How do you feel about traditional Irish names?

[Jackie1985]

Given my Irish heritage, I'd like give my soon to arrive child a suitable name - such as Aoife. My husband thinks they could cause some later school bullying (think London secondary). Thoughts?

It's lovely and certainly not too unusual, it was a favourite of mine and I have no Irish connection. We have a Neve (though different spelling) and I love Orla too. Also love Alba (Scottish).

It's a pretty name but I probably wouldn't, although in London it may not cause any problems due to such a mix of heritages.

London is multicultural enough for it not to be a problem. Generally I would say avoid Irish names if you are not Irish, but this does not apply to you.

Love them! I wouldn't think bullying would be a problem. At my school, the girls with unusual names tended to be the popular ones!

Not necessarily bullying but it is a right royal pain having to spell your name for people all the time and getting a 'what?!!' face when you tell people your name.

I'm Irish, living in South Africa, and gave DS an Irish name. I would do the same with any future kids. Polish kids often get Polish names, Somali kids Somali names... the world is a multicultural place and nowhere more so than London. Comhgháirdeas ar do leanbh agus bíodh an t-ádh leat!

I've heard some teachers say that no one gets bullied for having a "strange" name these days because there are so many. Surely it wont be an issue in London?

My daughter has an Irish name, I'm half Irish as is dh. DD is 18 now, no problems at all. Aoife is a beautiful name

I love Irish names but then I'm Irish living in Ireland! My sil lives in London and gave her ds an Irish name but spelt it phonetically which just wouldn't be for me. I think living somewhere like London or any big city you will have a big diversity in cultures and hence names so I see no reason not to give your child the Irish name you want.

I have a Sadhbh so even in Ireland she will have to pronounce it and spell it out all her days, but I love it as does she

I really can't imagine it causing bulling. I think generally names are a lot more varied than when I was growing up anyway and there are a lot of nationalities in many schools

Aoife would be fine. Gobnait will probably result in bullying

I'm Irish (living in Ireland) and I am not a big fan but that's just a personal thing

That's reassuring - I was getting some rolled eyes in class.
Any bad experiences at all?

I am English with a Scottish OH. DS hastarted Scottish names although we are in England. In fact all 3 of his Christian names are also clan or surnames.

There are a lot of Irish people in London so Irish names aren't that unusual. I've met some Aiofe's, Eibhinn's and lots of Siobhan's.

London is so multi-cultural I wouldn't have thought it would be considered unusual at all.

London is so multicultural that I can't see an Irish name raising too many eyebrows. And even if it did, who cares! But tbh I wouldn't go for something like Conchobhar or Caoilfhionn or anything that would cause daily 'oh wow how do you pronounce that?' type conversations. But that's just me.

I like Irish names when I hear them but I usually have no idea how to pronounce them. How should I say Aoife? Looks like 'oif' to my ignorant eyes.

Gobnait will probably result in bullying

I hate the name Gobnait so much that I've almost got a soft spot for it 😄

Plymouth it's pronounced ee-fa. Like Eva but with an F sound. My friend Aoife gets called Yuffy a lot by people making valiant attempts to pronounce it 😬

Yuffy

Well good on them for trying!

Aoife is lovely and I would have thought lots of people would be familiar with it.

Always reminds me of that Vicar of Dibley episode when Dawn French asks how the name is spelled. "A-O-I-F-E", comes the reply.

"Oh well don't leave any vowels for anyone else then!"

I love Orla, but kids will spell it Oral

I have a Scottish name which is spelt one way and pronounced another. Living in London it gets pronounced v weirdly as folks just don't know where they're going with it, especially phone calls at work.

Be prepared to be regularly correcting the spelling of Aoife forever. And then when your daughter grows older, it'll be her frustration.

My surname can also be spelt various ways so all in all, I'm quite unique!

Did kids 50/60 years ago get bullied for having traditional Irish names such as Kevin & Deirdre? Why would it be different now?

I LOVE Aoife, both my sister (who's expecting) and me (going to be ttc in the near future) have it at the top of our lists. We are Irish, with Irish DP's, but living in other countries, and both like Irish names. I'd prefer names that are more phonetic, but Aoife is just so beautiful.
I also love Maeve, Niamh and Eibhlin (although I'd probably go for the anglicised spelling of Eibhlin, partly because both DH and I would struggle with the spellings!)