Noleen

[lilyjune]

Saw this name recently and thought it was quite unusual - we're not really getting on well picking a girl name but both of us think we like this...any thoughts?

See now, I prefer Noreen. Well, I like nora so "little nora" is cute. Definitely not linked to fionnuala though.

Do you like other Irish names?

I like Maebh (worked with someone with this name) but hubbie does not.
That's where we're having problems - liking ANYTHING the same..

Does een mean little? So going back to Finnuala, if you take the first part as Nol and not Noel, maybe it's a little nuala?

Sorry no way is it ten times worse than Hortense. Much prettier

You can't take a diminutive, change the spelling and add een on the end, no. Little Nol doesn't add up to Fionnuala at all.

And really be careful on those American baby name sites, they are full of shite. I just looked at one that said Killeen is an old irish girls name. It's a cleaning product firm most famous for scourers, in fact.

YES. I love it.

No, like penis explained it doesn't work that way. Een is little, in the way a mother could be nora and the daughter noreen, Maire, maureen etc. and then the names became names in their own right.
I will get out my baby names book in the morning :)

It's awful. There are so many pretty girls names.

Noleen is in an Australian comedy series which I can't remember the name of definitely is said in an exaggerated aussie accent in my head so I wouldn't

Yes 'een' means little in irish( tho the spelling is different- 'in' with a fada over the i- can't do the fada on the iphone. Maureen is little Mary etc

For some reason I now have Dolly Parton's Jolene in my head.

No way is it derived in any form from Fionnuala, or from Nuala. Most sites that claim to have Irish baby names are full of balloon juice.

It's a feminine version of Noel that isn't Noelle.
I knew one in school (in Ireland), spelled Noeleen.

It's a bit like Geraldine, Gerarda, or even Nigella, imo.

I prefer Noelle, or Nola or Nuala, or Finola..