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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Caitrìona, Ùna and Mhàiri

212 replies

dunkydunker · 15/11/2011 00:58

What do you think?

I want something Scottish but not very very obvious (DH is very very far away from Scottish)

OP posts:
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AitchTwoOh · 15/11/2011 12:17

oh if there's an island called rona btw i'd say that would mean rhona is a vocative.

AitchTwoOh · 15/11/2011 12:17

see, if you pronounce that properly it sounds a bit like Myre-itch, which is imo not too lovely. Grin

JaxTellerIsMyFriend · 15/11/2011 12:12

Poor OP, you only asked about a few names and got a right old roastinghistory lesson from the pedants.

Personally I like Catriona - pronounced Katrina. Although I do know some scottish people who pronounce it cat ree ona. And I think it depends where you are from in Scotland whether names are pronounced a certain way.

How about Mairead? I know someone with that name and she is lovely.

YaMaYaMa · 15/11/2011 12:11

Just use Angus or Shona Grin

lizziebennet · 15/11/2011 12:09

I admit, I didn't know about the Mhairi/Mairi thing and I did find it interesting.

I know someone called Iain John...now that's just Wrong

Piffle · 15/11/2011 12:09

I have a Finbar Seamus ;)
Thank god he was not a girl or DH wanted Gobnait

suzikettles · 15/11/2011 12:07

I had a friend called Rona, but I think she was named after the island. Whereas Rhona pretty common in the 1970s.

suzikettles · 15/11/2011 12:05

Wasn't there a thread once about someone who wanted to call their son Seamus James?

Which had me muttering James James Morrison Morrison Weatherby George DuPre...

AitchTwoOh · 15/11/2011 12:04

i wonder if rhona is? haven't come across it. whereas mhairi is gaidhlig 101.

suzikettles · 15/11/2011 12:03

Kirsty, Elspeth, Elsie, Fiona, Isla, Heather, Rhona, Morna.

I'm sure some of these will be Wrong though Wink

AitchTwoOh · 15/11/2011 12:03

i'm not sure caitriona is right either, now that i come to look at it. although i could be wrong.

LOVE the hamish thing, absolutely love it. but then that's the sort of obtuse ultra-scottishness that tickles me. Grin

thing is about names on MN, you post because you want the straight dope. plenty of people don't know about the Mhairi thing, and imo it's worth learning about as personally i'd rather know before calling my child after a grammatical construct. and of course it won't be wrong all the time... you would at least have the comfort of knowing that every time you gave them into trouble you would be in the right. Wink

OhBuggerandArse · 15/11/2011 11:59

Or Ciorstaidh, if you want the Gaelic spelling...

lizziebennet · 15/11/2011 11:54

Now Kirsty - that's a nice choice for the OP - Scottish but not too Scottish. (Subtle attempt there to get the thread back on track)

OhBuggerandArse · 15/11/2011 11:50

I just can't fathom why anybody choosing any sort of name wouldn't want to try and get it right! I mean, if she was proposing to call the kid Chathy, or Bhetty, or Khirsty, you'd see how weird it was - no different to that.

chipmonkey · 15/11/2011 11:49

There is no "Mh" in English so it's not correct either.

lizziebennet · 15/11/2011 11:45

X-posted

lizziebennet · 15/11/2011 11:44

But the point is that it's in no way 'wrong' in English and there's nothing to suggest that the OP evens speaks Gaelic - given what you've said it seems like she doesn't. sure, it doesn't work in Gaelic, but is perfectly sensible in English, which is the medium we're presuming she'll be using, so what's the problem?

chipmonkey · 15/11/2011 11:42

Pedantry is not restricted to the Home Counties, you know!Wink

midnightexpress · 15/11/2011 11:41

Gaelic pedants! Fabulous. Grin

AlpinePony · 15/11/2011 11:39

Wrong for you gaelic speakers, "right" for the Moray valley it would appear. Wink Incidentally, just to throw a spanner in the works, my family have always pronounced it with an M.

OhBuggerandArse · 15/11/2011 11:35

There are plenty of people called Mhairi, yes. It's still wrong. They have wrong names. Some of them even know they're wrong because they pronounce it with an 'M' rather than a 'V' sound, but they can't change the spelling because that's the one they were given. Imagine being saddled with a name that was a mistake? Wouldn't do it to my kid. And MAiri is, perfectly sensibly, a Gaelic name - Mhairi is a mistakenly spelled hypercorrection, but that doesn't stop it being Gaelic.

chipmonkey · 15/11/2011 11:32

I'm not scottish, I'm Irish and I was wondering about the Mhairi as it's wrong in Irish too! It would irritate me.
Like Caitlin, it's not Katelynn, it's Kathleen.

lizziebennet · 15/11/2011 11:30

Ultimately a name is just a collection of letters, so a name can't be wrong, it can just be a deviation from the accepted norm. I have certainly met plenty of people called Mhairi, so therefore the name must be relatively widespread.

The OP may have given those examples, but she asked for Scottish names, not a lesson on Gaelic grammar. Also, I believe that, according to you all, Mhairi is not a Gaelic name, so I guess not all the examples she gave were Gaelic.

OhBuggerandArse · 15/11/2011 11:21

It's not harsh, it's factually correct. And all the names OP suggested are Gaelic ones.

lizziebennet · 15/11/2011 11:12

I just think you are being a bit harsh with the whole 'wrong' thing. Plus there is a difference between a Scottish name and a Gaelic one, and the OP has requested Scottish names.