Traditional Irish Names - what do you think?

[El2020]

Hi all,

I’m TTC my second child and I’m looking to cull my shortlist for Irish kids name which would match my other DC.

A little bit of a background

So I’m Irish Australian and my background is from the Gaeltacht in Ireland (as is my spouse’s). I spend half of my between the two countries.

For those who don’t know the Gaeltacht is where the Irish language (Gaeilge) is predominately spoken in Ireland. I’m not particularly bothered by traditional Irish spelling or too “out there names” (by English speaking standards) as I think it’s important to keep our culture alive. I also feel like when you have a famous Irish person, people are more inclined to remember an exotic name! So that’s always a bonus!

My only “thing/rule” is we both want a traditional name...so Irish names which were created more recently like Saoirse, Aisling and Enin aren’t really liked by my spouse.

I don’t personally like “en” sort of names like Aiden, Hayden, Cayden, Zadyen, Jadyen as these are a bit bogan (chav/redneck) in Australia.

Last time around we stuck with tradition and named DC after one of his immediate family members. The name is a classic male Irish name and I get a lot of compliments on it. No problems with pronunciation when people hear it once or twice.

In terms of middle names, I get to pick those and I’ve selected traditional evergreen names. On the off chance my child or future child hate their name, I have an English name they can use professionally or personally.

Here’s some names that are on our shortlist:

Girls

No order...

Sadhbh - “Sive” means goodness
Méabh - “Mave” means intoxicating
Áine - “Onya” means radiant and after the fairy queen
Órla - “Or-la” means golden princess
Bláthnaid - “Blaw-heen” means flower but I’m worried this sounds to close (for Australians at least) to a particular sexual favour.
Caoimhe - “Keeva” means beautiful
Róisín - “Ro-sheen” means little Rose
Múiread - “Mu-reed” Irish version of Margaret

The girl’s two middle names would be on the lines of Margaret, Catherine/Katherine, Eleanor, Mary, Jane, Victoria, Pearl, Violet, Iris, Rose, and Elizabeth to honour other family members and incorporate MY name this time round. I mean what works for men should also work for women in passing down the names.

Boys

Aodh - “ay” means fire
Éamonn - ay-mon” Irish version of Edmund and I like the 1916 reference to Valera
Cillian - “kill-I-an” like Cillian Murphy yummyyyy
Ruairí - “Rory” means fire king
Pádraig - “pod-rig” is Irish version of Patrick but I feel like this could be too stereotypical of Irish people
Séamus “shay-mus” is the Irish version of James

This time round we don’t have to follow tradition and I think we are both open to anything reasonable and Irish. DC has an evergreen middle name which I’d be do the same thing for another boy.

Let’s see what you guys think 🤔 TIA!!!!

Róisín IIII
Cillian II
Caoimhe IIII
Méabh IIIIII
Áine III
Ruairí I
Séamus II
Conor II
Daithí I
Sadhbh III
Órla IIIII
Pádraig II
Ciarán I
Cian II
Dáire/Darragh I
Oisín I
Ruairí II

After having a read of the suggestions/favourites from my shortlist, I’m checking the spelling is correct and phonetics very carefully!

@autumnkate & @waxonfeckoff - I’m not particularly gone on Cormac. It sounds too harsh 🤔 But I do like Ciarán as a new shortlist contender.

@lmes I like Cian! I’m adding it! Etain has a nice meaning but I’m pronouncing it as “eating” which isn’t good 😬

@waxonfeckoff Eithne was a no - DH said if reminded him too much of Enya!

@pallisers definitely sounded like Nissan to me too! Do like Sorcha though!

@naomh I like Lir but always thought it was a male name (was the god male?) I think my pronunciation might be confusing some responders. Keeva/Queeva thing 😝

@thetittefers I’m adding Dáire/Darragh to my list. Not sure what my spelling preference is...

@cheshiremax gorgeous!

