Lovely, Gorgeous, Irish Girls Names Please!

[HolyShmoly]

DH and I are really struggling with names. We are Irish, living in England with a very English surname (think Smith.) Baby will be born and raised in England and I'd like to give her an Irish name as a link to our home and also so she doesn't have the dullest name ever (I have a really plain name which I disliked and then ended up having a very dull surname to go with it so it's a pain I feel.)

I'd like to avoid names with fadas or that are too difficult for a non-gaeilgeoir to get a handle on, I think two syllables would be preferable. Scan says baby is a girl. Lots of family so Maeve, Niamh, Roisin are out and DH doesn't like Aoibheann or Mairead.

So far we love Aoife. That's it. Just one name shortlisted. Ideally I'd like to have at least two names to choose from, or else we might end up with a not-at-all-Irish Eleanor.

Thanks in advance!

I came on to say Aoife! My absolute favourite girls name!

I'm not Gaelic but knew a small girl called ( excuse spelling ) Keeva, she was lovely.

Caoimhe. If we had another DD, she would definitely be Caoimhe. I love it!

What about Roise (Rosha) or Ríona or Siofra.
Eabha (ava), Beibhinn (bay-vin), Doireann, Fiadh, Càit, Liadh, Muireann, Màire.

Laoise
Ríona
Clíodhna/Clíona
Nora
Muireann
Aisling

Ds2 would have been Josie if he had been dd1 instead! it’s not Gaelic but I still think of it as an Irish name.

Same with - Clare, Kerry, Bridie.

Clodagh, Aine and Caoimhe are my favourite Irish girls names. I'm Irish but DH is English and we live in Scotland. He was nearly sold on Aine but in the end we went with something else. I'm not sure I buy into the whole being difficult for people to pronounce/spell thing - we're increasingly living in a multi cultural society with names of many different origins and yet it always seems to be Irish ones people complain about being too weird for the English to cope with. (And yes, it is the English, I've never heard Scots or Welsh people complaining)

Please don't call your baby Féile

Dervela or Siobhan

Rhiannon, Corina, Columba, Carmel, Fiona

Dds best friend is Aine. No one has any trouble once they've been told how to pronounce it!

I love Aisling.

Bernadette
Grainne

I also like Keeva but not with the Irish spelling, it's just too much for someone living in England!

Ciara?

Neve

Although I'm not sure if that is the correct Irish spelling?

Ciara
Cara
Una
Eilish
Aoife
Orla
Caoimhe

Oooh yes Ciara is lovely, obviously Irish with that spelling and easy to pronounce. I also like Saoirse and think you could just about get away with it in the UK.

Sadhbh (Sive)? Nightmare to spell but sounds nice.

Ailbhe

Saorla - (seer-la)

Aisling

Fiadh is becoming more popular

Brianna, ciara bronagh, claire, emer, nessa, sile, fia, aine, iseult

Laoise

Neve=Niamh
keeva=Caoimhe

What about Keela, Laragh, Cianna (see-ann-a), Naoise (nee-sha), or Cadhla (ky-la)?

Some of these aren't Irish names - Cianna, for example (no soft c in Irish)

Also, please don't name your baby daughter Columba

Loads of suggestions, thanks everyone and keep them coming!
Some are out cause of family or very close friends, some were bitches or drips in school so I can't possibly name my wee girl after them!

I might come back to Aisling though. I think it was so common at home there for a while that it almost dropped off my radar.

If I didn't worry about the spelling I would go with Sadhbh in a heartbeat. Do you think she would struggle with it? I haven't even really ran it past DH, but it might fall foul of his 'v' dislike. As will Ailbhe. I'm considering not allowing him a say in the matter.

I'm not sure on Saoirse, it always seemed to be used as a bit of a political statement name in NI so I put that association with it. I doubt anyone here would make that connection though!

It's not been mentioned here but I also quite like Fiona, but I imagine a Fiona to have fair hair and it's very doubtful ours will.

Grainne and Cait remind me of groin and crotch, distinct memories of people using those nicknames for girls at school - although not me!