Orla - for a Welsh/English baby?

[Komondor]

Is it okay to use an Irish name, when neither DH or I have any Irish connections.

DH is Welsh and thinks not, although he does like the name. I have told him that it is a Celtic name, and can be used for both Welsh and Irish baby girls.

I also pointed out that his favourite footballer has an Irish first name (Ryan).

I'll swap you - I've got an Irish Orla, but I love Carys and Orwen but have no Welsh connection . And Dewi for a boy.

Really, if you love a name, you should use it. It's not like it's the Gaelic spelling or anything.

I've got an Irish Orla too. It's becoming much more popular in England/Wales now, jumped 70 places last year. so if you like it use it!

Love it!

I'm not Irish, but was considering Orla as a girl's name. Love it.

Am 1/4 Irish (northern) and DH is 3/4 Welsh, we went for Orla. Was highly complimented as a lovely name but some people did ask about an irish connection. Agree with KD that as it becomes more poulat irish issue will be less mentioned esp with non irish spelling- e.g Reece for welsh rhys

Perfectly fine -- Irish people have names that are not 'Irish' after all, so why not the other way round?

I'm Irish and Orla was my parent's second choice of name for me. Re choosing an Irish name when you've no Irish connection - I always find that a bit strange. But there are Irish kids called names like Sian, and Amelie when the parents have no Welsh or French connections. Just a personal thing, I suppose.

From the comments, I do not think its common enough to use with no Irish connection.

I think it okay if its a common name I've met Ryan's, Ian's and Gareth with no connection to Ireland, Scotland Wales etc., but not an unusual name.

We're considering Orla too and aren't Irish. I think you can use any name you like! Orla really isn't that unusual anyway is it?

hhhm, back on the list then.

I think it is perfectly acceptable.

Orla is my favourite girl's name, my dd name aside of course. It is beautiful.

We didn't use it for dd because it means golden haired princess and she was born with beautiful thick shiny black hair (I am a strawberry blonde.)

Carrotsandcelery - hubbie and I are both natural blonds, so daughter will possibly be blond making golden haired princess a great meaning.

These are the names that we have:

Seren (DH loves, I am not so sure)
Orla
Faye
Helena (I love, DH not so sure)

all rather different. Middle name will probably be Katherine.

They are all lovely names Komondor but I would go for Orla or Seren myself.

Have you had a go at initials, nicknames and what is sounds screeched from the backdoor by the harshest accent in your family? These are all things we took into consideration.
We tried to avoid initials that represented something familiar or which were the same as another family member in the household. (My dh has same initials as his father and found it a real pain) Not an essential issue but it did narrow things down a bit.
We also avoided alliteration but that issue does depend on the surname.
My dh surname also has a strong cultural (not sure that is the right word) origin so we took that into consideration too.
What does Seren mean?

What does it matter? If you like a name, choose it. Why should it be based on racial connotations?

Seren is the Welsh word for star.

Seren - Star
Orla - Golden Princess
Faye - Fairy. Apparently Fay was the original spelling, but I prefer Faye spelling
Helena - I know it as a Shakespearean name from A Midsummer Nights Dream. According to an American website it is a variant of Eleanor and means Shining Light.

All good meanings. To me, Orla is the brave name from the above list.

Carrotsandcelery, as we seem to like similar names, what is your DD called, for inspiration.

Re, yes we have said the names outloud. Our surname is harsh sounding, and so I'm not sure if Faye quites suits it, but I might be thinking about it too hard. DH does not think Orla runs of the tongue.

Initials do not match ours.

Konondor - we are Scottish/Irish and my daughter is called Eilidh which is the Scottish Gaelic for Helena. It means bright or shining light. My dh surname is Irish and we feel the Scottish/Irish go together fine.
Orla is a name the mouth gets used to over time - does that sound mental? My Dad felt the same about Eilidh but he has no trouble with it now.

Orla being right for you also depends on your accent.
If it's Awla then it's horrible, rather than the Irish/Scots Ohrr-lah. (Hope the way I have written it makes sense!)

Oooh you've got a point KenDoddsDadsDog, I think it might be the wrong name for Wrexham. :( Still love the name, but your comment has made up my mind, it isnt right for us.

LOVE the name Eilidh, carrotsandcelery. It's probably too unusual for us, if that makes sense. I think common Scottish names, such as Callum or Isla, are fine for a Welsh/English baby but not unusual Scottish names.

In Scotland it wouldn't be a very unusual name, especially on the West coast. I imagine it is quite unusual in England though.
KenDoddsDadsDog makes a good point. Different accents change names dramatically.

Orla is lovely. What about Aoife ( Ee-fa)? Hard to spell, but easy for people to pronounce.

Too Irish Glastocat. Thank you.

I like the name Eve, perhaps I'll take Ola off the list and change it to Eve.

Have you thought about Aine (pronounced Onya) or maybe Tara? Similar names to Orla but not as accent driven?
Sorry if I put you off, it's just something I have noticed when people pronounce DD's name.

Love Seren especially from your list.