Daisy, Daphne, Fiadh

And putting another shout out for Dulcie!

Ooooh Daphne - stunning

Are Irish names the only names people on mumsnet can't spell or pronounce? The UK is a pretty multi cultural place ...

I think it’s the hawthorn that’s more associated with fairies in particular though.

Hazel mythology and folklore | Trees for Life https://share.google/cqeVF2jtd2nh4FZlq

Yes, my memory served me right. The hazel tree played a very significant role in the story of Fionn Mac Cumhaill and maintained its importance in relationships between mortals and the inhabitants of the otherworld down through the centuries.

Hazel is lovely, and iirc, the hazel tree has significance in Irish folklore related to the fairies. I need to check that. It could be the hawthorn I'm thinking of.

And quite frankly, many of the professionals the average Briton comes in contact with will either have unfamiliar names themselves, or will have gone through their professional training alongside others with non-Anglo names.

As the bearer of an Irish name that not many have heard of in the US, so what?

Should we all call our children Jane, Jon, Bob, Will, Emma, etc, just in case someone of low intelligence and narrow frame of reference can't wrap their teeny tiny brain around the unfamiliar?

I think Daphne is lovely.

Possibly consider Phoebe or Hebe?

how about Aine, unless you have one already?
or Aisling?

@Thefinalcountup , Daisy has been in the top 50 names in England and Wales since 2000.
There were no Susans in my primary school and only 2 Sarahs. I now know lots of Susan/Sue/Sarahs and there have been many everywhere I've worked.

I work with children and a fair few Daisys have come through the door.

Also where you are now isn’t where your DD will end up living. I have a popular 80s name and although there were only two of us at school I work with at least 8 (off the top of my head) people with my name. I’ve never met a Fiadh. Or a Daphne come to think of it.

That's a big reach. For most parents, who aren't native speakers of Irish (I assume it has a cognate meaning in Scots Gaelic and the equivalent will be true), the primary meaning will be 'deer'. Fia rua is red deer, fia bhairr is a stag etc. Yes, it can mean to go wild (in the sense of cultivated land going back to wilderness, or a person going wild), and it has some archaic usages as part of old-fashioned exclamations (the equivalent in English would be something like 'By Jove!'), but it's highly unlikely anyone not fluent in Irish would know that.

People are just using a popular name. In Ireland it certainly is part of a group of more modern/'invented' Irish names that seemed like an appealing alternative to the traditional ones like Sinéad and Siobhán and Niamh and Deirdre in the post-Tiger days.

All the Fiadhs I've known have been really badly behaved (I'm in Scotland) - but it's possible that there's a connection there between parents who like the idea of naming their child 'wild' and their parenting style.

I never said that I was everyone?
I'm just telling the OP about my experience, which may be of interest or use to her.

You're not everyone. You're a teacher so you'll be seeing a lot of that child,
The GP/dental/hospital/optician receptionist and a whole lot of other people won't.

Daphne is a GLORIOUS name. Classy and quirky in the best way. Also passes the Dr / DJ test, ie could your daughter credibly be a doctor or a DJ with that name. DJ Daph (amazing), Dr Daphne Collins (amazing).

Around here, Fiadh would be pronounced like Riyadh, and if you said ‘No, FEE-ya’, people would just go, ‘Oh, ok, Thea.’ My own view is that if you don’t have any Irish heritage, you might be better off with a different name.

Plus I think it's worth bearing in mind that every year I open the registers and there are always names I'm not sure how to pronounce. The student tells me, I remember, it's not a problem. Most of the UK is very diverse and multiethnic and there are many different names in common usage, not just Irish, it never seems to be a problem

I think Fiadh is gorgeous but I'm Scottish so a) could work out how to pronounce it and b) pronounce the letter r so think it sounds completely different from fear. So go with Fiadh and move to Scotland. Realistically though, most people will ask how to pronounce it once then move on. And if it's No1 in Ireland it'll soon become popular here and everyone will learn how to pronounce it. If we can all pronounce Saoirse now then we can cope with Fiadh.

I have an adult (23) Daisy. When she was younger I did worry how the name we decided on as a baby would translate into adulthood, but it is absolutely fine and she loves her name

No, they're great. My A level Daisy is applying to Cambridge and is very down to earth. To be honest, there are also a lot of cutesy names like Maisie, Dottie, Lottie, Missy, Poppy at the moment. I realised that I'd seated a Maisie next to a Daisy and a Lottie next to a Dottie, so I changed that!
To add: in the yr10 class I use the surname initial to differentiate.

I'm a secondary school teacher and I know a lot, so perhaps it's older children? In my yr10 class I have 3, and seem to have one in every year group. I've got one in my yr12 class and last year had 2 in my yr8 class.