Irish boys and girls name inspiration

[clairelee17]

Both my hubby and I are from Irish backgrounds (both sets of parents are Irish) although both born and raised in London, and hubby unfortunately has a really plain surname (wouldn't even consider it Irish!), so we wanted something Irish to go with it.

I know there have been so many threads regarding Irish names, however, the same ones keep cropping up. I just wanted some advice on the following names (I'm due in 6 weeks and we cannot agree!!), particularly those who are Irish or who have Irish backgrounds.

P.S my hubby has a really Irish name and has spent all his life spelling it out for people, so we're not too bothered or concerned if these are really Irish!

Boy: Thady, Cathal, Daithi, Oisin

Girl: Maeve, Doireann, Eimear, Roisin

Advice welcome! :)

Oisin and Maeve I particularly love. Both absolutely gorgeous names. I know a Maeve (so am perhaps very biased!).... she is one of the funniest, sparkly, wonderful people I know.

Also (as an Irish person!) the names Thady, Daichi and Dorieann are less well known to me- though perhaps you like a more unique name. The others are definitely very Irish!

I have two DDs, both with Irish names. Niamh meaning 'bright' and Cara meaning 'friend'. We are Irish heritage and I absolutely love Gaelic names.

Sorry; also to say I love Cathal, Maeve and Eimear from your list.

I like Oisin and Maeve off your list. I also quite like Maeve spelt as "Meabh", if you aren't too bothered about having to spell out names!

Other thoughts -

Boy: Eoghan, Fionn, Odhran, Tadhg.

Girl: Aoife, Aine, Caoimhe, Eimear, Orlaith.

I live in Ireland & have an English accent, so this is my take on your names & how mangled or not they might get in the UK, based on whether I can say them properly!

Thady - I've never met one. It's short for Thaddeus and I don't think it really works as a stand alone name, tbh.
Cathal - very nice, but in the UK the pronunciation is going to get mangled
Daithi - see above ^^
Oisin - it's a beautiful name, quite popular in Ireland now & not too had to say when you know how

Maeve - beautiful name, easy to say without mangling, popular amongst all age groups
Doireann - it's old fashioned & hard to say
Eimear - in the UK I'd be inclined to spell it Emer, much easier
Roisin - lovely name, English people are inclined IME to pronounce it with a short 'o' instead of ROE-sheen.

Sadhbh

I have an Orla so incredibly bias there!

I love the names Maeve and Roisin too but (as a non Irish person) don’t know how to pronounce any of your boy names!

As an Irish person I've never heard of Thady and there's no 'y' in the Irish alphabet so I don't think it would be considered Irish. If you're going to use Maeve, I would spell it the Irish way- Meabh. There's no 'v' in the Irish alphabet.
As others have noted above English people say Roisin weird- like it's spelt Roe-Sheen.
Personally I like:
Boys-Odhran (Oren), Fionnan or Fionn and Oisin, Cillian
Girls-Caoimhe (keeva), Niamh, Cara and Erin

My absolute favourite Irish girl's name is Saoirse

Not Irish but do have Irish heritage and love Irish names.

From your list I love Oisin, Maeve and Roisin.

Love Orla for a girl and Ronan and Padraig for a boy.

We have a Ciaran, and if we'd had another boy, he'd have been Danann. OH is second generation lrish.

I would not spell Eimear "Emer". I work with one and people treat it as a mans name and call her "Emmer". Like short for Emerson. Eimear is a lovely name on its own.

My children are English and they can't pronounce Cathal, they say "Cole" as they just can't get the sounds right. I wouldn't use that!

I love Maeve and Oisin, and Doireann is only difficult to spell but easy to say.

What about Fiachra? There's a name I haven't heard in years. One of the children of Lir, I think?

Thank you for all your advice and suggestions. Plenty more names to think about. I'm totally not gone on Thady at all, hoping to throw that name off the list. Glad to hear it's not very common in Ireland either so no one knows of it!

I know a Thady but it's short for Thaddeus in his case. Cathal is my guilty pleasure name but my daughters partook of much eye rolling when we mentioned it once. Apparently it's on a par with Assumpta . I still think its lovely.

I'm not the world's biggest fan of Roisin but I think that's just because it was quite popular when I was at school. Meabh and Eimear - quite popular in my kids school, a popular sibling set from their smallish primary school. Oisin would be popular as well - I'd know a few 5/6 year olds.

I quite like Etain and Senan as names - I know a couple and it suits them both as babies and primary aged kids. I'm in NI.

Shelagh?

I love all your choices apart from Thady and Doireann.

I wanted Eimear for most recent DC but couldn’t get DH on board. It’s gorgeous x

Finbar
Cormac
Niall
Tadhg

Love Maeve

Colm

Love Maeve

Seeing your heading my first thought was Cathal..( lrish for Charlie/ Charles)
Love all your names except Thady.
Una ( oona) is lovely..lrish for Agnes
Aine ( awna) lrish for Anne
Cormac for a boy or Tadhg ( lrish for Tim/ Timothy)

Of your choices I like Maeve but I prefer a traditional spelling.

Some of my children and children I know have the following names - one of them is mine.
Fiadh
Cliona
Síofra
Róise
Caoimhe
Saoirse
Aoife
Fionnuala
Aoibhinn
Aine
Dearbhla

Naoise
Sean
Eoghan
Daithi
Fergal
Tadhg
Fintan
Diarmuid

Thady - should be Thaddeus

Cathal - 'boring old grandad who does the stations of the cross' kind of name

Daithí- whatever the male version of frumpy is, Daithí is that

Oisín - fine

Maeve - okay but boring

Doireann - God no

Eimear - okay but boring

Roisín - okay but boring

Cathal..( lrish for Charlie/ Charles)
Una ( oona) is lovely..lrish for Agnes
Aine ( awna) lrish for Anne

Well yes and no.

Cathal, Una, and Áine are old names that exist in their own right rather than just being Irish versions of English names. It's a modernish thing where Irish names were given an English counterpart. It's like when someone called Sarah goes to Irish College and is referred to as Sorcha for the three weeks (do they still do this?). Sorcha isn't a version of Sarah, it's just an Irish S name that is vaguely similar.