Maeve. Or other suggestions?

Why would it be an issue?

Yes, but people don't often tend to use the Irish language version of their surname in the UK, or even in Ireland for that matter. So it would be Bláthnaid (or Maeve in this case) Doyle, for example. Still Irish, just not Irish language. The OP hasn't said what the surname is anyway and it shouldn't make a difference if it's Irish or not imo. Or Irish language or not. It's a totally personal decision.

Too irish for someone who is half not-irish. if that is an issue

An example might be someone with a name that strongly identifies them with a culture that they only have a blood connection with, and maybe that parent has disappeared from their life.

Or someone who frequently gets asked if they are [nationality]?, do you speak [language]? etc.

Bláthnaid Ní Dhubhghaill. I'd guess something like Blaunid Ni Doogale, but I have no idea and might be wrong.
I would think very Irish parents, probably speak Gaeilge at home.

Too Irish for whom?

That's in Irish though.

Yes, it would be Bláthnaid Ní Dhubhghaill rather than Ó Dubhghaill, or for someone taking her husband's surname it would be Uí Dhubhghaill.
Sorry, totally off the point I know!

I actually love Blathnaid, I was just trying to think of how to make a name look as Irish as possible without knowing how to speak Irish myself. Is the female version Ni? (Fada?)

Blaithnaid ó Dubhghaill is quite a confused name btw - the Ó form of a surname is used for men in Irish and Bláthnaid is a very feminine name missing the point

Maeve is lovely OP.

[quote KirstenBlest]@OchonAgusOchonOh, would you not expect me to speak Welsh, or wonder why my parents (one welsh, one english) had chosen a different name?

I deliberately picked a name with letters and letter combinations that would not be easy to say if you were not familiar with them. It wouldn't be an unrealistic name though although dropping the erch would be more usual. If I told you how to say it you might not be able to replicate the sounds.

I'm not racist at all, @BorderlineHappy, but if I had a name that strongly identified me as being from a certain culture, I might find it a pain.[/quote]
No, I wouldn't. But unlike some English people, I have no issue with different cultures and don't expect everyone to fit into a narrow definition of what is acceptable.

@twoofusburningmatches, I don't have a "problem"" with "foreign" names.

I have no idea if Louis Theroux speaks French but if I'd only seen his name I would guess a link to France or a French-speaking territory.

I would expect someone with a very welsh looking name to speak Welsh. I'd probably assume (rightly or wrongly) that a Rhys or Siân might have some Welsh roots but not that they spoke the language.

Most of the people I know with irish names are from the uk, some don't have any irish roots. The parents just liked the name.

Isn’t it the case that more ardent advocates of the Irish language tend to choose more Irish names and go back to Irish spellings of surnames etc? If I met someone called eg Blathnaid ó Dubhghaill I probably would assume they were from an Irish speaking family (although less so if I met them in GB and they didn’t have an Irish accent) whereas I would be less likely to make that assumption about eg Niamh Brennan. I don’t think there is anything wrong with having Irish first and last names and only being half Irish though.

Maeva?

[quote KirstenBlest]@OchonAgusOchonOh, would you not expect me to speak Welsh, or wonder why my parents (one welsh, one english) had chosen a different name?

I deliberately picked a name with letters and letter combinations that would not be easy to say if you were not familiar with them. It wouldn't be an unrealistic name though although dropping the erch would be more usual. If I told you how to say it you might not be able to replicate the sounds.

I'm not racist at all, @BorderlineHappy, but if I had a name that strongly identified me as being from a certain culture, I might find it a pain.[/quote]
I wouldn’t expect a person with a Welsh name to necessarily speak Welsh, in much the same way as I wouldn’t expect a person with an Irish name to speak Irish. I know plenty of Irish people living in Ireland with Irish names who don’t speak much more than a few words of Irish. So I certainly wouldn’t expect someone who grew up with an Irish name in a different country to speak Irish.

You said you wouldn’t want a name that identified you to a certain culture? So would you have the same issue with a very English name or is your problem just with “foreign” names?

@OchonAgusOchonOh, would you not expect me to speak Welsh, or wonder why my parents (one welsh, one english) had chosen a different name?

I deliberately picked a name with letters and letter combinations that would not be easy to say if you were not familiar with them. It wouldn't be an unrealistic name though although dropping the erch would be more usual. If I told you how to say it you might not be able to replicate the sounds.

I'm not racist at all, @BorderlineHappy, but if I had a name that strongly identified me as being from a certain culture, I might find it a pain.

I love Maeve.

Also Maura, Maud, Nuala, Niamh and Aoife.

@KirstenBlest would you like a shovel to dig that hole.
There's no such thing as being to "Irish" "Chinese" or any other nationality,and to say so is very fucking racist.

Maeve is lovely. I haven’t seen sex education so wouldn’t make the connection with Maeve, I don’t think it’s famous enough of a programme to be an issue.
I’ve met others in England with the following Irish names and no one had an issue pronouncing/spelling them: Nuala, Siobhan, Grainne, Roisin, Saoirse, Aoife, Bridie, Aisling, Clodagh, Ciara.

I did say 'if that is an issue'.

If my real name was something like Dwysan erch Rheinallt, and I spoke no Welsh but my father was welsh, might you not wonder just a little as to why I had such a welsh name if I had only ever lived in Suffolk or Tyne and Wear?

I like Maeva.

A very irish, or any other language for that matter, name might imply that you are from that culture and speak the language.

And how is that a problem? Particularly as the child will be from that culture.

@KirstenBlest - If I changed the language to Welsh or Hungarian, and the child was half-Welsh, half-Mandarin or half-Hungarian but living in the UK, would that change how you see my point?

No, not at all. Equally offensive to say a name is too Welsh, too Chinese or too Hungarian.

@KirstenBlest but the child will have roots in that culture, so why would it be a problem to have an Irish first name and surname?

(Also Maeve is not the Irish spelling - it’s a (very accepted) anglicised version of the name. The Irish spelling would be Medb or other variations.)