Irish names for English babies

Tadhg is always spelt as Tadgh by English friends who are so used to the convention of 'gh' in English spellings e.g. through, tough, borough (oh look, all different pronunciations!) It's happened a lot on this thread too!

Kids never have an issue with saying it and my son learnt to spell his own name aged 2 (obviously had heard me spell it approx. 5000 times by that point).

My DDs name was deliberately easier to spell but had a loose Irish connection - a variation of Ailbhe but spelt with an E at the beginning.

I get mad when people comment on the difficulty spelling Irish names or say that the child themselves will have issues. We get used to English names as they are more common and so forget that George and Isla aren't phonetic.

I think you have to accept people may struggle the first time with spelling or pronunciation. If people are still struggling the 50th time I get annoyed as they are clearly not listening!

And Colmán.

Caoimhe can be pronounced either Keeva or Queeva.
Keeva is Connemara and Ulster Irish and Queeva is Kerry Irish.

How about:
Dymphna
Neasa
Beibhinn
Damhnait
Aoife
Aifric

I love Ailbhe from your list. I knew two Alvys growing up in Dublin.
Also love Síofra, mentioned a few times.

I really like Ruaidhri and Séamus.
Also:
Ruadhán
Cormac
Fergus (though not in Irish)
Eoin
Niall (Nee-ull)

My daughter is Cora, apparently becoming more common now but rather uncommon at the time. She's 10 years old.

Kids can handle whatever names are thrown at them. I teach in a Cotholic school in London and most of the kids have either Nigerian or Irish names. You just learn to pronounce them and the kids don't bat an eyelid at any name. Just pick something you love.

I have an Orla, Aidan and Gabriel. Some people do mangle the 'r' in Orla but actually surprisingly few but I am in London with a pretty multicultural (although mostly white) community. In laws can't quite get it but they are very south-east RP speakers so have made my peace with that.

I LOVE their names overall and am so happy I stuck to my guns and went for Gabriel. It's a wonderful name and it suits him so well. He's going to rock it when he's a teenager.

Ah I'd definitely out myself if I wrote them. Although not extremely unusual they're not commonly used. Sorry harriet

Love this thread I'm Irish DH black British.. We've given out DS and DD Irish names. My DS is going to kill me when he's older though because I spelt it with about three extra letters than were necessary. Plus both of them have the obligatory "gh" in there somewhere :-)

Ive worked with a Londoner with Irish parents called Saoirse, which I think is a lovely name and no one seemed to struggle with it too much

😂😂😂

They actually name the daughter Muireann.

I love the bit where Rob is saying nobody can pronounce it and he shouts "how do you pronounce this name?"
All the Irish people in the room are like "MUIREANN"
"I wasn't asking you people"

I'm not sure it has really increased its pronounceability though, sadly.

Gorgeous name.

Muireann now reminds me of that episode of Catastrophe where she suggests it as a name for their daughter.

Scrubbed. Fuck knows what you are reading into my original post that has made you respond so aggressively and pompously. I have not said that the OP should or should not choose a name that is difficult to say or spell by English speakers.

The fact that I commented that Traditional Zulu names are ready hard to say and spell is a true statement. They were a nightmare to learn. However I DiD NOT_ say or imply that is was wrong of them to have Zulu names. I was teaching in a South African Township and, not surprisingly, the expectation was that a lot of the kids would have African names. The comment that the names were really difficult to pronounce was just a factual observation. I don't understand why you would take such offence at this. 

I also DID NOT SAY or imply that the only acceptable names are ones that are 'comprehended by the average monoglot English speaker'. You may have seen other posters make comments like that in other threads but I didn't say anything like that at all. Still don't let the facts get in the way of your nasty comments.

Someone said earlier to avoid names with sounds English speakers would struggle to pronounce properly AND that mispronunciation would bother you.

So, use Doireann if you are OK with Dirren. I wouldn't be.

