Irish names for a child outside of Gaelic countries

I’m English born with two Irish parents and both my daughters have tricky-ish Irish names. Neither are Aoife but when I was looking at names Aoife was actually relatively common in the UK, as was Niamh and Maebh so any of those would be fine I expect.

There are always ignorant people who don’t see why they should have to respect your “funny foreign name” (looks at in-laws) but I’ve never had issues with anyone else once they know how the names are pronounced apart from people sometimes struggling to hear the “V” sound in a “bh” name.

We are having a similar dilemma. My OH family is Irish and he really likes Aoife (which i agree is a very pretty name) but i worry about her spending her whole life correcting people calling her 'eh-off' 🙄.

We have the same British/ Irish mix and our son is Euan - straightforward enough I thought but no he is often referred to as Evan / Owen / Ian and then the spelling blows people's minds!

Agree Erin is not so much an Irish name but more feels like an Irish American name - Éire is Ireland in Irish so Erin feels like its coming from this.

For what it's worth my Irish suggestions are:

Boys - Cormac, Fergal, Liam, Cian, Rian, Cillian, Fionn (although it does refer to fair), Conor, Eoin.

Girls - Tara, Aoife, Ciara, Saoirse, Clodagh, Laoise, Aisling.

I just can't bring myself to do this. I have a name that requires spelling out constantly and it's been the bane of my life

Dd3 is Aoife she is currently living in Scandinavia where this name is unknown. She shrugs and tells me. "Well they learn don't they?" Her middle name is Scandinavian and contains a letter that doesn't exist in the English alphabets she is right. People learn and mostly i have found they are perfectly willing to learn.

I love Aoife but it’s another spell it name

My dcs have Irish names ( from the list) and we live in France. My dd spent some time in the neo natal ward after her birth and one of the nurses liked her name so much that she gave it to her own ds a year later.

I have an Irish name that's hardly used anymore and gave my dc common Irish names easy to spell

To be fair the most common names in Ireland are not the real Irish names. Danny, Anna, Jamie, Lewis, Kayla Kayden etc these are all really popular and not Irish as such

Suggestions:
Paul
Aidan
Owen
Hugh
Darragh

Ellen
Rose

These are names that would work in all part of the world

Agree about Erin. It's ok, but it came from America a bit like Paige, which i believe is from the irish for margaret which lost something in the pronunciation over there and came back to us as paige.

If it's a girl just put Fiadh on the birth cert and use Fia while you are in Asia.
Id use Rory not Ruairi

I have a fiadh and once you explain the name no one really questions it ruairidh is also our name if we have a boy

I have a DGD whose name is Orla. Lots of people say how lovely her name is. It's often spelled that way in Ireland too. Have to a say she's a gorgeous girl or am I just biased??? 😁

I have a friend from another European country who settled on a name from her home country that was pronounced the way it was spelled, this was a compromise which worked for her. Maybe this would help you?

Fergus
Cormac
Seamus (think this would be ok to spell in Asia?)
Patrick

Ailish
Oonagh
Ciara
Clodagh

Oh definitely agree with not Anglising Irish names. I don't mind Conor or whatever - that's a standard name in Ireland - but Keeva instead of Caoimhe is a travesty.

Erin isn't an Irish name to me, it's a name for Americans who think they're Irish.

I'm Irish and while Irish names aren't for me personally, I do love seeing them while living in the UK and I agree with not anglicising them. My favourite Irish girls name is Iseult (is-sult) or Maebh and for boys I love Fionn but it means fair in Irish so if your child has dark skin I might avoid just to avoid them being a contradiction in terms for anyone who knows the meaning of the name! Aisling is extremely common in Ireland so is fairly well-pronouced abroad.

For me, Erin is what American "Irish ancestry" people call their child so I'd personally steer clear of that - I don't know a single Irish Erin! Finn is fine, but not Fintan. But then again I have an uncle Fintan who would send shivers down your spine so I'm biased .

I think if you're wanting to avoid needing to spell things out constantly avoid anything with a fada!

Love Orla

How about siobhan? I appreciate that it's not spelt as it sounds, but it's been popular in the UK for so long the majority of people know it's not pronounced sio - bhan

As a Brit with Irish parents who gave her child 2 very Irish names that need spelling I say go for it. My DD loves her name and that’s it’s unique. She’s 6 and loves telling people it’s Irish how it’s spelt and what it means. We were living over seas when she was born and I actually had people ask me if it was a real name haha.

Easy names I absolutely love Orla and Oona (if I had another girl I would use one of these, not sure why I didn’t last time now I’m thinking about it). I always liked Grainne too.

For a boy we would have gone Gerard (Gerry) for short. I like family names so Joseph, Noel, Christopher (Christy), I also like Seamus and Niall.

Girls names are going to be harder. DH was somewhat erm.. promiscuous... in his youth and has vetoed a number of names including Nuala, Eimer, Una and Cara because these are "exes"

Tell your Dh to sod off with his ex issues, these are all great names - use them if you like them. Cara works in Irish and English and is easy for non native English speakers.

Your husband will not be pushing a large baby out a very small orifice, he needs to get over himself. You know what they say - no uterus, no opinion.

Are you using his surname or yours ? If its his, then he has already has his choice of name.

He’s coming across as a big precious TBH.

I came to say Cormac too. Easy to spell and it is what it looks like and gorgeous as well .

Orla a good choice for same reasons.

@Effkay26 that’s a shame as it’s a beautiful name!

We know a Fintan, I love it and gives the option for shortening to Finn? Not too much room for errror on the spelling/pronounciation!