Name to go with Irish named DS

Declan
Cillian

Bridget

That sounds to me like a fate worse than death .

You should be working for the EU Mathanxiety. Earning 100k a year translating all those boring policy documents in to Irish!

I am blushing very modestly here, Faktis. Weirdly, Irish was my favourite subject in school [teacher's pet emoticon] and I studied it in university as a result.

Well, I lived for a time in NI so maybe that's skewing my view. It has also meant that Tadhg is off the table for any potential DS, which is a shame cause I LOVE the name Tadhg.

But I also think Saoirse is almost as naff a name as Machushla, quite apart from the 'Ra connotations. 'Freedom' = boke.

The idea of someone calling their child Macushla is still giving me giggles.

I'm from Dublin and I don't think Saoirse has an 'Up the 'Ra' connotation there. In NI I can see that it might.

I honestly think that the hardline republican link with Saoirse is exaggerated these days - I mean, I think it's now a historical linkage.

My son is Naoise (Neesh-uh) and we live in England. Have never had any particular issues after initially spelling/pronouncing it for people. Aoife going mainstream probably helped people stop trying to yodel the 'aoi' combination.

Surely no one outside a very particular kind of Irish-American would burden their offspring with Macushla? 'Hi, my name's "My Pulse"!'

I like your list of suggestions mathanxiety. You really know your stuff. I know you're Irish but I'm Irish and I don't know this stuff! Did you go to an all Irish school or did you study Irish at university level? I'm always learning things from your posts. I swear, I've learnt more Irish from you than from some of my Irish teachers

I think the name has developed into a much more mainstream item than it used to be since Saoirse Ronan became famous.

LucyBabs -- do you hear a difference between the 'seer' of 'seersucker' and the 'surr' of 'surrender'?

The Seersha pronunciation is more correct, but I think in a northern Ireland accent the long E sound would be more clipped, hence 'Sirsha'.

I don't see the difference between Seer sha and Sir sha. Do you mean Sur sha rather try than Sir sha? Agghh I'm so confused!
I'm Irish and to me it's Seer Sha..

Floraidh - pronounced florrie

Oncemore, it 's an honesty you wont hear un rl but u have heard it here.

Ciaras and Keiras aplenty here. Names are definitely regional.

Ciara is a beautiful yet underused name where I live...only ever met two. It's high on my list should I have a daughter.

I love Saoirse, no one I've ever mentioned my love of the name to (in London where said child will live) have made an IRA connection. I pronounce it Sear-sha. It will probably be my DD2s name. DD1 will be Caoimhe. Or Róisín. Or Ornaith. Or Líadan...

It's not just that it was an IRA publication, in my experience it's a popular name among those with hard line republican views.

i still don't like Saoirse but I think a lot of people who use it now wouldn't have a clue it was the name of an IRA publication.

Enda is nice, if you're not put off by Enda Kenny! Eanna is too like Anus.

Enda mightn't cause too much gender confusion now Luca is used so often.

Grainne use Gracie in the UK?

I was living in the UK and I was going to call my dc Clodagh or Diarmuid. Two fabulous names that would go down very well in Ireland but they were met with wrinkles of noses in the uk. To my horror people confused clodagh with Claddagh!! that put me right off Clodagh!

Orla is nice but Aoife and Orla is a bit too matchy matchy

I have to agree with squoosh, I live in the ross o'carroll kelly stronghold and my friends' and neighbours' children go to colaiste iosgaín and I would still do the sideways eye roll at Machushla!

Go for something easy to spell in the uk like Cormac or Lorcan
(if it's a boy). If it's a girl, Maeve is lovely.

My favourite girls' names is Aisling. And I love Eanna and Enda for boys, but I'm sure they'd cause a lot of gender confusion in the UK!

I've been living in England for the past three years, and I did not realise how much I disliked my name until I moved - it's Gráinne (grawn-ya) and I get called granny on a regular basis! My partner and I, he is irish also, are In two minds as to whether or not we should name our child with an irish name since we will be living in England!!

*got her pronunciation...

Saoirse is a lovely name. The word itself in Irish is usually pronounced seer-sha, though in some accents it does sound more like sir-sha. That might be where Saoirse Ronan for her pronunciation, but seer-sha is definitely more common than sir-sha.

It is not, under any circumstances, pronounced say-r-sha... as I have heard on occasion on British tv

Saoirse would be an IRA name to me as well, and not just because of the magazine. Sorry OP.