Irish short list

[Aiwo]

As my DH basically wants to name nuns we went back to the drawing board from Caitlín after deciding that people saying Kate-Lynn would be too much of a battle. Although it could possibly be a middle name

So we think this is the short list.

Bláithín
Máire Bríd (double first name)
Deirbhile
Gormflaith

Meant to say of the English language traditional Irish names I think Bridget and Nora are lovely.

The way to get people more used to reading and pronouncing non-english names is not to stop using them but to actually keep using them. All names were new to someone's eyes and ears at one point. Yet they've survived.

Can someone in the know write the correct way to say them phonetically, please. I'm intrigued.

What i posted earlier is the correct pronunciation as i would say them (from ulster) but the different dialects alter the pronunciation. I checked on gormlaith too and its gormly. Moyra-breej can also be myra-breej where i am.

The way to get people more used to reading and pronouncing non-english names is not to stop using them but to actually keep using them. All names were new to someone's eyes and ears at one point. Yet they've survived

This. As I think I said up the thread, my son has an unusual, unphonetic-to-English- ears, Irish name and surname, and his schoolmates and teachers can say it just fine. Just as there are other kids in his class with Indian/Pakistani, Nigerian and Polish names which he manages perfectly well, because it doesn't occur to him that these are some kind of way out names, and that really everyone should be called Sophie and Jack.

I've also lived for almost 20 years in various parts of the world with an unphonetic-outside-of-Irish name and surname, and it's never caused problems. While I can appreciate that having an unusual name in some kind of Little Englander cliché village might be tiresome, is it really so soul-crushing to have the dentist's receptionist stumble over your name?

Please don't do Maire Brid! They're my middle names and I still never say them out loud! If you want old, have you considered Fionnabhair? I pronounce it Fee-uhn-a-var.

Yikes. Truth be told I'm not crazy about any of them. And together (although I realise you're not having four daughters!) they sound like a coven of religious teachers on an Irish language retreat in Carraroe.

Do you like any of them OP?

There are much, MUCH, nicer examples of Irish names out there imo.

Sorry , but these are all awful!

The last one is a surname anyway, I went to school with a girl who's surname was Gormley and it was that in Irish. And who would name their daughter Gormley? ????

What about Emer as mentioned by someone earlier in the thread? It's Irish, but it's not dreadfully old fashioned, plus it's easy to spell and pronounce.

You just can't call a girl Máire Bríd. If you do she will be born equipped with a matronly mono bosom, a Daniel O'Donnell infatuation and a mania for saying the rosary.

Oh goodness I'm Irish and don't like any of those but Dearbhla (can't remember how you spelled it).

How's about
Caoimhe
Saoirse
Eithnee
Cliona
Iona
Rionach
Sheenagh
Siobhan
Grainne
Naomh
Aibhilin
Caoilainn

They sound like a coven of religious teachers on an Irish language retreat in Carraroe LOL

Sorry OP but I kind of agree regardless of whether you live in Ireland, the UK or elsewhere for that matter [recognising the global footprint of MN].

Bláithín - it's fine really, just a bit cutesy for me.
Máire Bríd (double first name) - except it will be immediately shortened to just Máire or "Máire B" in the manner of the Spice Girls, and she will be called Moira constantly so if you hate how that sounds then have a rethink. I think Mary is overdue a proper revival so Máire is my favorite.
Deirbhile - It's ok but I have never met a Dervla in my life that didn't have Derv the Perv constantly
Gormflaith - no, just no. Don't do that to your own child.

I'm not going to make tons of alternative suggestions as you clearly have Irish parentage to come up with a list like this, not to mention the nun reference
Caoilinn or Daire are less frequently used though I am out of touch now as I have lived overseas for 20 years now

Love Bláithín.

Gormfhlaith, good god don't do that to a child. The rest are fine but Maire Brid is a bit of a mouthful (sorry can't be arsed with fadas this morning).
These are all far too glamorous to be Nuns names, all ours at school seemed to have male saints names. So how about Benignus? You are welcome.

Thank you.
Some of the comments did make me laugh out loud.

To answer general questions, we live in the UK not in Ireland.
I do like some of them, Bláithín I like. I'm not in love or anything with it.
I'd happily just use Bríd but DH finds it too short and he loves the old fashionedness of it with Maíre. Plus the two names fits in with what is common for him.
Deirbhile, has grown on me quiet a bit. I like the sound but not sure I like the look of it.
Gormflaith - honestly guilty pleasure name for me (as is Gobnait, I think something is wrong with me). I think it is too much to ever be used but DH disagreed and really likes it, a lot.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall for the name discussions in your house OP!

