Irish girl names

[Coffeeaddict14xo]

What do you think of these names:

Erin
Cara
Caitlin
Sorcha
Roisin
Aisling

Maura is the equivalent of Gladys or Beryl, and Kerry is like calling your child Gloucestershire or Somerset, though.

A thousand apologies, I didn't realise my contribution to this thread had to meet with your approval first. Would you like me to PM you to get permission next time?

🫡🙄

My lovely mam was called Moira which I love, I also like Ciara, Fianna, Callin and Cadhla.

Are you normally this reactive? You’re suggesting names from another culture without having any idea of their connotations in that culture. Though I would have said Kerry was obvious.

Sorcha.
Roisin
Aoife
Neave

Fiadh
Caoimhe
Laoise
Caragh
Saoirse
Niamh

Love Erin and Cara.
(My DD has a short name, 2 syllables easy to say and she's 18 and loves it.)

I was dithering between Aoife and Niamh when 9 months pregnant and then when she came out, I gave her a Spanish name!

My other favourites are Róise, Cara and Orla.

I have an Erin so obviously that's my fave from your list ☺️ I'm not Irish - DH is, and we live in London. But the other names on our final list for DD2 were Roisin, Maeve, and Orla. In the end we went with something totally different.

Sorcha is my favourite name - would have loved to use it. But I live in the US and just couldn't do it - I tried it out on pretty cosmopolitan american friends and they had no clue how to go about pronouncing it (plus when I was pregnant with the daughter who might have had that name I met a Sorcha from Ireland who told me not to do it)

Have you thought of Liadan?

Yes, I’d also think of Cara as more of an Italian name. I know cara is the Irish word for friend but it’s not pronounced as the name is, but as corra.

My Cara knows her name is Italian and Irish. Still a beautiful name!

My fav Irish girls names is Caoimhe and Saoirse

Agree with others if you are not in Ireland. Some of these will not be pronounced correctly even when you tell people. I say this as having one of the names on the list and dealing with England from NI for many years. It's no fun having to continually repeat your name or have people always say it incorrectly. Aisling is similar and is my sisters name. The variations I've heard over the years!

I don't love Erin but there's nothing wrong with it. Caitlin depends on whether you're using it in actual irish or going for the angliscisation of Kate-lin. Sorcha is nice if it's sor-ka or sor-uh-ka but I don't love the way they pronounce it Sor-sha in the North but that's different dialects for you. I would go for Aisling or Cara personally, love both.

And ignore the colonial minded comments telling you not to call your child a name from your culture in case others can't cope , they will.

I'm called Niamh and people manage just fine, I've lived in 5 different countries and it's never been enough to make me wish my name was different.

Cara is the best🙋

I dread to think how some of these names would be pronounced in England, Scotland or Wales. If you’re in Ireland it’s fine.

It’s not that hard to correct but I live in London & hear different names daily. MNs baby name boards are weird in the lack of their diversity.

Completely agree! People say Aoife wrong but I correct them and move on. I used to teach in a very diverse school and always asked children to correct my pronunciation if I got it wrong and then I made sure to get it right. It’s not difficult.

Peggy
Mary
Mairead
Jane
Catherine
Biddy
Birdie
Bridie

Róise Is gorgeous

@AnonymousArmadillo we have an Aoife & other names mentioned here in the family & it’s as you say. My DC have recently seen an influx of Hong Kongers into their school & I can’t pronounce the names initially but it’s not a big deal.

Sorcha might be the most difficult of your list in this regard as it includes a sound (represented by ch) that is not found in English. So depending on where you are, people may find it really difficult to get the sound quite right.

Sinead
Siobhan
Selina
Fiona

All pretty names. I don't care if a name causes pronunciation issues. I have a name that has to be spelled out and corrected all the time. It doesn't bother me. In fact it's been a great icebreaker my whole life. It's always waved as a red flag on MN and I don't know why. It makes me laugh when people think it's perfectly ok to butcher the spelling of a name to be cool but think it's outrageous to use an Irish/Indian/Polish name.

Choose whichever name you like OP and don't worry about whether others can spell it or pronounce it.

Sadhbh

Love Sorcha & Clara