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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Pretty sounding irish derived baby names?

132 replies

Bella321 · 11/10/2025 09:11

I'm so stuck for a name for my little girl.

We have been wanting to go with a name with Irish origin because my partner and his family are Irish. However, we live in England and I don't want her to have the life long annoyance of people misspelling or mis pronouncing her name.

Me working in childcare and him having a large family is limiting options too as names like Orla and Fia are already taken.

Please correct pronounciation if wrong.. but my maybe list so far is:

Éabha- Ava

Aoibhe- Eva

Maeve

Úna- oona

Éala- Ayla

Talullah

Íde- eeda

But none are quite feeling like the one. And also the Irish origin is questionable on some even though they have all come from "Irish baby names" lists online.

Help! Any more suggestions or ones to eliminate?

OP posts:
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mathanxiety · 12/10/2025 16:04

Mushrump · 11/10/2025 09:31

The ‘Irish baby name lists’ online are famously batshit. They invent names, classify as Irish names which have nothing to do with Ireland, misspell, invent etymologies etc. I mean, Tallulah isn’t Irish! Aoibhe and Éabha would be pronounced identically by some dialects of Irish, and Éabha is just a recent invented Hibernicisation of Ava, anyway, if that matters to you. Éala is also a recent invention.

If your husband is Irish, let him lead on this? It’s also not clear why you’re worried about mispronunciation and let considering names with the ‘aoi’ vowel cluster. Though I spent 30 years in England with an uncommon Irish name and surname without difficulties.

I like Íde best of what you’ve suggested.

Other names —Aisling, Clíona, Sadhbh, Clodagh, Róisín, Síofra, Aoife, Caoilfhionn, Caoimhe, Ciara, Eimear, Cara.

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Agree!

How about:
Alanna
Fia
Darina
Muireann (pr Mwirrin)
Fionnuala or Finola
Nora or Onora
Bridget
Beibhinn (pr Bevin)
Mairead (fada on the E)
Eithne (pr Enya)
Emer (anglicized spelling of Eimear, pr EEmer)
Fiona
Catriona (pr Cat-TREE-uh-na)
Eibhlis - (fada on the second I, pr Eye-LEESH)

From your list, OP, I'd choose Una.

DrPrunesqualer · 12/10/2025 15:25

Mushrump · 12/10/2025 15:11

I actually really like both.

Though our supposed family ghost/inherited memory/familial urban myth/whatever (apparently has a habit of tucking in children at night, despite having died in the Spanish flu) is a Hanora.

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Our is that pesky Flaherty man in a big hat standing at the end of the bed
There’s a banshee that hides behind the hedge too 🥴
( wonder if all Irish families have this )

Thinking of famous Irish women have you considered ‘the pirate Queen’s name.

Gráinne - sometimes called Grace

Id love to be named after a famous pirate

Mushrump · 12/10/2025 15:11

DrPrunesqualer · 12/10/2025 14:50

My family still carry on with a tradition of naming the first girl after the husbands mother and the same with sons after their grandad.

So there’s a lot in my family.
I have one of those names and I’m not old enough to be a grand anything yet. Happy to be rare though 😁

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I actually really like both.

Though our supposed family ghost/inherited memory/familial urban myth/whatever (apparently has a habit of tucking in children at night, despite having died in the Spanish flu) is a Hanora.

Mushrump · 12/10/2025 15:08

Whu · 12/10/2025 15:03

Irish names that are easy to pronounce for English people that I’ve known used for baby girls in the last few years include:
Aisling
Sorcha
and more unusually but still pretty and easy to say, Eadin.

Sorcha gets mispronounced a lot! People seem to confuse it with Seoirse and pronounce it ‘Sore-shuh’.

Whu · 12/10/2025 15:03

Irish names that are easy to pronounce for English people that I’ve known used for baby girls in the last few years include:
Aisling
Sorcha
and more unusually but still pretty and easy to say, Eadin.

TessSaysYes · 12/10/2025 14:56

Don't do it...check the other post where Eva's name is being mispronounced...Irish names are in a league of their own🤣

GwendolineWindowlene · 12/10/2025 14:53

Danu? I think that’s pretty.

DrPrunesqualer · 12/10/2025 14:50

Dearmalt · 12/10/2025 14:39

Johanna and Hanora were very popular at one stage but not now really. I’m in my 50s and I had grandaunts and great-grandaunts with those names, but their popularity waned over the years. Rare now.

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My family still carry on with a tradition of naming the first girl after the husbands mother and the same with sons after their grandad.

So there’s a lot in my family.
I have one of those names and I’m not old enough to be a grand anything yet. Happy to be rare though 😁

Dearmalt · 12/10/2025 14:39

DrPrunesqualer · 12/10/2025 14:21

Yes louds called
Mary and Maryanne plus
Ellen on the Westmeath side for generations and still now.

and the Johanna, Anastasia side also has Honoras

Are those Johanna’s in the Tipperary/ Kilkenny area ? because there’s a lot of them about.

ps. I didn’t know that’s how Laserian was spelt. My lot maybe have been blighted historically by not being able to read or write and it’s just been followed down the line to now. Who knows

Edited
Show quote history

Johanna and Hanora were very popular at one stage but not now really. I’m in my 50s and I had grandaunts and great-grandaunts with those names, but their popularity waned over the years. Rare now.

