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Original poster

Naming my mixed race child and Irish name?

155 replies

ihateyousarahm · 01/05/2026 10:52

I'm pregnant with a child who will be mixed race. My family are Irish but we've lived in England for a couple of generations.

We want to respect the heritage and name our child a traditional Irish name. Some people have said it will be hard to pronoumce as it's an Irish name and we don't usually see the name and others have said it's a mixed race baby so don't. However when I said what name we should use, they don't know.

A girls name like Charlotte etc is English and although we have both lived in England for a couple of generations I'm torn.

Ideas please?

OP posts:
Cardomomle · 01/05/2026 11:00

Did you have particular names in mind? A lot of Irish names are very fashionable now and people know how to pronounce them.
What heritage is the dad, could there be a name which exists in both cultures?

PlumPuddingandGravy · 01/05/2026 10:59

I think Irish names are beautiful but you are consigning your child to a lifetime of having their name mispronounced and misspelled.

owlpassport · 01/05/2026 10:59

Use the name you like. Your baby might end up living in the USA, or Ireland, or China, or Italy. You can't give them a name that will universally be pronounced correctly. We've all come across names for the first time and had to learn how to say them.

That said, I think 'respecting the heritage' is a bit of a po-faced reason for using the name, especially if your family left Ireland generations ago. As I said, use the name you like, but don't pick an Irish name with difficult spelling just because you're 25% Irish or whatever.

Ablondiebutagoody · 01/05/2026 10:57

My child is mixed race. We chose a name that both sides of the family would pronounce pretty much the same.

JHound · 01/05/2026 10:54

I am not sure what relevance your child being mixed is? I do think the comments about pronunciation are fair but it just means she spends her life telling people how to pronounce it, which is fair.