Irish names for English babies

Irish names are always going to be pronounced differently by non Irish people. If that irritates I'd say go for a different name

Not if they are told how to say it. I always think these threads make the British out to be really stupid, as if they can't cope with any names from other countries. It's not really that difficult, you meet someone and they tell you their name, you say it just like they tell you. How is that so confusing?

I have a Shèa, regularly gets mispronounced as She a...as in 2 words. Should have spelt it Shay!

Irish names are always going to be pronounced differently by non Irish people. If that irritates I'd say go for a different name.

My little girl is called Niamh
I love the name
It's unique and nobody else has it where we live

And even the anglicized version doesn't work in the UK when it's pronounced using Irish sounds - a friend called Emer maintains she is consistently called Emma or E-ma as no-one can pronounce the Irish R

That makes me slightly impatient - there IS no 'Irish R', it's just a rhotic or voiced 'r'. Most dialects of English in England and Wales are non-rhotic, meaning don't pronounce 'r' in certain positions (such as at the end of a word like Emer, but as even non-rhotic speakers can manage the intrusive and linking 'r' that appears in a phrase like 'Africa and India', 'Victoria and Albert museum', 'law and order' which are generally pronounced as 'AfricaR and India', 'VictoriaR and Albert musuem' and 'lawR and order', I don't think it's an unsuperable obstacle.

Admittedly I imagine that those people would say they are pronouncing Emer correctly, just in their own accent, just as if I were saying, in my rhotic accent, the name Amanda Adams, I wouldn't say 'AmandaR Adams.'

Take it from me in the U.K. Clodagh gets various incarnations of Clogdack, Clodag, Cloga

But Lizzy is correct- Clo (like the start of chloe) Da (like the start of dad)

Thanks :) I don't know, Lizzy! I'm glad I know though as it is really annoying when people get your name wrong.

Why would you make a clog sound for the first syllable when the g is at the end? I'd understand pronouncing it 'clod-ack' easier than clog-da

It's clo-dah ftr

I've no idea how to pronounce Clodagh. I'd probably say Clogg-darrrr.

You're right Maud re. the spelling reform. That's why people are wrong when they say Orla is an anglicisation.

My mum's parish priest was NOT impressed with my pagan name.

The priest refused to baptise my brother unless he was given a Christian middle name to go with the pagan Irish first name. My parents had to think of one on the spot

You may be right Maud - remember roll call in school when everyone's name was called out in Irish and there were some weird translations - was Jennifer Siobhan or something? And if you were James it would be switched to Seamus. I don't remember them changing the spelling of Orla to Orlaith though...

I think an anglicised version of an Irish name is the worse option! Eg killian

I don't mind Killian. I'd say I know equal amounts of Killians and Cillians. And I love the St Killian cheese!

I'm not sure that all of these simplified spellings are actually anglicisations - like Conor/Conchubhair, Emer/Eimear, Orla/Orlaith etc. I always thought they were part of the Caighdeán Oifigiúl from the mid-century. Anyone know anything about that?

Clodagh
Aine
Emer
Cara
Tara
Deirdre
Etain
Eilis
Una

Ciaran
Cian
Cillian
Eoin
Niall
Liam

None of those are too hard are they??

I was born (in Ireland) in the early seventies, when I think there must have been a big trend for Irish names (probably a reaction from our mothers having all been called a variant of Mary...) and most of my friends with Irish names have an anglicized version. It's not just lazy spelling, it was probably a soft way to re-introduce the Gaelic names as you were expected to have a saint's name, not a pagan one. My mum's parish priest was NOT impressed with my pagan name.

And even the anglicized version doesn't work in the UK when it's pronounced using Irish sounds - a friend called Emer maintains she is consistently called Emma or E-ma as no-one can pronounce the Irish R

I have s Cillian - we figured this was an easy one for most English people

He does get Sillian a lot but easy to correct, I did think it would be better known because of Cillian Murphy but do get some looks from people - I just explain it's Irish like me

Not going to avoid s perfectly acceptable name that's part of his heritage because it's unusual on this side of the water!

I have a 9 letter mouth full of an Irish name and admit that I generally use the shortened version for ease and because of this we ruled out some of the harder names

Other names just don't sound right when said by English people e.g.
Cathal

I think an anglicised version of an Irish name is the worse option! Eg killian

I suppose the longer an angliscised version has been around the more it's recognised as a legitimate name rather than a lazy spelling.

I know an Ailish and an Aisling and think they are both really lovely names.

Shockingly enough, people outside of London are capable of grasping names that are not white bread and one syllable. How bloody insulting

Yes, my London-born son (with not only an Irish first name of the kind deemed 'unpronounceable' by the nay-sayers but with both his parents' Irish surnames) is managing fine at his rural midlands primary school where the teachers and pupils manage to get their heads around names from Asian, African and Eastern European backgrounds on a daily basis.

The people shrieking on about how all children should be called George and Olivia otherwise they don't 'fit in' clearly live in some white middle-class ghetto where the natives are crippled with an inability to listen and repeat a name that may be initially unfamiliar.

Conor
Connel
Fergal
Finbar
Eoin

Arlene
Bridget
Catriona

johnboy you're definitely confused
I went to school with two Caoimhes. One pronounced it Keeva, her parents were from NI
The other pronounced it Queeva they were from Dublin.
Personally prefer Queeva

Michael or Kevin

Having to constantly spell your name is boring and sometimes embarrasing. Mostly children want to fit in and to be the same as their friends. I longed to be called Catherine, or something as equally english.

Sorry but this made me laugh, so your name is Catherine/Katherine/Katharine/Kathryn, is that with a C or a K, an a or an e, and i. or a y. Yes, hell on earth to have a name you need to spell.