The name Sligeach means "an area abounding in shells".
The poet and Nobel laureate W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) spent much of his childhood in northern Sligo and the county's landscapes (particularly the Isle of Inisfree, in Lough Gill) were the inspiration for much of his poetry.
Sligo town (population: 19,735) is home to the Sligo Institute of Technology.