Muireann I wouod steer clear of unless you can live with Mirren (which I understand is how it is pronounced in Scotland.

Síofra I would avoid if you need it to be Shee-ufra, but fine if Sheefra won't bother you. It wouldn't other me. (Most Irish people will say Sheefra too.

Similarly if Tie-g works for you, go for Tadhg. If you want the soft Irish T (I would) , avoid.

Ferdia is great because it is so easy to pronounce.

I wouldn't worry about spelling too much. Sadhbh is easy to say. Caoilfhionn virtually impossible for a non-Irish speaker.

Similarly with Caoimhe, although many Irish people say Kweeva and think it's fine. I could live with it although prefer it pronounced the Ulster way.

People get used to names as long as they csn learn the sounds and they make sense to them.

And also Fionn for a boy.

I'm Irish with an Irish name.

English people tend to have big problems pronouncing Áine. They say Uhn-yah. Or Onion. It's pronounced Awn-yah. Like the awn in the word awning.

Popular Irish names where I live are:

Boys:
Rory and Rúairí
Declan
Darragh/Daire/Dara
Conor (do not spell it Connor or Conner!)

Girls:
Aisling
Rua (unisex, pronounced Roo-Ah
Síofra
Doireann
Muireann

Oh and Irish pronunciation is far more regular and phonetic than English spelling.

English speakers complaining that words in a different language are "not spelled as they are pronounced" make me 😁🤔.

Yes, they are spelled as they are pronounced. They don't have any extra letters (except when pretentious Irish people use ugly old deprecated spellings like Orfhlaith instead of elegant and correct Orla).

Of course Kieran is an Irish name.

As are Maeve, Killian, and Jarlath.

They are not names in Irish, but the are certainly Irish, which refers not just to things to do with the Irish language but the culture of the island.

You might as well claim that James Joyce isn't an Irish writer.

The name Iseult is not in Irish (well except for the people who pronounceit Ishulth. And there are some) and yet it is considered to be an Irish name because it comes from Celtic mythology and is mostly used in Ireland.

I would argue that Majella and Goretti are both Irish names too, although not from Irish either.

I really loathe being told that things not as Gaeilge are not Irish.

dh is irish (we live in Scotland) and we chose Aidan for our ds. The Irish (and Ghaidlig - scottish gaelic) is Aodhan, but we went with the anglicised spelling, though we've had all our dc educated in Gaelic medium education.

We chose it knowing that his social circle would not be ghaidlig speakers, though he's very happy to be Aodhan in school.

Limitless, re-read your own post. I'm not 'getting' anything you haven't written.

There are some Irish names that are really difficult to get to grips with. I'm ok with the popular names like Niamh but some of the longer ones are very hard to decipher even when someone has told you how to say them.

At least Irish names aren't as tricky as Zulu names which often appear to be a random assortment of jumbled letters which have no resemblance to how they are pronounced. The fact they may also contain different types of 'clicks' sounds makes it even worse. For example ntombiyesizwe or Nkosiphendule. 🙈 Taking a class register used to take a long time. 😂

As you may or may not be aware, your comment, or versions of it, come up a dozen times or more on any baby names thread involving Irish baby names, and the largely unexamined notion that the only acceptable Irish names are ones that can be comprehended by the average monoglot English speaker at a glance so as to give as little 'trouble' as possible, is more than a bit tiresome by now. But at least they aren't as troublesome as Zulu clicks, right?

The Iseult I know is nicknamed Missy not Izzy (which I agree is grim).

ScrubbedPine. FFS What an unpleasant and rude response to my post. I'm not ignorant and I'm fully aware that differant languages have different rules and I didn't suggest that people should name their kids so that it's convenient for people who speak English. I've no idea where you got that idea from. .

At least with Séamus there's Séamus from Harry Potter which people will be familiar with!

From your girls' list I like Ailbhe and Aoibheann.

Séamus is a great name. A tiny Séamus in an aran jumper would be very cute indeed. Fisherman's cap and pipe optional.