Seamus. Do you have to be Irish?

[impatientlywaiting]

We found out we're having a boy yesterday and we're thinking about baby names.

We both like Seamus, but not sure if people would be confused with our choosing it as in my head it's a typically Irish name. I'm half Irish, DH is English.

What are people's thoughts?

I don't think it matters at all, and if you are half Irish then there is enough of a link anyway. Go for it!

Well, any other name, say, Diarmuid or Donnach or Fionn (random) I'd say no, go ahead, but isn't Seamus a bit like "johnnie english" in the UK? like the irish equivalent of that. I'm not articulating this well perhaps. I lived in the uk for a while and that was the perception that I got, that Seamus was not just any Irish name. That it represented all Irish names?!

My DH is of Irish extraction. Has Irish first name, middle name and surname, and it drives him to distraction because people assume he's Irish. He feels very much English.

I love it but it is a very Irish name. Some people (heard jeff brazier on This Morning for instance) pronounce it see muss

Meant to add if you are half Irish why not go for it? I also like Eamon, Patrick, Aidan, Ciaran, Joseph, Brendan

No point in taking racial prejudices into consideration, if you like the name, then go for it.

Thanks for your comments everyone. I think that we like the name as much as about 4 others and the fact that some people mispronounce it might move it down the list of favourites slightly.

Thanks again.

My ds's best friend is a Seamus. He's not Irish, but a Scottish Gaelic speaking family.

My ds also has an Irish name, partly as dh is from Northern Ireland, regards himself as Irish.

It's a great name, and you do have an Irish connection to relate it to as well, so I think it would be fine.

You're half Irish!

Anyway, no if you like it go for it. it's a pan-Celtic name, Scottish spelling often Seumas. If you live in England people might mispronounce it, but they mispronounce my very common name too, so just do it.

Lovely name btw :)

I would only use Seamus if it had a family connection, as other posters say it can be seen as a bit of a 'plastic paddy' name iykwim. There are loads of more sophisticated Irish names out there that are more related to mythology and history such as Senan/Sennan.