Interested in feedback: Rory or Dara (for boy), Maggie/Orla or Tara (for girl)

[thunksheadontable]

My child will have an O' something name.

I like Rory (despite the racing car) for a boy at present, but am open to other suggestions. Basically interested in something that sounds vaguely culturally Irish without having a spelling or pronunciation that will pose problems to the average English speaker. Maggie, of course, is not "Irish" at all but a Maggie O' sounds Irish enough for me.

Thoughts? Alternatives?

LOVE Rory. Although I prefer the traditional Irish spelling despite not being Irish. But I can appreciate the problems it might pose.

Dara: to me is a girl, sorry.

LOVE Maggie & also Peggy & Meg. I would use Margaret on the birth certificate though.

Orla: meh. Not my thing.

Tara: not really my thing, sorry.

The Irish spelling is Ruairi but that's pronounced Roooo-ree so is a different name in my mind. Although it might solve the "racing car" issue!

I like Dara and Orla best.

Alternatives:

For Tara: MUCH prefer Cara, also like Cora, Sara/Zara, Dinah, Lara, Nina, Anna. Not terribly Irish though sorry.

I did toy around with Cara as it's the Irish for "friend" but the pronunciation of Cara in Irish is more like Corra (hard to do in English spelling) and it seems wrong to have it rhyme with Tara iykwim.

These bloody names. I find girls' names SO hard. Cora is cute.

I thought you could also spell it Ruaridh? Pronounced Rory? Saying that I'm not Irish!

I have an Orla and her wee cousin is a Tara! Orla O' may sound a bit comedy.
Love Dara best from the boys and Tara for a girl.

Rory or Tara.

Before you use Dara or Tara, make sure you know that using one rules out the other. If you really like Tara for a girl and plan on having more children, you might want to hold back on using Dara this time around.

I'd pick Rory as (in the UK at least!) it's clearly masculine; Dara is a bit more ambiguous.

I like Maggie as a nickname and I don't mind either Orla or Tara. They don't set my world on fire but they're all decent choices and if you adore them, they'll be excellent choices for your child.

As far as boys' names are concerned, may I suggest Donal to you?

Stellan, I laughed when I read that. My father is Donal. We are not speaking! So probably not! I do like the name, but it's another one where pronunciation would irritate me as my father was brought up speaking Irish and if you say it like him, it is pronounced with a soft D, sort of like "Though-nel" if you stopped the air escaping from between your teeth when saying the /th/ sound. So again, I am fecked because of my own pedantry when it comes to Irish pronunciation.

I would have thought Dara was okay and identifiably masculine because of Dara O'Briain but maybe not. I prefer Rory anyway I think.. but dh does insist on singing "the racing car" after it grrrr. I think he's still coming around to it though!

Toobreathless the "oo" bit in Ruairi/Ruairidh is the same - it's the "ua" that makes the "oo" sound (if that makes sense!). It might be that some dialects pronounce it slightly differently, but I will always look at that spelling and think Rooory iykwim, so probably not for me..

Rory and Tara are my favourites from your choices.

Brendan
Declan
Fergal
Seamus

All quite well-known in English but not over-popular at the moment afaik

Like Rory and Like Maggie
Like Maggie so long as you are a kind of erm "with it" mother. If you are a bit square then give her a trendier name. My god that sounded rude hope you know what I mean?!!

Percy, one of those is ds1! I like them apart from Seamus (a particularly wimpy beardy moany guy from uni springs to mind )

Snauzen, I am intrigued.. would a trendy name offset squareness? And what counts as square? Is it anything other than roof-gardening, Buddhist bungee jumping bisexual rockstar? Or do you merely mean please don't call her Maggie if her entire wardrobe will be pink?

Also, KenDoddsDad'sdog.... Orla O' could be comedy? Give me some pointers why.. as you can imagine it's fairly common in Ireland so I'm a bit .

All great names, except not blown away by Maggie.

How about Erin? Not an Irish name, but means "Ireland". Easy to pronounce!

haha no a trendy name wouldn't offset squareness but a square name would add to squareness!!!! haha what am I talking about??!

from your reply you have my permission to call her maggie!!!

I like Orla and Margaret, and like Maggie as a nn. Would you consider Mairead?
Tara is too American to me. I have the same problem with Erin.

How about:
Bridget
Emer
Fionnuala/Finola
Nora
Maeve
Nessa
Una
Roisin

I like Rory and Dara but would spell it Daragh.
How about:
Ronan
Lorcan
Cillian/Killian
Cormac
Fintan
Finbar
Murtagh (that T would be pronounced wrong though)

My opinion and you did ask for opinions? And I'm perfectly conversant with Irish names in Ireland.

No need to be snotty! It was a genuine question, I don't get it.. I wondered if it was something cultural I'd missed. To me it's like saying James Smith is a bit comedy', it makes no sense.

Maeve would be my favourite of the girl's ones, Math but sadly sil got there first. I feel the same about Erin but less so with Tara as I know a few. I don't love any girl's names right now... could name a team of boys without a bother.

Well if it doesn't sound odd to you then that is fine. As I said up thread your choices are all lovely.

I love Dara.
Rory not so much, and prefer Gaelic spelling, too.
I like Maggie, but it needs to be Margaret or Marguerite really.
Orla is nice enough.
Not keen on Tara.

thunkshedontable, I have a cousin called Cara, lives in Ireland to Irish parents and her name is pronounced Cara (as in Tara).

I like Dara but prefer the spelling Daragh. I do like Rory as well though. (not being much help so far, am I?!)

I'm Tara and my daughter is Orla so like them both!!

Mathanxiety - American???? How so?! Do you mean it's been adopted by lots of Americans??

Tara is the sort of name Americans think of as really authentically Irish - like Sahnnon, Erin, Eire etc

It is a nice enough name, but it has those connotations for me, sorry