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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Original poster

Do you see Nóra as an Irish name?

36 replies

lovebeingmuma · 05/08/2025 20:42

I want an Irish name and like Nóra, Irish people help please 😊

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mathanxiety · 06/08/2025 00:49

Nora is (or was) very popular in Ireland, with the longer version (Onora) used as a BC name.

mathanxiety · 06/08/2025 00:53

Lurina · 05/08/2025 23:46

No, I don’t think it was from Irish originally. It came to Ireland with the Normans and was adopted like many other names. Some information here which is interesting I think.
enchantednames.wordpress.com/2021/05/18/honora/

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Lots of names came with the Normans- off the top of my head, Margaret, which eventually became Mairead.

mauvaiseherbe · 06/08/2025 01:17

Twelftytwo · 05/08/2025 21:01

I didn't think of Nora as an Irish name until the news story about the teenager with learning disabilities who went missing and died on a family holiday to Malaysia 😞
So sad 😢
Sadly that's what comes to mind about the name now for me

yes me too, who I associate the name with as will others

Justchilling07 · 06/08/2025 01:33

Thanksman · 05/08/2025 22:12

I love the name Nuala. Not sure if it has a fada.

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l like, it’s different.
Maire, pronounced as mya, l think is lovely too.

Lurina · 06/08/2025 01:42

mathanxiety · 06/08/2025 00:53

Lots of names came with the Normans- off the top of my head, Margaret, which eventually became Mairead.

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Yes of course, lots of names thought to be typically Irish today have foreign origins.

mathanxiety · 06/08/2025 04:00

Thanksman · 05/08/2025 22:12

I love the name Nuala. Not sure if it has a fada.

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There's no fada in Nuala.

It's short for Fionnuala, meaning 'fair shoulders'. (From fionnghuala)

mathanxiety · 06/08/2025 04:01

Lurina · 05/08/2025 21:23

I’m Irish and have never seen Nora used with a fada in Ireland myself. I thought it was short for Honora. (An older friend called Nora had Honora on her birth cert, so it was a short version of that at least sometimes.)

I've never seen it spelled with a fada either.

Cinaferna · 06/08/2025 04:26

Needmorelego · 05/08/2025 20:58

@Thanksman I just said those two different ways to pronounce it out loud and I can't hear a difference at all 😂
To be honest I'd pronounce it as "Noor-rah".
Never heard "Noh" as a way to start the name.
All the Nora's I have known have pronounced their name "Noor-rah".

Edited

Neither have I. In England I've always heard it pronounced to rhyme with Laura or aura. Not Noh-ruh.

Lurina · 06/08/2025 12:09

The vowel sound is different in Laura, at least it is in my Irish accent.

Nore-ah.
Lawr-ah.
My best attempt to write them phonetically but which won’t work for different accents I know…

Whatisityoucantface · 07/08/2025 16:50

Onora I see as Irish and I really like it, as just a bit more unusual. Nora I think less so because it’s so widely used in the UK.
What about Nola?

Kumquatzest · 07/08/2025 17:12

With the fada, I definitely see it as being Irish.

Without the fada - I am aware Nora has a long history as an Irish name going back to the Normans, though it is also used in many other cultures too. On Wikipedia there are women of many of different nationalities listed with this name.

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