Stick to Irish theme or not?

[Sausagedog1]

Hi all,

My DH is Irish and we have two DS with Irish names. DS1 has quite a common Irish name (think top 50) so a lot of people probably don't assume Irish heritage. DS2 has a more unusual name over here and it has had a few pronunciation issues. I think people would definitely assume Irish heritage on meeting him.

So for DS3 would you go Irish again or something else? Some names I like are:
Gabriel, Zachary, Samuel and Blake.
I wondered if these would seem strange next to our other sons names? (None have the same initial)

DS1 is proud of having an Irish name as he is very close to his Irish family (grandparents loads of aunts uncles and cousins), DS2 is too young to know. I'm worried if I choose something else for DS3 that he might feel the odd one out. Am I overthinking this?

Also which one would you choose?
Thanks!

You do not need a theme. Your DH is Irish but you, I presume, are not. So it's completely reasonable that you both have your heritage reflected in naming your children.

Presumably the DC have their father's surname, so might be IrishFirstName IrishSurname.

@KirstenBlest

Shannon was briefly very popular in the UK in the 1990s. It was a celebrity-inspired name.

A Shannon I knew told me she was named after the airport.

My DH is Irish and we like Finnian nn Finn for a boy and we like the name Etta for a girl. We thought we could use it as a nn for Bridget (his grandmothers name)

@SeanChailleach thanks I love them name too but alway thought it was after the river Shannon 🤷‍♀️

[quote Sausagedog1]@Powwow401 your daughter has a beautiful name. I love the sound and it's underused too. Most names get called rough on here at some point unless they are the classic traditional English names![/quote]
Ye I think unfortunately if anyone knows a child they don't like with that name, the name then gets a bit tarnished

Stick to the Irish theme definitely. I am bias though with 3 DCs with Irish names. Like yours mine are very proud of having Irish names, my middle one tells everyone their name is Irish and what it means.

There are lots of names that are common in Ireland that aren’t necessarily Irish sounding. As other have said Saints names are very common.

I dont see why all three of your children need to be a celebration of your husbands heritage? Presumably they have his last name too? I'd pick something you actually like without obsessing over whether its irish

Don't be bound by a theme. That's far too Kardashian.

Thanks for all the responses. There isn't much of a consensus on whether it matters or not to keep to the Irish theme.
I think it probably depends on the child whether they would care or notice this kind of thing. My eldest definitely would, he is already very aware of names and interested.
I still love Samuel, but DH thinks it's dull. He would compromise on it though if I really wanted it. It is very different to Cillian which puts me off a bit. I imagine a Sam to have brothers called James and Tom for example, solid traditional classics.

Malachy or Gabriel are front runners I think. I like the Finn names but Finn has become very popular now. I would consider Finnian that someone suggested but he would just end up as Finn. I also still love Shay... it's a shame it has those connotations. Seamus just feels a bit too much, too old fashioned somehow.
Tadhg is also gorgeous, but possibly a bit much spelling wise.

To the person who said 'just pick a name you love'. To be honest, if there was a name I 'loved' that we could both agree on I would have used it by now. My favourite name is Jesse for example but DH hates it. Both our sons names have been slight compromises but I have grown to love their names.

Sorcha

Dermont

Well I think its sad that the two names you love he has said no to. He already has his two other boys given Irish names like he wanted. I mean come on! Jesse is nice

Shays are a solid dependable lot. And I once had a lost weekend with the sexiest Shay. Shoulders a mile wide and abs you could slice cheese on.

Gabriel is lovely though. And there's Fintan or Finbar as examples of other Finn names.

Or go for Samuel and if anyone queries it shout 'AFTER SAMUEL BECKETT, OF COURSE'.

I love Aisling and saiorse! I have a Zachary and a Findlay. Other family names we have are kaelen, kellan, axel, Dexter, Niko so not your style. Names friends of babies I've known recently are Erin, aila (Ayla) I believe, Niamh, Rory, evinnie, Alaina and maven

@CrotchBurn he is actually fairly flexible. He hates Jesse. He said it is the worst name for a man in the world so I couldn't exactly choose it after he said that. He also didn't push for Irish names. He had a tendency to prefer Irish names but was happy to go with something non-Irish, but it just so happened that we both liked the ones we chose. I do love Irish names myself too. He has said if I really want Samuel he will go with that, same for any of the others I've listed here.

@WagnerTheWehrWolf love this post!!

I know an Irish Seamus who goes by Shay, I think it's lovely. Orla is a nice straightforward Irish girl's name.

@katieg03 I do quite like Kellan and Caelan but they are very similar to Cillian.
Aila and Alaina both nice, haven't heard of those, at least not with those spellings.

[quote Powwow401]@SeanChailleach thanks I love them name too but alway thought it was after the river Shannon 🤷‍♀️[/quote]
Lol childhood misunderstanding.

I've just checked 'darkgreener' for Shannon to see how popular it is. It is soooo low down the list, like 1000 and something but it used to be number 11!!
11?! I don't know a single Shannon, is that because I'm too old?! There must be loads of twenty something Shannon's wandering about. It must be quite dated then.

It's because of Beverly Hills, 90210. The main female character was played by Shannen Doherty. It ran in the 1990s.

Similarly, the name Darcey (or Darcy and Darcie). Darcey Bussell was a judge on Strictly Come Dancing between 2012–2018. The name peaked in 2016.