Would you consider Aedemar? Irish saint who lived near Monaghan I think.

Or Liadan. Mother of St. Kevin. A nun (might appeal to your dh) who fell asleep with her mouth open and a star fell in ... and conceived St. Kevin (love the way Irish catholicism has loads of complete paganism in it, including Bridget). Frank O Connor (of short story fame) called his daughter Liadan.

Just to say OP, I live abroad (not UK) and plan on using an Irish name and spelling it the Irish way as well.. I don't see the harm in it and I'm not keen on the anglicanised versions of Irish names.

Love Deirbhile - it's on my baby name list for our girl

like a coven of religious teachers on an Irish language retreat in Carraroe

From my observations of what happens in general in Carraroe, those occasions can be pretty wild...

Dearbhla if you're not wild about the spelling of Deirbhile, OP? Though I much prefer it the way you've suggested. Either will leave your daughter the option of fully anglicising to Dervla when she's older if she turns out to be someone who is crushed by people not knowing how to say her name.

Liadan is lovely.

My sister is Bríd and absolutely loathes her name, and always has. She's lived mostly outside of Ireland for long periods and claimed people associated it with animal husbandry - she says people would say 'Breed? As in breeding pigs/spaniels/racehorses?' And in Ireland she says it's the most boring name possible, and makes people think of nuns and elderly aunts giving you Communion money.

The only good thing is that in the UK people won't realise how horrendous a couple of them are. They may think it entirely plausible that someone is called Máire Bríd or.....Gormley.

The poor kid will still be mispronounced until the day she dies though.

To be fair you are stuffed if you are in the UK anyway even with a fairly well known name. I know someone called Aisling who worked here for a few years. She bitterly regretted not using the more phonetic Ashling but was called anything from Ay-Sling to Ashley.

Oh dear - I never made the connection between Breed and Bríd. That would be awkward. I work with a Niamh and a Siobhain in a large company and regularly get called by internal random folk to check their pronounciation before they call them up. They still butcher it. Niamh has worked for the same woman for 5 years who still mispronounces it. I'd have murdered her by now.

Then there's the Saoirse Like Inertia issue where the same name is pronounced completely differently on a regional basis.

OP - do you or your husband have overtly Irish names? Will your daughter blend if you call her Gormflaith or will you be Michael, Caroline and Gormflaith? If you are Sean/Tadg Og , Laoibhoise and Gormflaith then that's a little different. Easy to be romantic about the auld sod if you are not the one dealing with the puzzled looks every day.

I've never come across Liadan before. That's pretty, also easy phonetically and can be shortened to Lia if preferred.

I would suggest Aileen [Ay-leen] too. It's simple and fairly easy, means Noble apparently.
Cara - means friend.
Una - oona
Tara

Saoirse Like Inertia

Domhnall Glesson says 'Domhnall like tonal'.

Lads, don't come to Hollywood with your fierce fancy names unless you've thought up a helpful little rhyme!

Although I did snigger (mean of me I know) when in one of his recent awards acceptance speeches Leonardo Di Caprio referred to Domhnall as 'Dumble Gleeson'.

Always loved the name Liadan. Probably because there was a v glam and super cool Liadan a couple of years above me in school.

Leonardo Di Caprio referred to Domhnall as 'Dumble Gleeson'.

So funny. I woman in the US told me one of her classmates called Siobhan was called out for her high school diploma as "slob-on"

tread they wouldn't be out of place, SO has an incredibly stereotypical Gaelic man's name. I don't have an Irish first name but an incredibly Welsh one which to me is Welshy enough for those names to seem like they fit.

elspeth that was my SOs argument with Concepta et al which were on his original list.

God this is hard.

I like Bláithín. Also love Éadaoin, Niamh, Aoibheann, Eimear, Mairéad, Orlaith, Siobhán, Maebh, Caoimhe, Laoise, Gráinne. There are so many lovely irish names to choose from!

Leonardo Di Caprio referred to Domhnall as 'Dumble Gleeson'

I don't quite get the 'Saoirse as inertia' thing, I must say. Whatever about regionality (and we've had this conversation on Irish baby name threads a million times, I know), I can't think offhand of other words with the 'aoi' sound in them that are pronounced anything other than 'ee' (roughly). I mean, Caoimhe can be Keeva or Queeva, but never Kevva, and Aoife is never Evva...? Or not that I've ever heard in reasonable amounts of time spent in Gaeltacht areas...

OP, are you serious that Concepta was on a list of possibles, ever at any point since 1950?

My lovely friend Connie (born on the feast of the Immaculate Conception aka culchie Christmas shopping day) allows people to believe her full name is Constance. It isn't...