the reason; go to Q5

Q5. Was the figure engaged in an activity? (shoemaking,
    counting, hurrying, regarding you with displeasure)
    NO  ...................................... INFORMATION INSUFFICIENT
    YES ...................................... go to Q6

Q6. When you looked away and looked back, was it gone?
    NO  ...................................... PROBABLY NOT A LEPRECHAUN
    YES ...................................... INFORMATION INSUFFICIENT
                                               (but record everything, in writing,
                                               and see the sightings archive)

Note that no route through the tree terminates in a positive identification. This is deliberate. The card is not to be amended.