@bobbybluecat I’m glad the mn aren’t too jarring 😀 classics are sometimes good

@ny20005 that’s exactly why I liked Áine 😝😝😝 I thought it would be easier to explain to Australians “on yaaaaaaaa” 🤙🏻

@oddshoesoddsocks , @goodgollymiss (might have to write a baby stealing thread about you 😝),
@terriblecustomercervix (your name!!! 😂) & @istillgetjealous - we have good taste!

Thanks everyone for sharing their thoughts so far. 😀😀😀 I think it’s good to think about potential issues now than later down the track when neither of us could be willing to budge on naming choices.

@kaptenkrusty no go ahead! I 100% agree with you. I’m very passionate about the subject. @mummyshark2018 Me too! DC name has been a talking point in Australia. In Ireland people are really interested to know it’s a family name and how we are keeping family traditions alive.

. @annasgirl - if people never left the Gaeltacht then a lot of people would be small minded and stunted. That goes for anywhere. It says more about people who think insular than me.

This isn’t a case of plastic paddery. I’m not whipping out my Enya CDs or watching my river dance throwbacks to embrace my Irish roots. You’re referring to my culture and I’m very passionate about keeping it alive in some capacity. Yes, I live and travel between two countries (so this isn’t some “coming to America” name my kid McDonald’s or something) but it doesn’t make me any less entitled to use Irish names (or any names for that matter). If it was a case of cultural (mis) appropriation that would be a different situation. It’s definitely not.😒

But I agree that keeping the name simple is important, would I do it for people who think it’s “unique or hipster” to go for a traditional Irish name? Absolutely not. I’m naming a child not a pet or my ego.

I love Rían (for a boy, though it can be for both)

Lots of different spellings for Tadhg! Tadgh, Taigh, Taidgh, Tighe, Tigue, Teague, Taig, Ty

on yaaaaaaaa

It's AWN-yeh.

LOL Pallisers - they do a practice of the graduation ceremony in my DCs' high school and everyone has a chance afterwards to join the long line to correct the pronunciation of their name.

Lots of different spellings for Tadhg! Tadgh, Taigh, Taidgh, Tighe, Tigue, Teague, Taig, Ty

No - there is just one SPELLING. It's Tadhg.

All the rest are wrong or Anglicisations.

errant caps there.

Sadhbh - “Sive" . I still don't understand how to say it. To rhyme with Hive? Or Sieve? For that reason, not keen.
Hive/five. It only takes one explanation for most people, so I wouldn't be put off.

Bláthnaid - “Blaw-heen”. Soooo ugly.
It's Blaw-nidh, quite a soft sounding name.

Múiread - “Mu-reed”. Ugly sounding
Good thing that's not how it's actually spelled or pronounced then...

pronounciation of names does vary from county to county so there isn't always one right way to pronounce a name.

The diphthongs UA and IA are always pronounced as two syllables in Irish. In the case of Niamh it should be ee-ah or ee-uh (schwa).
Nee-uv is the correct pronunciation regardless of where one lives.

Nee-uv is the correct pronunciation regardless of where one lives.

well fine if you think so but I wasn't about to correct a fellow Irish-woman on how she pronounced her own daughter's Irish name. That would have been a bit off don't you think?

The following are not Irish names:

Lir. Rafferty. Connor. Connell. Neeve. Colleen. Coleen. Connall. Dominic. Quinn FFS, there isn't even a 'q' in the Irish language)

Ruairí is NOT pronounced 'Rory'
Ruairí = Rur-ee (tho that's not great either, it's phonetically actually ɾˠuərʲi]

Rory = ROR-ee

@EarringsandLipstick & @paperandfireworks

I think you’re both missing what I wrote in my original post - I’m Irish-Australian. My pronunciation is going to be a lot different as we tend to sound things out phonetically with a higher ending (but it something I’m going to be working on with the chosen name). Doesn’t make me any ‘less Irish’ than either of you.

