Help me narrow down my choices ...

[Helen8888]

Hi,
First baby due June. I’m Irish living in England with English DH. Would love to use an Irish name but we’re struggling to decide so there’s a mix of options.

Looking to narrow down our choices:

Boys:
Freddie
Evan
Flynn
Cillian
Rory
Tadhg
Ronan
Rowan
Lorcan
Nate (Nathaniel)

Girls:
Niamh
Orla
Maeve
Aoife
Florence
Ada

Surname is King x

Ah some great names!

Boys

Freddie - lovely
Evan - love - top choice
Flynn - Love - top choice
Cillian - not a name I’ve come across. Sounds a bit like Gillian?
Rory - love
Tadhg - not heard of this one
Ronan -it’s ok. But too similar to many other popular names. Will get misheard.
Rowan - A name increasingly used for girls in US and England, and too similar to RoMan which was the fastest rising boys name last year. When there’s are so many lovely names, I’d avoid Roman, Rohan, Roan, Rowan.
Lorcan - nice
Nate (Nathaniel) - love - top choice

Girls:
Niamh - love
Orla - love
Maeve - love
Aoife - ok
Florence - love - top choice
Ada - love - top choice

Thank you.
Cillian and Tadhg are Irish names but I’m not sure if they’d be too tricky for a child in England.
x
Cillian is pronounced with a hard ‘k’
Tadhg is pronounced Tie-g

I like Ronan and Orla

When I read Lorcan, I can’t help but read Lucan like Lord Lucan so I would deffo avoid that

Cillian I think most people could manage this England especially because of Cillian Murphy and his popularity!

Tadhg would be a struggle I think

Cillian is fine in English. You may get a few people saying Sill-Ian initially, but they’ll oin get used to the Kill - sound. Also, it’s spelt how it sounds.

TAdhg - I think that would cause a lot of confusion if you live in England. It would get pronounced Tad - Heg.

Love your other names.

Ronan and Orla

I can't help I'm afraid just wanted to say I love them all! Also I know a Niamh king so that's a solid choice

Boys:
Freddie - great name
Evan - great pick
Flynn - love it
Cillian - ok
Rory - ok
Tadhg - unsure
Ronan - too same-y with other names
Rowan - as above, Roman is the fastest rising boy name and Rowan (together with all its variants Roan, Rohan) all quite boring and trendy and will get misheard as Roman. All the celebs seem to be using Roman.
Lorcan - ok
Nate (Nathaniel) - great name! Really like the nickname and it’s ver underused. The opposite of trendy.

Girls:
Niamh - love
Orla. - lovely name - favourite
Maeve - love
Aoife - tricky time spell but nice sound to it
Florence - adore it - favourite
Ada - adore it

Freddie - ok, don't lie Fred
Evan - ok. a bit nothingy and too similar to Eva etc
Flynn - ok, Finn is very popular though
Cillian - Sillian. Kill Ian
Rory - great
Tadhg - Is it Tie-g or Tay-g?
Ronan - ok but lots of Romans, Rowans, Reubens etc
Rowan- ok but lots of Romans, Rowans, Reubens etc

Girls:
Niamh - ok but lots of Eve type names around
Orla - ok but probably popular. Not my taste
Maeve - not my taste but
Aoife - so many Evies, Evas etc
Florence - ok
Ada - don't like it. It's not awful

Tadhg and Florence for me, but I prefer Flora (love it) to Florence

Love Cillian and Niamh :))

Love Maive

Nate is cute

Good luck 😊

Freddie - like
Evan - like
Flynn - it's ok, but particularly like or dislike it
Cillian - I really like this
Rory - like
Tadhg - really like
Ronan - really like, but Ronan/Rowan/Roman type names are getting very popular
Rowan - it's ok, as above
Lorcan - it's ok
Nate (Nathaniel) - not a fan of Nathaniel/Nathan

Niamh - like this, I also like the Welsh version, Nia
Orla - love this, would be on my list if DH and I had enough Irish ancestry to justify
Maeve - like this
Aoife - love this, again would be on my list if Iriah enough to justify
Florence - it's nice, but all the ones in my family are known as Flo, which I don't like as it reminds me of menstruation
Ada - nice

I would go for something Irish OP. Keep your heritage alive, especially as DC growing up in Britain. I have a Welsh name in England and most people manage. Be prepared for some people to struggle, even with a name you think is easy (Mam thought my name was foolproof as the first syllable is a common English word in it's own right which is only pronounced one way in English and yet that's the part of my name people get wrong )

Rory and Maeve for me but you've got a lovely selection.

Most unusually on here, I like all the names on your list (apart from Freddie).

I love Rory, but wouldn't use it in your case with the surname King as Rory means 'red king'.

I'd also rule out Flynn, Lorcan and Cillian as they don't flow well with King.

Rory and Maeve

My favourites are:

Nathaniel (Nate) and Rory for a boy and Maeve for a girl.

Not particularly keen on Freddie, Evan or Ronan but the others are all nice and useable.

Thank you for all your help. I think we’re leaning towards Orla or Maeve for a girl but still undecided for boys names.

Cillian
Maeve

Boys:

Freddie 9/10 favourite
Evan 9/10 favourite
Flynn 8/10 favourite
Cillian 7/10
Rory 6/10 - it’s ok, nothing special
Tadhg 6/10
Ronan 5/10 too similar to other names, as others have already said
Rowan - my baby daughters name! I do like it but yes it does get lumped in with all the Roman, Rohan, Roan’s about. I don’t think it would have been a problem up until a couple of years ago when Roman (with an M) boomed and is now fastest rising name - just my luck! Also I don’t really like the nickname Row. Full name is better but people are already shortening it by accident even when I ask them not to.
Lorcan - 7/10
Nate (Nathaniel) - 9/10 favourite

Girls:
Niamh - 8/10
Orla - 9/10
Maeve - 9/10
Aoife - 7/10 - difficult to spell!
Florence - 10/10
Ada - 9/10

Really love your selection of girl names, can’t really fault them! @Helen8888

Ah seen your girl choices! Orla and Maeve are lovely! Do you want more boy suggestions?

I’d go Cillian and Aoife or Orla. I think with a one syllable surname you should have a longer first name.

I love Rory and Florence. I would have loved to have named our son Rory but it really doesn't work with our surname.