PegDope · 12/10/2025 14:26

Grammarninja · 12/10/2025 13:49

Éala is fake Irish unfortunately. Eala means swan but it's pronounced alla. Adding the fada changes the sound to ayla but also changes the word entirely so it no longer means anything.
Cara means friend if you'd consider that...

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Was just going to say this.

Eala - Swan (beautiful name) in my dialect pronounced allah.

Éala would be aaaaalah. Not Ayla.

Mushrump · 12/10/2025 14:24

DrPrunesqualer · 12/10/2025 14:21

Yes louds called
Mary and Maryanne plus
Ellen on the Westmeath side for generations and still now.

and the Johanna, Anastasia side also has Honoras

Are those Johanna’s in the Tipperary/ Kilkenny area ? because there’s a lot of them about.

ps. I didn’t know that’s how Laserian was spelt. My lot maybe have been blighted historically by not being able to read or write and it’s just been followed down the line to now. Who knows

Edited
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No, further south. Ditto for illiteracy, though. (At least judging by crosses on parish registers.)

Grammarninja · 12/10/2025 14:21

Fódhla (foe -la) one of the three goddesses of Ireland and used in poetry to refer to Ireland?

DrPrunesqualer · 12/10/2025 14:21

Mushrump · 12/10/2025 12:36

That makes a lot more sense.😀 Though I wouldn’t in the least be surprised if one of those batshit baby name sites was claiming Clydach and Brí as ‘traditional Irish names’.

@DrPrunesqualer it’s Lasairfhíona! Like Lasairfhíona Ní Chonaola. Meaning ‘wine flame’ or ‘flame of wine’.

I also seem to have several dozen Johannas going back many generations on my mother’s side of the family. The women are mostly called Johanna, Mary, Ellen or Honora.

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Yes louds called
Mary and Maryanne plus
Ellen on the Westmeath side for generations and still now.

and the Johanna, Anastasia side also has Honoras

Are those Johanna’s in the Tipperary/ Kilkenny area ? because there’s a lot of them about.

ps. I didn’t know that’s how Laserian was spelt. My lot maybe have been blighted historically by not being able to read or write and it’s just been followed down the line to now. Who knows

Grammarninja · 12/10/2025 14:14

Aislinn (ash-lin / ash-ling) means dream or vision

Grammarninja · 12/10/2025 14:10

patooties · 12/10/2025 14:04

I know and or love Sinead, Siobhan, Caiomhe (keeva / queeva) Roisin Niamh Cara Clara Maired Ailbhe Siaorse Ita Oonagh Clodagh Eibhlin (everleen Evvy for short) my favourite is Fionnuala tho.

Sinéad
Siobhán
Caoimhe
Róisín
Mairéad
Saoirse
Úna

Baddaybigcloud · 12/10/2025 14:07

Saoirse

patooties · 12/10/2025 14:04

I know and or love Sinead, Siobhan, Caiomhe (keeva / queeva) Roisin Niamh Cara Clara Maired Ailbhe Siaorse Ita Oonagh Clodagh Eibhlin (everleen Evvy for short) my favourite is Fionnuala tho.

Grammarninja · 12/10/2025 13:53

Emanwenym · 12/10/2025 13:35

@Misbella , where is the stress in aoibheann? Is it AY-veen, ay-VEEN, EEV-een, Eev-EEN?
Caoimhe - kweevah/keeva
niamh - nee-(uh)v (very short schwa)

@Sagaciously , unrelated but I can't think of a single Welsh name that sounds nice anglicized.

Aoibheann = even

Grammarninja · 12/10/2025 13:51

I'm a gaeilgeoir (Irish speaker) btw x

Grammarninja · 12/10/2025 13:49

Bella321 · 11/10/2025 09:29

I am becoming drawn to Éala but think maybe for this reason the spelling Ayla would be simpler but then it seems to loose any connection to being Irish. Also considering Éabha just going with Ava the anglicised spelling but that also looses it's Irish connection.

Edited

Éala is fake Irish unfortunately. Eala means swan but it's pronounced alla. Adding the fada changes the sound to ayla but also changes the word entirely so it no longer means anything.
Cara means friend if you'd consider that...

Dearmalt · 12/10/2025 13:44

CrystalShoe · 12/10/2025 13:38

Oooh, Enya! That's gorgeous!

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Enya is the Donegal pronunciation of Eithne. The singer is Eithne but spelt it Enya as a stage name so the pronunciation was more easily apparent.
There’s no letter y in Irish.

Emanwenym · 12/10/2025 13:42

I was trying to figure out why 'aoi' would be 'ay'. @Dearmalt

Dearmalt · 12/10/2025 13:39

romdowa · 12/10/2025 13:37

Where I'm from it would be ay-VEEN. Depending on the region and the accent it can differ

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I think ay-veen is an anglicised pronunciation which is widespread in Ireland. It’s not pronounced like that in the Irish language.
Aoibh is pronounced like Eve in all dialects.
https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fuaim/Aoibh

CrystalShoe · 12/10/2025 13:38

Teaforthetotal · 11/10/2025 09:16

I like the names you mentioned.Una is my favourite on there.I really like the name Neve also.Have a few friends both Irish and not in the UK who've used it. Also love Enya.

Oooh, Enya! That's gorgeous!

Emanwenym · 12/10/2025 13:38

Thanks @romdowa