Orlaith

[foxyjbro99]

Hi,
I love the name Orlaith, when i mentioned it to dd1 she said "all aboard"! This has put me off a bit as our surname is Wright, so she'd be called Orlaith Wright - does this sound like you are asking the question "all right? are you all right? are you all a right?" DYSWIM?? Or am I going mad?

We have an Orla and I think Orla Wright is fine actually. Be prepared though for new baby cards addressed to Olla, Ola, and Urla!

Orla was originally Orfhlaith, shortened to Orlaith and then Orla (all pronounced the same). All are acceptable Irish spellings. Modern Irish cuts out a lot of the unsounded consonant combinations in names. For instance, the name Mairead used to be Mairghread, then it became Maighread, and it's now mostly Mairead.

Or = gold
Flaith = princess/ noble lady

I would have picked up the joke in a second I'm afraid.
And I would have laughed behind your back.
And when I was 10 I would have teased poor little Orla.

Thanks! I will stop feeling bad about picking the "wrong" spelling now!

I feel bad, because I immediately thought 'Orlaith Wright, Isle of Wight' I'm really sorry, because I love Orlaith and especially with that spelling.

I think it sounds better if you have an accent that pronounces the . Awla not as nice as Orrla.

I'm Irish too and have a few friends called Orla, all spell it Orla, it's not an English spelling! I'd say it would save any pronunciation problems if you're in England. Pronounced properly it doesn't sound like All alright, I say go for it! Lovely name.

I think the name is lovely, but I think that you would have problems with your surnames.

I think that Zenons suggestions are lovely. Probably a name that starts with a consonant would be better than a vowel.

hmm, it does sound like Alright?!

If you do use it, just use Orla. This is a perfectly acceptable spelling even in Ireland.