Irish names for English babies

[harrietm87]

Hello. Not pregnant (yet!) but would love to give my future babes Irish names. I'm Irish, DH English. We live in a multicultural bit of London. Interested to hear people's favourite Irish names and opinions on how traditional/obscure it's possible to go without being accused of child abuse! (Guessing Sean is ok, Feidhlimidh not...). For context I love Ruaidhri, Seamus, Siofra and Ailbhe (but so many good options!)

My friend is called Roisin, she also gets 'Rosie'.
I think it's a lovely name.

Love Orla and Gráinne. We have an Irish origin surname, so I love this thread.

I like Seamus, but I wouldn't chose it myself. Only because it conjures Images of an older beardy Aran sweater wearing fellow

Great suggestions so far! Grainne is one I might avoid because of inevitable "grainy" mispronunciation! I love orla and roisin.

I think that old man association for Seamus is brill! And mega fan of Seamus Heaney.

Maeve is pretty easy to spell and pronounce and is a nice name. Niamh and Aoife have increased in popularity so shouldn't be too difficult.

You could go for anglicised spelling of Irish names such as Orla instead of Orlaith but that defeats the purpose really I suppose.

I think Seamus Heaney is where I get that idea from. A name full of character though. I have great affection for Irish names

I like Tadgh, Grainne and Eithne

I live in England but a lot of my friends are Irish, so names they have are

Seamus (Seamy for short)
Niamh
Orla (know loads of Orlas)

Agnes
Iseult
Aine
Roan
Paddy
Gabriel
Roisin
Malachi
Declan
Daragh
Bridie
Ciara

My family is Italian and dps is English, We chose Italian names for our four dc but nothing too hard to pronounce as I have a very Italian name that is always being mispronounced!

Finula/Finola. Beautiful girls name. Not hideous when shortened and kind of say what you see so no confusion about how to pronounce it.

Yseult is one of my favourite names.

Orlaigh is lovely but there are quite a lot of them. Danu.

I'm Scots in England with an English dh and all my attempts to use gaelic or traditional Scottishnames have been vetoed on account of difficult spelling/pronunciation. I road tested a few on English friends and the one that sticks in my mind is Eilidh which is consistently in the top 10 mist popular names in Scotland. My English friends all thought it was 'eye-lid' and convinced me that I had to give up on these names if the family was likely to stay in England

No mhari pronounced vari or sandy short for Alexander :(

I don't know a lot (anything...) about Irish names. But I really like Orla and Finola :)

Orla isn't really an Anglicisation. In fact it's more correct than some of the more authentic 'looking' versions. That said I think Orla is a bit boring!

I quite like Siún (SHOO-un) for a girl and Ferdia for a boy. Although I recently found out that Enda Kenny has a son called Ferdia. Worrying to have the same taste as old Enda!

I love Iseult too.

I love Finola.

Fionnuala/Finola is a bit fuddy-duddyish IMO but I think that's because the only ones I know are pensioners

I wouldn't inflict silent dh and bh names on a child living in London, tbh.

I think if I was living in London it'd be something like Maeve or Tara. No matter what accent you have it sounds the same.

I agree Sausage. Fionnuala seems very dated to me but the ones I know are in their forties.

I have a Niamh, it's much more popular and heard of now but lots of people struggled when she was younger, she's 15 now.
I probably wouldn't choose something way out, spelling wise, but a little different is ok.

We live in London and know a Blaithin (sorry can't remember where the accents go) but I've always thought that it's a lovely name.

Blathín - little flower
Blawheen

I think you need to think quite broadly & long term. A very distinctive name may work in an area with a big irish\multi cultural community, but your child may live their life in many different places. What works in London, doesn't work in say Swindon.

Having to constantly spell your name is boring and sometimes embarrasing. Mostly children want to fit in and to be the same as their friends. I longed to be called Catherine, or something as equally english.
Whilst my parents are Irish, I am not, I consider myself english. Whilst I'm interested in my heritage, it isn't who I am, its who my parents are. I can only know what it is to be 2nd gen irish. It's a different experience to theirs.
I cringe when I meet Irish parents with very english names themselves who then give their children very irish names.
FWIW I went to school with serveral Dearbhails, Finolas, Orlas etc. The register at school with new teachers was painful and took a while. :-)

Cara - Caraiosa
Orla
Niamh

Bláithín is a bit sickly sweet. No offence to any little Bláithins!

I suppose it's similar to Posy.

What works in London, doesn't work in say Swindon

Shockingly enough, people outside of London are capable of grasping names that are not white bread and one syllable.
How bloody insulting.

OP, as you know, Irish people go everywhere, there are Caoimhes and Fachtnas all over the world, managing to get by just fine with their Irish names. Call them whatever you like!

Caoimhe for a girl pronounced keeva. We chose aoife