How do you feel about traditional Irish names?

Aghh spelling sorry! On phone. As for above thread to Anglaise name. Please do not insult the Irish language by doing this! If you like the name, use the name as it is.

From way up thread all Caolán I know are pronounced Kale-in. I'm also NI

However, it always works me up people arguing the way something is pronounced, it's due to different derelicts.

Caoimhe - keeva or qweva
Bebhinn - Bayveen or Bevin
And the list goes on ...

As for using Aoife in London, if you love it go for it!! Why are people so hung up on Irish names. Don't see other cultures on here saying well I live in England can I no longer use a Polish, Asian, Dutch, Norwegian, Italian, Spanish, French name ... of course you can!! Yes you may have to spell it but I have a most common English name (which is in fact Italian if history is looked at) and I still get asked to spell it. Plus when you get past school age how many people actually need to write your name. In work people will have access to getting the spelling of your name.

I imagine you'll be fine in cosmopolitan London. Out here in the parochial sticks - still just a pronunciation & spelling problem, really.

I encounter very few Irish names & don't know how to say them when I do. The spelling makes no sense in English & some don't sound that nice in English (to my ears, anyway). Some sound fine, of course.

Just speaking for me: I would anglicise the spelling & choose one that sounds nice in English. Where I come from lots of people anglicise how they say & spell their names so I don't see those as bad things to do.

I want to see a return of Assumpta, Attracta and Concepta.

Seorse (George) boys name - Shor-sheh

Sorcha - girls name - Surr-ah-keh

Saoirse (freedom/liberty) - girls name - Seer-sha/Sare-sha (depending on region)

Gobnait

Will it ever have a comeback?

Oh regardless of origin it just depends on the name. Aoife, clodagh, cillian yeah, lovely names. gobnait, eanna (and similar), proineas no. Never

I get that, math -- that's why it annoys me that people mispronounce Sorcha. Which I rather like as a name, despite a friend saying it always makes her think of 'scorched'.

Calling girls Sorcha and pronouncing it Sorsha. Double fail .

I think they mean Sorcha?

George is Seoirse (Shor-sheh), so not the same as Soresha (which should be 'Surr-uh-kha').

Mitzy, thanks to Catholicism, many French, Spanish, Italian and Latin names were used in Ireland and maybe some still are. I am thinking of names like Aloysius, Pius, Ignatius, Alphonsus, and Augustine for boys and Majella, Marcella, Consuela, Concepta, Attracta, and Immaculata for girls. I had a forebear whose second middle name was Michaelangelo and another whose middle name was Stanislas, after Stanisław Kostka S.J. who lived from 1550 to 1568.

There is also the Soresha thing (Sorcha)

That drives me mad, for some reason. Possibly just because I hate the name George, anyway.

We've many trad Irish names in our family. I went to a Catholic school (run by Nuns) and there were some challenging names there I can tell you! There were definitely some lovely names but I did go to school with a Gobnait and a Grainne and even then I used to think why would the parents do that?

Noodlebum, from my own personal pov, I think the only issue is people changing spellings or giving a child a name that they mispronounce.

For instance, changing Siobhan to Shevawn or pronouncing Caitlyn 'Kate-lin'. There is also the Soresha thing (Sorcha). I don't think anglicising names to Ronan (originally Rónán = Roe-nawn) or Brendan (originally Breandán = 'Bran-dawn) is an issue as this is frequently done in Ireland.

My DCs, whose heritage is Irish, English, Welsh, and Dutch have names that are French, Irish, Hebrew, Shakespearean/Italian, and Greek/Russian. I do not pronounce them according to the rules of the languages they are from, so my attitude is a bit hypocritical...

MitzyLeFrouf - Phew! I thought that would be safe. Like calling your kid Jasmine when not of Persian heritage is alright, but maybe not Mojgan.

But yeah OP, if you have the heritage, and especially living somewhere as multi-cultural as London, why not! It's a nice name :) Don't know why anyone would bully them, maybe just ask how to spell/pronounce at most.

One of the many Julias I know one is Italian. She is Giulia (it's not quite pronounced Julia but near enough iykwim). I think it would be a bit pretentious of someone with no Italian heritage to use that spelling for their child.

In London? Nah, Irish names arent unusual.

Even in the 80s growing up in London we had Aoife, Roisin, Oisin, Siobhan, Sinead, Diarmuid and Ruairi in my school.

Go for it!

In the same way it would be odd for an Irish couple with no Italian heritage to call their son Giuseppe.

Ronan has kind of gone mainstream, like Aoife and Declan. It would be weird if a couple with no Irish heritage at all called their son Fiachra or Naoise but I think Ronan is ok 😄

So is it seen as not a good thing to do, to give your child an Irish name, if you have no Irish heritage? I mean, not all English people have English names after all, think of all the Hebrew and Latin names for example.

Asking because I love the name Ronan, (although I know it isn't along the same vein as Saoirshe or Aoife), so genuinely intrigued.

I've always loved Oisin though

Classic London Irish here and have mine easy Irish names too- Niall, Finbar and Cormac.

My Nan wanted to call my dad Patrick after her dad, but was worried about him being bullied, so she called him Kevin. He's always been cross about that.

I love traditional Irish names. I am Irish and have an Irish name (you wouldn't guess how to spell or pronounce it but it's pretty easy once you do know - and not uncommon) but as we live in England we have given our children Irish 'easy' names that people won't struggle with, like for example

Declan
Orla
Cormac
Ciara

However I love Sadhbh and Tadhg and it's a shame this rules names like that out!

The letter of the alphabet don't only belong to the English language.

'Random collection' - actually the spelling of Irish words is extremely regular, and phonetic according to the rules of Irish. Irish is not English and spelling follows its own very regular rules.

Sigh. Yes, this. As someone (quote often math) seems to have to point out on every thread on here about those weird/crazy/exotic/impossible Irish names.