Names for DS1 - trying to narrow it down!

[florilegia]

Hi everyone,

DH and I are expecting DS1 in February next year, and we're doing some thinking about names. He's Irish, I'm half Scottish (my family are Gaelic speakers from Mull/Coll), so we were keen to choose an Irish or Gaelic name. We live in the SE of England, though.

We've gone for Padraig as a middle name: this is FIL's name, and DH insisted on it being used. DH wanted Paddy as a first name instead, but I'm afraid I said no for a number of reasons. Using it as a second name is a compromise but we're both happy with it.

I came up with a lot of suggestions for first names, most of which were vetoed, but we do have a short list of three which DH "could live with, I suppose" [tongue-in-cheek long-suffering husband emoticon]! They are:

Eoin
Seán
Aidan (ok, this isn't actually Gaelic/Irish...)

My personal favourite is Eoin, and DH hasn't expressed a preference for any of the three, beyond saying that they're all fine by him. I'd love to hear what people think, or if you think I'm way off track!

The vetoed names, by the way, were along the lines of Ruaraidh, Cillian, Ciarán, Liam (I actually vetoed that one myself as our surname begins with L, and I didn't like the alliteration).

How do you pronounce Eoin?

Is it Owen?

I really like Sean aand think that it's underused at the moment.

DS1 is Aidan so am obviously biased, but it has the advantage of being well enough known that he won't continually be asked to spell it while you're in Sassenach territory (although some will spell is Aiden).

However, DS1 might well have been Alasdair, if he hadn't already got an uncle and a great uncle of that name.

congrats florilegia, i am also expecting my 1st son in february.

i like Eion, but i really love Cillian, i would definitely consider it if i was of gaelic descent! why does your DH disapprove?

Sean or Aidan for me. Sean is definitely underused.

Eoin is lovely but non-Gaelic speakers/non-linguists will never quite know how to say it!

Yes, Eoin is indeed pronounced like Owen, but it's the Irish/Scots Gaelic spelling rather than the Welsh.

BlueChampagne: it's funny you should mention Alasdair: I was mulling it over today on my way into work. Hasn't been vetoed by DH yet, either!

I have an Owen (and a Kyle) and i'm expecting another boy in 6 weeks time. Really like Sean, but quite like Aidan too, both were on our list, so i like all 3 of those names

Jarlaith? (Jar-leth)
Malachy?
Caolan? (Key-lan)
Cameron?

What about Aonghas?

Thank you all for the congratulations, and the same to all the other expectant mums!

Emilie, he never actually gave me a reason for disliking Cillian, just said it was a no-go. I'm assuming he knew a really horrid Cillian in school or something, and it's tainted the name for him. It was the same with Ruaraidh, which I really liked...

Malachy's an interesting one: DH was asking me about family names on my side, and got very keen on the idea of Lachlan, which was a great Uncle's name. They're pretty similar, so he might go for it! The trouble is, I think the "ch" might cause pronunciation problems, as it seems to be a hard sound for a lot of English people: it already sets my teeth on edge when people say "Loch" as "Lock", so I don't know if I could cope with people doing that to DS's name!

As regards spellings, though, my mum deliberately gave me a very simple, short, phonetically-spelled name istead of the Gaelic name she wanted to use: despite this, I've gone through my life having to constantly correct people who come up with the most bizarre spelling variants. You can't win...

Oisin?

I'm on a roll now!

Seamus?
Fergus?
Feargal?

Somebody stop me!!!

We actually did both consider Ossian! Likewise Ferdia, as DH come from a place in Ireland which is famous in The Tain... Wondered if they might be going too far, though!

How is Ossian pronounced? Is Ferdia as it looks?

Aidan is better as people will not know how to pronounce Eoin.
Sean went a bit 'down market' for a while when a lot of people started using it a while back, which I thought was strange since it is 'John' said with an Irish accent.

How about Fergus as it is both Irish and English. Or Finn/Finlay/Finbar. Or Fraser?

Fergal, Fergus, Fintan, Finbar, Dermot, Donald, or how about one of the lesser used islands?

IMHO Lewis is now overused, but what about Coll?

Sean and Eoin great names and popular. Like Malachy a lot too.

Ardal
Art/Hugh
Aodh
Brendan
Cairbre( King of Tara killed by Cu Chulainn)
Cathal
Conal
Conan
Cormac
Donnacha
Donal
Declan
Eamon
Fergus (Tain connection)
Fintan
Daire/Daragh ( Tain connection)
Jarlath
Senan ( derivative of Sean)
Lorcan
Oran/Odhran
Ross
Ronan
Seamus
Niall( King of Tara)
Tiernan/ Tiarnan
Ultan ( means Ulsterman, is that where your DH hails from)

skippingturtle: I'd always heard it pronounced as it's spelled in English, but according to DH, it's actually said more like "Usheen". Ferdia is phonetic as far as I'm aware: I really did like it as a name, but I wondered whether the "a" ending might make too feminine sounding (even though it's derived from the Irish for "man"!).

Greenwing: I had though that about Sean too, which was putting me off a bit. It's a shame, as it's such a nice name...

elliphant: wow! What a list: I like a lot of those suggestions, especially Cormac and Ross (also Niall is my uncle's name, so I'm impressed to learn he was the King of Tara). DH is actually from Louth, so Ultan might be a bit contentious, though!

The other sticking point with Sean is it's the name of DH's very difficult uncle: I'm not sure we want him to think the wee one is named after him!