Irish boys names - opinion on short list pls!

[mika2]

Not long to go and still struggling to find an Irish boys name we both agree on. This is the short list;

1. Lorcan
2. Oscar
3. Eoin

Thoughts please on all 3 and be brutal!

Btw DD is named Aoife.

Thanks!

I love them all.

I think Eoin goes best with Aoife. Both have a lovely soft sound.

How would you pronounce Eoin? I know one pronounced 'Owen' and one pronounced 'Ian'. Could it also be pronounced 'Euan'?

It's pronounced Owen, never Ian or Euan.

Eoin would be my choice I think, although I prefer Oscar (just too popular). I'm not keen on Lorcan, sounds too like dork (or a contraction of Lord Lucan!?)

How about Oisin?

I'd probably go with Eoin. I love Oscar but it is very common, I come across small children/babies called Oscar literally every day. Now you may not mind that so it's just a consideration. As an Irish person Lorcan sounds like a friends geeky older brother to me.

Oisin sounds a bit wet to me - a bit too feminine.
I would ideally like the name to be recognisably Irish though (like Aoife) and although I really like Oscar doesn't sound like it ticks that box?

And being in the UK everyone will assume Eoin is Owen as it's pronounced exactly the same? I'm worried my DS will just give up on the "obscure" Irish spelling in future... And some Irish people seem to pronounce it "own" which I hate!

Aaagh boys names are so hard!!

I love Lorcan too! It's a good strong name.

Lorcan.

I might have chosen Oscar 30 years ago, but it's way too popular now. I know cats, dogs and little boys called Oscar!

I have problems with Eoin, I know how it's pronounced but I always want to say it as Ian.

Oscar is recognisably Irish to a lot of Irish people. To be honest, names like Aoife and Niamh are not recognisably anything to many British people...

'Own' is actually closer to the right pronunciation than Owen. It's a slender N.

Proinsias?
Seosamh?

But, more seriously, Cillian is my favourite Irish boys' name, though out of your three I'd have to go for Lorcan :)

Not that keen on any of them tbh! And I love Irish boys names.

Oisin, Fionn, eoin, Cian, Rian, tadgh, Ruadhrai (Rory) all very very popular here.

Love Dara, Conall, Conor, Ronan, cormac,

I like them all. Eoin is my favourite and imo goes best with Aoife. Lorcan second, Oscar least because I can hear how English people will pronounce it and it's not the original pronunciation of US-kar.

Out of the 3 I like Eoin and Oscar best, dh likes Lorcan but I always think it's a bit harsh sounding or something. I have an Oisín and an Aidan ( and just about any Irish name ever was on the table at some point)

Lorcan is lovely. We make the joke Oisin machine (washing machine) every time we hear the name.

(Im in N. Ireland)

I love Lorcan, it was my favourite boys name for my three daughters . I'm not the biggest fan of Oscar in general. Eoin is nice but wild popular atm where I am (Belfast). I also pronounced it closer to own than owen.

Thanks for all the opinions. Still at a bit of a loss.. put off Oscar now as sounds like the world and his mother father are called Oscar these days.

I think you're right mathanxiety on the Eoin pronounciation. Is Eoghan also pronounced "Own" or is it "Owen". Eoghan is more the NI spelling though right?

We can't use Cian, Rian, Daragh or Tadhg as they've all been snapped up by bloody inconsiderate family already I like Fionn and Finn but they sound awful with our surname so that rules out all the variations Finbar, Fintan, Finian etc. which would invariably be shortened..

Trawling through the Irish baby name books, I've come up with Conan, Senan or Ferdia as possible alternatives? (Hoping one of them might grow on me before I start working on DH!) Btw how would you pronounce Conan? Is it Kohn-nan (as in PepsiCo-nan) or Kuhn-an?

I know a fair few Dublin born Eoghans so I don't think that spelling is NI specific.

Conan is koh-nan like you say, think Arthur Conan Doyle.

But I love the name Ferdia and think you should definitely go with that one!

Conan as in the Barbarian? You can't do that to the child.

How about

Ronan
Conall
Cormac
Fiachra
Ultán
Declan
Éanna
Enda

And all the Eoghans I've come across pronounce it as Owen.

My son was almost Ferdia, and I adore it - but you will inevitably get people on here telling you it sounds feminine because of the 'ia' ending. I would go ahead anyway, it's gorgeous. Fergus? Macdara? Iarlaith?

Iarla as in Iarla Ó Lionáird...mmmmmmm

I'm always amazed that the name Ferdia isn't more popular. It's just fantastic and puts Eoin and Lorcan firmly in the shade (in my humble opinion).

Hmmm I do like Ferdia but it would probably lead to a lot of gender confusion...

Is Conan the Barbarian that bad an association? (Had to google it as it completly bypassed me ) Is it the bullying potential if he's a weedy little kid? He probably will be the smallest in the class as he'll be August-born!

I like Ronan, but DH doesn't like names beginning with "R" Eanna and Ultan are probably a bit too Irish for the UK I think - too difficult to pronounce correctly.

HaleMary what did you go for in the end? (If it doesn't out you!)

Eoghan has a broad N and is closer to 'Owen' but it should really be Owan (or it could even have an almost inaudible H sound for the GH.)

Eoghan is the equivalent of Eugene.
Eoin is a variant of John (via Ioannes).
They are separate names though pronounced similarly.

I knew a Conan growing up, quite a weedy kid actually, but as far as I knew the boys thought it was a cool name even way back in the 70s. The name is Coe-nan, like Coonan except with a long O sound.

I like Fiachra, Ferdia and Fergus a lot. Also Fiach.

Would you consider something really obscure --
Laserian
Moling
Colmán/Coleman
Cornelius (Conn)