@pallisers I agree, it’s definitely rude to correct someone or mock them over accents/pronunciation. Tomato-Tomayto.

@pallisers I know what you mean. I'm from Limerick & while it's not correct, people often would say 'Neev' not 'Nee-uv'. Equally 'Murn' instead of 'Muir-eann', it's my sister's name & drove my mum bonkers.

It was usually people who wouldn't have great Irish.

@El2020

I think you’re both missing what I wrote in my original post - I’m Irish-Australian. My pronunciation is going to be a lot different as we tend to sound things out phonetically with a higher ending (but it something I’m going to be working on with the chosen name). Doesn’t make me any ‘less Irish’ than either of you.

What does this even mean?!

I never said anything about you being 'less Irish'.

There's no such thing as 'Irish-Australian' pronunciation of Irish names. There is a correct way / ways to say Irish names. Many of yours were completely wrong.

Seeing Áine as Onya or On-yaaa makes me want to scream. It's actually offensive & if you live 6 months of the year in the Gaeltacht you'd know that's not the way it's said. It's not a bloody Irish-Australian way to say it.

And OP can you explain what you mean by this?

if people never left the Gaeltacht then a lot of people would be small minded and stunted. That goes for anywhere. It says more about people who think insular than me.

On reading without context, it comes across as really offensive.

well fine if you think so but I wasn't about to correct a fellow Irish-woman on how she pronounced her own daughter's Irish name. That would have been a bit off don't you think?

It's not a matter of me 'thinking so' when it comes to pronunciation of Niamh (or other names).

IA and UA should always be pronounced as two syllables in Irish. Long E, short a or the schwa.

My own name has been butchered here by an Irish woman, so I'll correct as I see fit.

Long E, short a or the schwa in the case of Niamh.

@mathanxiety you explain pronunciations really well.

'Schwa' is only something I came across myself via my kids' homework. It's covered very well in school.

Sorry about the name-butchery. Ditto for me.

But I will say, many Irish names are butchered daily by Irish people in Ireland. My own DD's name, despite being, IMO, a straight-forward name to say, is mangled all.the.time

But I'd rarely directly correct people, I just try & repeat it & hope they get it.

So I get where pallisers is coming from & I don't think she could possibly correct the mum about how she said her own DD's name

@EarringsandLipstick

I’ve decided not to respond to your two posts at me because I would like to get back to the thread on hand - traditional Irish names. I’m happy to discuss names with you, not your personal projections.

It must suck to have people butcher your chosen name but attacking people and taking quick offence in an online forum seems like a waste of your time and energy.

If you took offence to what I said (particularly Áine and what was an attempt at a joke from another user - we say “on ya” as an Australian slang expression.). I understood the first time it was corrected for me. Considering I have an Irish name already a mnemonic is how a lot of people learn foreign names.

I’m happy to discuss names. I hope you are able to do so.

Grand @El2020 but to be fair, I only quoted your own words and asked you about them - so I guess it's you, not me, derailing your own thread 🤷🏻‍♀️

Also I haven't taken 'quick offence', that's rubbish. I've commented on your pronunciations of names - which is the point of the thread, surely?

I also said that talking about 'Irish-Australian' pronunciations, which you did, is ridiculous as there's no such thing

Finally, you made up stuff I didn't say & took offence - talking about me saying you were 'less Irish' which I'd never said.

Good on ya is an expression used in Ireland too, and the US...

Ps I did comment on 'traditional Irish names', have a read of my earlier posts, perhaps.

Oh and my point about Áine stands: if you're really here, in a Gaeltacht region, 6 months of the year, you'd know it's not Onya. Nothing to do with Australian jokes etc.

I also mentioned that my DDs name is mispronounced daily by Irish people & I don't correct it, much less take offence.

Maybe you should read posts more closely?

Sorry final post but attacking people

Where did I do that? 🧐

Seems much more like what you're doing OP 😐