How do you feel about traditional Irish names?

I've a difficult to pronounce Irish name and have given my two children Irish names, which are easier to say than mine. No issues so far. My heritage is important to me and having Irish names was always our plan.
Growing up in Dublin, I spent my life spelling out my surname and being queried as to whether or not I was pronouncing it correctly (eh yes, I know how to say/spell my own name?!) so I foresee something similar in my children's futures living in the U.K. A slight irritant sometimes but nothing major and I liked being a bit unusual in some ways. Plus people tend orb remember you, even if they can be reticent to call you by name!

I'm amazed you'd think bullying might be an issue.

Pronunciation, sure, but bullying?

I think Irish names are gorgeous - obviously some more than others, but if that's your heritage, go for it.

I have a name that is very well known - admittedly very out of fashion when I was growing up with it in the 70s and 80s - but very well known now. I always have to spell it out, and get some totally bizarre pronunciations.

Unless your name is Emma or Tom, you will have to clarify the spelling or pronunciation at some point.

I meant 'oi' names, sorry, not sounds.

Lotta - I'm aware of the pronunciation. I'm just not a fan of those names - Roisin, Saoirse etc.

Miss, Roisin is say 'row-sheen', as in row a boat. No 'oi' sounds in there

Personally I'm not a massive fan of some of the 'oi' sounds - Roisin etc. But if you like them go for it!

Funny enough all the Caolans I know (5 in primary school) all pronounce in Kay len. I'm in Belfast.

All the Caolans I have ever met except for one have pronounced it Keelan too. The exception was Kaylan.

(I am from Dublin but learned Connemara Irish).

I don't get the phonetic thing, who decided that a random collection of letters should many sounds in English that they don't normally make?

Lol. Yes, as has been pointed out, it's Irish and they armament exactly the sounds they should make.

That said, when I see names like Aoife, one half of my brain pronounces them in English and the other superimposes how I know they are meant to be pronounced.

If I see one I've not come across before it's pot luck as to whether my MN learnt Irish phonetics gets anywhere near the right pronunciation!

Ohyesiam Thu 29-Jun-17 00:10:45
^I don't get the phonetic thing, who decided that a random collection of letters should many sounds in English that they don't normally make? I suppose I'm asking why all Irish ( and Russian and Asian etcetc) words are not phonetic when written with English alphabet?
I am a big fan of Irish names, I'm not knocking then, just interested in the linguistics of it.^

'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.

Asian words - usually written in pictograms, a completely different writing system that is not at all phonetic-based.

Russian - is actually an extremely phonetic language. Excellent letter-sound correspondence. The script is Cyrillic, not Latin. Once you get past the script you can make great progress reading.

English on the other hand is extremely irregular in its spelling 'system', full of random combinations of consonants, requiring a lot of learning of spellings.

Nellyphants Wed 28-Jun-17 21:28:35
Did kids 50/60 years ago get bullied for having traditional Irish names such as Kevin & Deirdre?

Yes, they did.

Gobnait = Gub nit.

I actually like it

I can't believe what I'm hearing. Shocked I tell you.

tink every Caolan I've ever know has pronounced it Keelan, with the exception of one who said it like kale-in. I'm in NI so maybe depends what part of the country you're in?

I don't think it's an English alphabet necessarily either, just one version of the alphabets used for lots of different languages with the same roots. Lots of languages have the same letters but different pronunciations (French as an example)

I'm asking why all Irish ( and Russian and Asian etcetc) words are not phonetic when written with English alphabet?

The Irish alphabet is

A b c d e f g h i l m n o p r s t u

I don't get the phonetic thing, who decided that a random collection of letters should many sounds in English that they don't normally make?

Er, well they're not in English. They're in Irish. That's the whole point.

I know a lot of Aoife's so don't think pronunciation would be an issue particularly.

I love love love Laoise.

I don't get the phonetic thing, who decided that a random collection of letters should many sounds in English that they don't normally make? I suppose I'm asking why all Irish ( and Russian and Asian etcetc) words are not phonetic when written with English alphabet?
I am a big fan of Irish names, I'm not knocking then, just interested in the linguistics of it.

You have options with spellings of so many names too eg Keelan is easier to guess the pronunciation than Caolan to a non-Irish person.

Keelan and Caolan would be pronounced very differently. Caolan is pronounced kale-awn.

Enjoying not annoying

Not sure about poor old gubnit but the other names all sound lovely. Am annoying the pronunciation lessons.

Thanks Lovinlola. That's sounds lovely.

I really like them. However I'm very used to seeing Celtic names criticised on MN "if you don't live in that country" is often seen in a way you don't when referring to names like Isabella (so not "British")

Saoirse is pronounced 'seer-sha'.

How do you pronounce Saoirse Kendodd?