Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

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

Original poster

Irish names for English babies

135 replies

harrietm87 · 29/10/2016 10:31

Hello. Not pregnant (yet!) but would love to give my future babes Irish names. I'm Irish, DH English. We live in a multicultural bit of London. Interested to hear people's favourite Irish names and opinions on how traditional/obscure it's possible to go without being accused of child abuse! (Guessing Sean is ok, Feidhlimidh not...). For context I love Ruaidhri, Seamus, Siofra and Ailbhe (but so many good options!)

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
Helspopje · 29/10/2016 17:46

I'm Scots in England with an English dh and all my attempts to use gaelic or traditional Scottishnames have been vetoed on account of difficult spelling/pronunciation. I road tested a few on English friends and the one that sticks in my mind is Eilidh which is consistently in the top 10 mist popular names in Scotland. My English friends all thought it was 'eye-lid' and convinced me that I had to give up on these names if the family was likely to stay in England

No mhari pronounced vari or sandy short for Alexander :(

ManonLescaut · 29/10/2016 17:36

Yseult is one of my favourite names.

Orlaigh is lovely but there are quite a lot of them. Danu.

orangebird69 · 29/10/2016 16:57

Finula/Finola. Beautiful girls name. Not hideous when shortened and kind of say what you see so no confusion about how to pronounce it.

Buttwing · 29/10/2016 14:14

I live in England but a lot of my friends are Irish, so names they have are

Seamus (Seamy for short)
Niamh
Orla (know loads of Orlas)

Agnes
Iseult
Aine
Roan
Paddy
Gabriel
Roisin
Malachi
Declan
Daragh
Bridie
Ciara

My family is Italian and dps is English, We chose Italian names for our four dc but nothing too hard to pronounce as I have a very Italian name that is always being mispronounced!

Vixxfacee · 29/10/2016 13:57

I like Tadgh, Grainne and Eithne

Maverickismywingman · 29/10/2016 12:01

I think Seamus Heaney is where I get that idea from. A name full of character though. I have great affection for Irish names

SausageSoda · 29/10/2016 12:01

Maeve is pretty easy to spell and pronounce and is a nice name. Niamh and Aoife have increased in popularity so shouldn't be too difficult.

You could go for anglicised spelling of Irish names such as Orla instead of Orlaith but that defeats the purpose really I suppose.

Original poster
harrietm87 · 29/10/2016 11:55

Great suggestions so far! Grainne is one I might avoid because of inevitable "grainy" mispronunciation! I love orla and roisin.

I think that old man association for Seamus is brill! And mega fan of Seamus Heaney.

OP posts:
Maverickismywingman · 29/10/2016 11:15

Love Orla and Gráinne. We have an Irish origin surname, so I love this thread.

I like Seamus, but I wouldn't chose it myself. Only because it conjures Images of an older beardy Aran sweater wearing fellow

Sugarpiehoneyeye · 29/10/2016 11:10

My friend is called Roisin, she also gets 'Rosie'.
I think it's a lovely name.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread