Traditional or Irish Boy's Name

[LivLemler]

We're having trouble deciding on a boy's name. We have a long list of names we like but no clear front runner.

We would probably go with James but close friends got there first and we want something not already used in our immediate circle. Names we like include Matthew, Joseph, Peter.

We would also consider something Irish, but as DH doesn't really speak Irish and we live in a mainly Protestant part of NI, nothing too difficult to pronounce for non-Irish speakers. Irish names we like include Cian (which again, we can't use), Aidan, Conor.

Girl's name will likely be one of Elizabeth, Aisling, Meredith.

Boy's middle name likely John after family but not a deal breaker if the first name doesn't go with it.

What about John Mark as a double barrelled name? I know quite a few John Marks from NI and it fits your traditional theme while also including John

I personally love Joseph, but not keen on Joseph John. (Not generally a fan of alliterative names)

I have a Flynn....

Cuan?

I know it sounds obvious but I love Patrick or Padraig.

Patrick works in all languages really well and is classless.

Noel is nice too.

Paul
Christopher/Christian

I’m not Irish but just going from some of the children from Irish families I’ve taught:

Patrick
Owen
Torin
Kier
Tomas

I have a Sullivan.

I like Cormac, Liam & Orin/Oran.

P.S LOVE Meredith for a girl.

Hi @LivLemler!

We're thinking along v similar lines, except live in London so even less
familiarity with Irish spellings etc.

Our options are Seamus or Patrick.
Also love Cormac and Conall (can't use).

I was going to suggest Sean, but you can't have that with John

OP - does it matter whether it's a Catholic or Protestant name? There are a few on the thread which I like but was hesitating to suggest (like Liam) because you said you were in a Protestant area

What about Eoin?

My ds1's middle name.

I like Maeve for a girl.

Oisin John
Mathew John
Eoin john
Rory John

Snap 2 pups!

Joseph peter John sounds nice though

Thanks for all your suggestions, lots of lovely names here, will go over the thread with DH later.

harriet we seem to be on the same track in lots of ways atm, I think we had the same due date until mine was changed.

OlennasWimple - not particularly. It's a naice area and I'm not worried about unpleasantness. But at the same time, I doubt many would know how to pronounce Sadhbh, for example! Whereas the Aoifes, Aislings etc would probably be fine.

Although I quite like William and my FIL's face would no doubt be a picture

Adam
Seamus
Darragh
Oisín
Samuel
Thomas
Colm

Declan?

Darragh
Quinlan
Eoin
Finn on its own or short for Finbar or Finnian

Aidan?

I like Aiden.

We have a similar dilemma, I've tried to go for names that don't mark the kids out as being from one community or the other but there's a couple of names I really do like that don't fit that criteria.

Stephen isn't used much anymore but fits the traditional names. Daniel?

Aidan, sorry.

Same story here OP- I’m from the Protestant side, met DH who is Catholic from ROI and we moved in together to a very naice village (the Queen’s NI residence is round the corner from us).

We had an agreement that if baby was a boy we’d call him William (my pick) and girl would be Sadhbh (DH’s choice)- we had a girl. My side of the family were a bit wtf about the name, but were polite enough not to say anything . She’s four months now and everyone’s used to it.

Agree with a previous poster about Patrick- it’s a fab name, with lots of great nicknames.

Also-
Conn
Francis
Arthur (Art)
John (Jack)

William John Lemler is good.