Top of the Morning – Meaning, Origin & Usage

“Top of the morning” is a frequently heard (and spotted) greeting both in person and online, but the true origins of the phrase may surprise and enlighten you.

This article is ongoing to cover what the phrase means, how the phrase originated, and the cultural significance of the term. We will then compare and contrast it with similar, alternative greetings, before answering your most frequently asked questions on the subject. By the end of the article, you can be sure to feel like an expert on the subject.

And without further ado, let’s get straight to it.

What does the phrase “top of the morning” mean?

The phrase “top of the morning” is simply a greeting people may say to one another when they interact with each other during the morning, as a way to wish one another a good day. It means “best of the morning”. The phrase is a cheerful one, and is suitable for both formal and informal conversation.

Some common variations of the phrase include:

• Top of the morning to you
• Top of the morning to ya
• Top o’ the morning
• Top of the mornin’
• Top of the morning to y’all
• Top of the morning to yourself

Historical origins of the phrase “top of the morning”

During the period between about 1650 and about 1700 the expression “top of the morning” was used descriptively to refer to the best of something. This is believed by many to be derived from the way cream rises in unhomogenised milk, with the cream being the best tasting part of the milk. Since cream is less dense than milk, it always floats to the top of any container.

However, the first recorded use of the phrase “top of the morning to you” as a salutation or greeting appears much later in the year 1796, when it was used by the English (not Irish) author George Walker, in his book Theodore Cyphon: Or, The Benevolent Jew.

Some of the earliest instances of the phrase “top of the morning” in writing do not involve Irish characters or authors. However, from the year 1829, the instances involving a specifically Irish context became much greater in number than all of the other instances taken together. The phrase even appeared in a novel by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, namely the classic Treasure Island.

The popularisation of the phrase really took off from 1949 onwards, when the phrase became what is called by some “Hollywood Irish”, with Irish-American pop culture. It is from this time that Irish characters in films were often to be seen using the phrase.

The phrase was then further popularised and associated with the Irish themed cereal Lucky Charms adverts which featured a cartoon Irish Leprechaun. A Leprechaun is a mythical magical creature associated with the country of Ireland and with the concept of a pot of gold to be found at the end of rainbows. By this time the phrase was already closely associated with the Irish. Incidentally, the man who voiced the Leprechaun wasn’t of Irish descent.

There has also been some speculation that the term “top of the morning” is derived from the image of clock, where the “top” of the clock (or day or morning) begins at 12 hundred hours.

“Top of the morning to ye” is also a loose translation of the Irish phrase “mora na maidine duit”, a phrase that became popular in stage productions of the 19th century, as something a cliché Irish immigrant might say.

How to use (or not use) the phrase “top of the morning”

Even though the phrase “top of the morning” did not originate as a standard morning greeting in Ireland or originate from the Irish, since around the year 1829, thanks to the influence of literature, the term became associated more and more with Irish people and people of Irish descent. This association was greatly boosted in 1959, when it was used in the film Darby O’Gill and the Little People. The result of this is that to this day, the phrase “top of the morning” has become somewhat stereotypical of Irish people.

Despite the inaccurate stereotyping, the phrase “top of the morning” remains a popular greeting by many people to this very day. And its appropriate response is still somewhat well known. 

That said however, the phrase has become such a strong stereotype of the Irish people, that many Irish and Northern Irish people don’t like to be greeted with it. This may be because they feel singled out for being Irish or Northern Irish.

If you wish to use a genuine Irish greeting with somebody, you could instead say “Céad míle fáilte!” which means “A hundred thousand welcomes”.

Some people use the phrase “top of the morning to you” to wish someone a good day, and others use the phrase to imitate or parody the Irish, even though the term is very rarely used in Ireland and Northern Ireland today. That said, the phrase is still often used in mainland UK.

The phrase “top of the morning to you” is frequently heard on St Patrick’s Day, which is a day that celebrates everything Irish, including the patron saint of Ireland, which is Saint Patrick, also known as Saint Paddy.

