Irish babynames 2021

[SeanChailleach]

www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-ibn/irishbabiesnames2021/

Croía, Indie, Ted and Tadgh (that spelling) storming up the charts, looks like.

@mathanxiety

I see they've posted Rían with the fada - it's not necessary because you pronounce IA as EE-ah. You wouldn't have a fada on Liam.

Absolutely agree about Rian, no fada at least in modern Irish. Rhymes with Cian, which doesn't have a fada either. I guess people put in the fada because the name is associated with rí (king), but actually the name is so old its meaning isn't certain. In older Irish, Ríán (two fadas) was used, though I'm not completely certain if it's the same name. People often prefer to use older spellings, but why retain one fada and lose the other? Doesn't make any sense to me. The surname Ó Riain doesn't have a fada on either i or a.

Rían (plus fada) has just shot up the charts. There were 357 babies named Rían in 2021 and only 61 named Rian To contrast, in 2017 there were 257 babies called Rian (no fada), though this dropped to 65 the following year. Rían wasn't listed in 2017, but 193 were given the name in 2018. Where has the sudden love for the (totally unnecessary) fada of Rían come from?
.

@Dustyblue, Declan is a middle-aged sort of name in Ireland, and there are plenty of them just not many young ones
It's a nice name

There aren't many Jacks my age but lots of Johns and quite a few Jonathans known as Jon, but I lots of people I know have a Jack, Jake or Jacob

The extraneous fada is an inevitable result of "our fada", and "in the name of the fada".

as in Harold be thy name?

Seriously though, between the fada on Rían and the gh on Tadgh I think I need a cup of tea (or stronger)!

It's the Aoibheann pronounced as 'Ay-veen' that makes me want to throw things.

Laoise

Can anyone tell me how this is pronounced please?

@Rockmehardplace, Laoise is pronounced Leesha

and Naoise is Neesha
and Aoife is Eefa

[quote KirstenBlest]@Rockmehardplace, Laoise is pronounced Leesha[/quote]
Thank you!

You are welcome @Rockmehardplace

I’m from Belfast and don’t know any Tadhgs (or tadghs or anything else) - historically not a popular name here because “taig” (a derogatory term for catholics used by loyalists) is a version of Tadhg.

However, it wouldn’t surprise me if more are cropping up recently and there are people misspelling it and/or mispronouncing it given Irish isn’t compulsory here. Sorcha as Sorsha is a common mistake too.

Sorry - the above was a reply to @SeanChailleach

@Sfumato

It's the Aoibheann pronounced as 'Ay-veen' that makes me want to throw things.

Agreed! Drives me mad. Had an argument on a thread last year with various Irish people telling me it had to be Ayveen because they knew loads of people who pronounce it that way. Well they’re all wrong! 🤣

My SIL and her husband just had a baby girl named Aoibheann pronounced ' Ay-veen' it grates on me every time I hear them say it but I'd never say anything

@FolkSongSweet

I’m from Belfast and don’t know any Tadhgs (or tadghs or anything else) - historically not a popular name here because “taig” (a derogatory term for catholics used by loyalists) is a version of Tadhg.

However, it wouldn’t surprise me if more are cropping up recently and there are people misspelling it and/or mispronouncing it given Irish isn’t compulsory here. Sorcha as Sorsha is a common mistake too.

Sorcha as Sore-shuh is another bugbear of mine!

The mispronounced version will become mainstream.

The welsh names threads get heated. Usually someone claiming the same because they knew loads of people who pronounce it that way. Well they’re all wrong!

Not only do they get vowels and vowel combinations wrong, they get some consonants wrong too.

Our baby is called Dàithì, pronounced dah hee it’s Irish for David

This:

www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/cso-to-recognise-names-featuring-s%C3%ADneadh-fada-1.3797211

It says that the CSO only included the fada in their publications from the 2018 data onward. Before then, Sean and Seán were combined, for example.
The title of the Twitter campaign was "our fada", a pun on the start of the Lord's Prayer, in English.

@folksongsweet GRMA

Thanks OP, very interesting.

I knew Croía would become very popular when Conor McGregor named his daughter that.

Surprised Aoibhinn/Aoibheann/Aoibhin isn’t higher. I feel like I’m tripping over them here

Ah, thanks @SeanChailleach, I had completely forgotten that! The stats make sense now at least (though the use of the fada in Rían still doesn't ).

@TheDuchessOfMN

Thanks OP, very interesting.

I knew Croía would become very popular when Conor McGregor named his daughter that.

Surprised Aoibhinn/Aoibheann/Aoibhin isn’t higher. I feel like I’m tripping over them here

Is it a newly-invented name? I don’t think I’ve ever come across it before encountering references to it on here. I must say I don’t care for it — I just hear it as ‘Heart-a’ and it just feels very odd.

I just grouped the names to see what effect the fada and other spelling variations has on the rank. Quick and dirty but got this first look:
Girls
Sophia knocked Fiadh from 1 to 2.
Isabelle jumped to 5
Kate jumped to 8.
Mollie jumped to 10.
Aoibhinn jumps from 71 to 30

Boys
Jack still number 1
Finn and Fionn together are number 2
Dara jumps to 6
Tadhg jumps to 7
Conor jumps to 8

Yes, it's newly coined. It makes no sense at all as an Irish word.