Caitrìona, Ùna and Mhàiri

curryspice the spelling and orthographic changes seem to have originated with the old exam board (now the SQA) and go back as far as 1985 so not really new. It would not really have made sense to resist as it made things easier and more consistent for users of the language although some still comment on preferences for some aspects of the old system.

I agree moll, boys names were not chosen for reasons of compensation but rather to observe the tradition of the time which was to use the family names and could mean that in one family you might have small Donald, young Donald, red headed Donald etc.

Your Donegal friend is right, RonnieBirtles. It is either Ush-een or Osh-een, depending on regional accent. It couldn't be Oh-sheen unless the O had a fada, which it doesn't normally though the two you know might have tacked fadas on.

Nothing wrong with Mairéad -- it normally has a fada on the E but sometimes people use a fada on the first A also, making the pronunciation Maw-raid instead of Mah-RAID.

An Irish 'Caitríona' would need to have the two Is there on either side of the consonants. If a slender vowel precedes a consonant then then the consonant must be followed by a slender vowel (I and E are slender).

Spelling reform in Irish was undertaken very successfully during the last century. The letter H was added in place of the dot over a consonant to indicate lenition (softening) of the consonant where grammar dictated a change in spelling and pronunciation. Many superfluous letters were cast aside in favour of more streamlined spellings although with the sound preserved -- I think this task is far easier when a language is only spoken by a minority and basically mostly taught in schools as opposed to one used daily by millions.

One example of spelling reform is the name Mairéad, which was reduced from Mairghréad via Maighréad to its current form. The old spelling Maighréad is recalled in the Máiréad form, as it would have been pronounced Maw-raid in some accents. Another example of spelling reform in action is the slimming down of Orfhlaith via Orlaith to Orla. The old spelling indicates the meaning better (flaith = princess) but the pronunciation is the same no matter how you spell it.

Not hoping for a boy, just named after men. I have two uncles with the same name - they were named after different people.... I have an Aunt (by marriage) called Archina. Bless her. Hasn't lived in Scotland for forty years either....

I'm from the most Gaelic of Gaelic places. Every Catriona I know pronounces it Katreena (or Kuh-tree-una if they are a bit more teuchy). Cah-tree-ona is a bit weird to me tbh.

Aksherly OP, I think what you should do is what proper old highlanders did and just turn a boy's name into a girl's name. My grandad's neighbours were three ancient siblings called (I won't attempt the Gaelic versions) Red Duncan, Black Duncan and...Duncina (hard 'c'). The local graveyards there are stuffed with Williaminas, Alexandras and the like. One suspects their parents were perhaps just a little bit hoping for a boy...

wholesale

Oh my goodness this is the most interesting thread I've read in ages :o even though I don't speak a word of gaelic - although I do have an Isobel

What has really piqued my curiosity is the idea of a spelling reform...what the heck?! How would that work? Are you allowed to resist? That is an idea totally alien to an English speaker although my Dutch DP has told me about changing spellings in Dutch but I don't know if that was part of a wholeslae reform!

I LOVE this kind of thing!!

Lol

Not so nice for a girl though.

And I also love Donald

mirren or mirrin are lovely

What the heck is wrong with Mairead?

Muireann is a fabulous name, btw!

Irish Gaelic pedants, please settle something else for me.

Oisin (sorry, can't do fada on my keyboard). I have known two Oisins in RL who pronounce it Oh-sheen. However, a friend from Donegal recently told me it is Osh-een (or sort of Uh-sheen in her accent) and that Oh-sheen is definitely wrong. Puzzled, as the two Oisins I know are both very definitely Irish (and I am a plastic paddy second generation Irish).

lol.

so having received a lecture in broad with broad, slender with slender further down the page, i ask again Is Catriona Correct?

Muireann is Irish, pronounced Mwir-inn. It's used as an equivalent of Marian but I don't think that's correct, etymologically, as the Irish -eann suffix usually indicates the English -ness suffix. (As in Doireann, Soireann; darkness, brightness)

Cu-tree-uh-na is the Irish pronunciation of Caitríona too, Tabularasa.

There is only one correct spelling of Niamh.

my sister is catriona pronounced cu-tree-un-a (sort of)
I though that was a highlands way of saying it and ca-tri-oh-na is the lowlands way.
but I know very little about it other than my sister spent years trying to get people to pronounce her name before giving up and just being 'cat'

Ooh I thought it was just me...

I have to fight the urge to tell people called mhairi that it's not a name

OP, if you like it and it's got a sentmental reason behind it as well, use it, it's a pretty sound and no-one will say it's not really a name, to your face anyway, lol

it's more of a real name than some you cone across.

i realise now that i have. i do like mirren, but have seen muirreann i think, or something similar.

LOL at jenny

ha ha Jenny, amusing indeed, this has been a great thread

haha, just had this conversation with DP, about Maggie May:

-there's a wee girl out there named after a pub round the corner, guess what her name is?
-i dunno?

• it's super scottish. double barrelled.

Oh ive got one, Brooke-lynn

Isnt mirrin a japanese food flavouring?

Im intrigued by Alexandreau-Le -Prince.....

aitch, Oighrig is two syllables, the second one is easy: 'rig'

the first one is I suppose a bit like 'oeil' the French for eye and remember the last L in oeil is not pronounced.

You would find this name very easy if you heard it? Have you never heard it?

oh! There's a Maggie May on this list! We have a winner!

there are 4 bajillion spellings of niamh.

What about Mirren?