If someone greets you with the phrase “top of the morning to you” the correct response is “and the rest to you”, however, you could simply respond with a “thank you”.

The phrase “top of the morning to you” can also be used ironically. For example, you could say “top of the morning to you” ironically to someone who has only just arrived at some time after noon. 

Cultural significance and popularity of the term “top of the morning”

There have been many memes featuring the caption “top of the morning”, including both static images and videos on TikTok. The most well known of which is voiced by the American rapper Kendrick Lamar.

There have been several songs titled “top of the morning”from the 1980s to the present day. There’s also a book titled Top of the Morning, about the world of morning TV written by Brian Stelter and published in 2014. The phrase has also featured in raps and poems.

There has even been a film called Top o’the Morning starring Bing Crosby released in 1949 about a singing insurance investigator who comes to Ireland to recover the stolen Blarney Stone and romance a local policeman’s daughter. It was a musical comedy.

Comparing similar greetings to “top of the morning”

One (not very common) variation of the phrase “top of the morning” goes “top of the milk to yer” and is used to mean “wishing for you the best”. This is considered a corrupted version of the phrase and is not very well known at all.

Similar phrases to “top of the morning” (in the descriptive sense rather than the greeting sense) include “cream of the crop” and “creme de la creme”.

There are a great many phrases that are synonymous with “top of the morning to you”. Here are some English examples to consider using in its place:

• Rise and shine
• Wakey, wakey
• Hello there
• What a glorious morning
• Morning
• Good morning
• G’morning
• Have a great day
• G’day
• Good day to you

Morning time greetings are common across many other languages and cultures. Here are some of the more well known examples, and their language of origin:

• Buenos días (Spanish)
• Bon jour (French)
• Guten Morgen (German)
• Buongiorno (Italian)
• Maidin mhaith (Irish Gaelic)

FAQs

How should you respond to the greeting “top of the morning to you”?

The correct response to the greeting “top of the morning to you” is: “And the rest of the day to you”, or alternatively, “and the rest of the day to yourself”. Alternatively, you could respond with “thanks” or “thank you”.

One interesting, but not necessarily recommended response would be “and the bottom of the Thames to you”.

Is it offensive to use the phrase “top of the morning”?

Ever since the phrase “top of the morning” became something of an Irish stereotype following the film Darby O’Gill and the Little People in 1959, the phrase has become decidedly unpopular with native Irish English speakers, since people often use the phrase to imitate Irish and Northern Irish populations. Some even consider the phrase demeaning.

The phrase can be particularly offensive to the Northern Irish because it represents an idea of Ireland ignorant of the deep cultural differences between northern and southern Ireland, something intimately painful in the cultural mind of Northern Ireland because of the Troubles and other conflicts between the cultures of Ireland.

Among the Northern Irish are those that believe that “Hollywood Irish” didn’t try to get the language right. They don’t emulate authentic accents, and justify the ignorance by believing their audience wouldn’t understand the speech if it was represented authentically.

Final word

So, to sum up, the phrase “top of the morning” or “top of the morning to you” is simply a cheerful greeting given in the morning to wish someone a good day. If someone offers you the greeting “top of the morning to you” the most appropriate response is to say “and the rest of the day to you”.

As time passed since the origin of the phrase, the phrase has become a stereotype of native Irish English speakers, and thus has become unpopular with them. That said however, the phrase still sees popularity in the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, and Australia.

The phrase is believed by many to be derived from wishing someone the best of the day, as described by the “top” of milk, which has become creamy. The use of the phrase as a descriptive term is known to date back as far as the 1600s. However, the first use of the term as a greeting is much more recent, dating back to 1796. The phrase became much popular through Irish American pop culture from around 1949 and onwards.

The phrase “top of the morning” remains commonplace today, and is often used in films, songs, and social media memes, including both images (and their captions) and videos.