Irish names for a girl

Sibéal
(Shibale)

@Rosere I agree Ailbhe is really pretty. Do you say Aoibhe as 'Eva' or 'Ava' or can be either?

I do really like Roisin!

@HarrietM87 yea I can hear what you can hear... and we live quite near Essex...

@TerribleCustomerCervix it was someone who lives in Belfast actually who told me Fiadh was becoming quite commonly used. My family are in ROI but also don't want to use something they hear loads. But not asking them as don't want the opinions 😂😂😂

whose

I mean, it's a name in that her mum decided to call her it, and all Google will tell you is it is name people dreamt up but no. It's definitely not an Irish name in the sense of a traditional name, with meaning, and I explained why in my last post. It anglises an Irish phrase that originally meant pulse and decides that's a name. Nope. 🙈

rathkelter I’m surprised you think the answer is to not spell an Irish name correctly or go for a name that’s easy to pronounce..My name is not the bane of my life.. I’m happy to correct anyone who doesn’t pronounce it or spell it properly. My dc have friends from many countries in Africa, I asked how their names were pronounced when I first met them.. I don’t get the angst

Cáit
Coleen
Erin
Cara
Márie

Her mum and google say it is and she has two other very irish names for the others so i was convinced!

whose

Noooo... Cushla is not a 'name'. It's made up. Yes, derived from the Mo Chuisle phrase but not remotely Irish, just a phonetic way phrasing the Irish word for 'pulse'.

This is a real pet hate of mine.

Ditto Shannon, Reilly, Ryan...not Irish names, American notions of Irish names 😧

Nanny

It's Doireann 😊

(I have one!)

And even in Ireland, people mispronounce it ALL the time!

Fiadh precious one saibhe queen of the fairies or doierann the amazing one

Shannon

Briege?

I used to work with an Irish woman called Eithne which I think is a lovely name and easy for non-Irish people to pronounce and spell.

We used to live near a little girl called Beibhinn. My ds was in the same class as her. Some people struggled with the spelling but I don't think it was a huge issue.

I love love love Ailbhe. Aoibhe is my personal favourite I think. Love Sadhbh but its not the most practical.
My family are Roisin, Maeve, Muireann and a Mairead. Pretty biased, but they're great
I carry a couple of fadas in my first name , and yes they throw people off when reading, but once people realise how to pronounce a name it's usually OK.
If you love Ailbhe, do it!

And congrats

Fiadh is having a bit of a moment here- I’m in Belfast and know a few born in the last year or two.

Outing, but I have a Sadhbh. It’s pretty much unheard of up here, but people get used to it. I wouldn’t let the spelling thing put you off a name you love- people have got used to Siobhan and Hermione, they can manage Ailbhe!

I had the same problem when I was trying to think of a girl’s name for dc2- I wanted another Irish name but it seemed like all the nice ones were mega popular (Niamh, Caoimhe, Aoife) or rarely used for good reason (Nollaig...).

DH seriously suggested Blaithín and I was about to lose it before finding out dc2 was a boy!

I do not know any Fiadhs! Actually where I am it seems Irish names are used less and less.

Never heard Macushla just Cushla which i mentioned myself. Know a little girl with the name and googled it after meeting her as I was sure her mother had made it up lol oops!

100% you should pick names that are easy to read aloud or it will be the bane of your, and your child's life. Names like Gráinne turn into 'Grainy.' Another option is to anglicise the spelling of a name you like so that it's pronounced correctly. Depends on how much of a puritan you are

Have you watched Catastrophe?
Muireann....!!

@EarringsandLipstick thanks!! It is pretty...

Machusla 😂
Might as well go for 'Pet'

agteacht

No Fiadh isn't often heard at all & I think it's lovely (am Irish, living in Ireland)

Otherwise, there have been the weirdest examples given of Irish names tho! Sometimes by Irish people 😊

Eg
Laoise is not a boy's name.

And...Machusla 😫 my eyes! That's not a name! It's the phonetic spelling of the phrase 'mo chuisle' which is Irish (Gaeilge / Gaelic) for 'darling' (though literally an abbreviation of 'mo chuisle mo Chroí' = pulse of my heart), and the start of a traditional ballad. Not. A. Name.

Thanks so much for this thread @HarrietM87 - I am in the exact same situation, living in London, married to English DH, planning an Irish name...

I need a boys one too actually, I'll have to start a new thread for that!

My girls short-list is:

Aoife
Aoibhe
Fiadh
Roisin

Then I came up with Luadh and Liadh - are these made up?? 😂

I like Laoise but can't have it due to family using it. Also can't have names beginning with S due to surname so that rules out quite a few like Saoirse, Siofra, Sorcha...

And my husband ruled out Caoimhe. He's convinced people would call her Quavers (really??!)

I also like Eilidh, Isla and Cerys but not Irish of course... kinda Celtic maybe...

Not sure I'm absolutely in love with anything yet (and not that long left!!) but reckon she will come out looking like a Roisin or a Fiadh and all will be solved.

To those still living in Ireland though, is Fiadh now very commonplace at home? I've never heard it in England (yet anyway)

Love Maeve. Also Ethna/Eithne.

Catriona

Make sure you try the name repeatedly out on your DH with him pronouncing it - we are the opposite way round, I'm English but live in NI with my NI DH and daughter. Daughter's name does not work in a NI accent - everybody thinks it is a different name (imagine I tried to call her 'Owl' and so everybody here thinks 'Arl' when I say it [note: I did not call my daughter Owl]). I struggle with the pronunciation of some names here but it's not always the ones that look complicated written down. The one I really can't say is Saoirse, which is a shame as I would have liked it for current bump as it sounds so pretty! Foolproof ones for me pre move to NI would have been Roisin, Niamh, I would have known how to say and spell those. Although Roisin turns into rusheen in the North West. Ones I have no trouble pronouncing over here are ones like Caoimhe, Cliodhna, Grainne. Be prepared to explain spelling for those though, I still struggle to remember even after living here for a while as they don't follow English spelling rules. Lots of Erins round here, and Coras too.