Daisy, Daphne, Fiadh

[Thefinalcountup]

Any views on these names?
We have been obsessing over names now for months and we really have been through pretty much every name in existence.
Our baby girl is due soon and we really need to decide.

I love the sound of Fiadh (Fee-ah) and the meaning (wild or deer), and it's link to nature.
The only thing stopping us is we live in a England and the tricky spelling. I've tried it out on a few people and I get 'oh Thea' straight away, or confused faces, which could be irksome.

Daisy has always been a favourite of mine. I know some find it twee but I don't personally see it like that. My DH is struggling to get on board with it due to the twee factor.
Daphne is a name we both like but I'm finding hard to commit to.

Not really looking for suggestions as I've discounted everything else! Thank you.

That's a big reach. For most parents, who aren't native speakers of Irish (I assume it has a cognate meaning in Scots Gaelic and the equivalent will be true), the primary meaning will be 'deer'. Fia rua is red deer, fia bhairr is a stag etc. Yes, it can mean to go wild (in the sense of cultivated land going back to wilderness, or a person going wild), and it has some archaic usages as part of old-fashioned exclamations (the equivalent in English would be something like 'By Jove!'), but it's highly unlikely anyone not fluent in Irish would know that.

People are just using a popular name. In Ireland it certainly is part of a group of more modern/'invented' Irish names that seemed like an appealing alternative to the traditional ones like Sinéad and Siobhán and Niamh and Deirdre in the post-Tiger days.

I work with children and a fair few Daisys have come through the door.

Also where you are now isn’t where your DD will end up living. I have a popular 80s name and although there were only two of us at school I work with at least 8 (off the top of my head) people with my name. I’ve never met a Fiadh. Or a Daphne come to think of it.

@Thefinalcountup , Daisy has been in the top 50 names in England and Wales since 2000.
There were no Susans in my primary school and only 2 Sarahs. I now know lots of Susan/Sue/Sarahs and there have been many everywhere I've worked.

how about Aine, unless you have one already?
or Aisling?

I think Daphne is lovely.

Possibly consider Phoebe or Hebe?

As the bearer of an Irish name that not many have heard of in the US, so what?

Should we all call our children Jane, Jon, Bob, Will, Emma, etc, just in case someone of low intelligence and narrow frame of reference can't wrap their teeny tiny brain around the unfamiliar?

And quite frankly, many of the professionals the average Briton comes in contact with will either have unfamiliar names themselves, or will have gone through their professional training alongside others with non-Anglo names.

Hazel is lovely, and iirc, the hazel tree has significance in Irish folklore related to the fairies. I need to check that. It could be the hawthorn I'm thinking of.

Hazel mythology and folklore | Trees for Life https://share.google/cqeVF2jtd2nh4FZlq

Yes, my memory served me right. The hazel tree played a very significant role in the story of Fionn Mac Cumhaill and maintained its importance in relationships between mortals and the inhabitants of the otherworld down through the centuries.

I think it’s the hawthorn that’s more associated with fairies in particular though.

Are Irish names the only names people on mumsnet can't spell or pronounce? The UK is a pretty multi cultural place ...

Ooooh Daphne - stunning

And putting another shout out for Dulcie!

This is really helpful thank you! This is making me warm to Hazel a lot more.
I may need to drop Daisy as DH just seems to be so disappointed at the thought of it. I'm not sure I can force it. He likes Skye or Hazel. He's also suggesting Marianne randomly which has family meaning.
I imagine a hazel to have brown or hazel eyes and brown hair. One of our kids looks like that, one is a blonde and one is strawberry.

Hazel and Carys are names I would have named two extra potential daughters!
I should encourage my kids to use them...yes I know I had my opportunity!

Hazel is lovely.

Always reminds me of the poem The Lost Heifer by Austin Clarke,
’And the watery hazes of the hazel
Brought her into my mind’

(The lost heifer symbolises Ireland.)

Try growing up with a Polish name!

Marianne is a great name. I'd choose Fiadh or Marianne out of your list.

I worked in East Anglia in the eighties. Two colleagues had Polish names. One was Estonian. One's name was spelled Neale after an Australian tennis player. There was a Welsh man called Bryn and we didn't get muddled and call him Brian. However did we cope?

Well, tell that to a significant number of the people I've come across in my life who definitely couldn't cope!
However, I think Bryn and Neale are very straight forward names, which match English phonetic spelling.

I have only ever known one Neale. Lots of Neil's. And Irish Nialls pronounced Neil as well as pronounced Ni.all. And Cornelius known as Neil.

Ok. However, I can guess how "Neale" is pronounced, couldn't you?

Niall is actually pronounced Nee-ul (ie Neil) in Irish. The usual pronunciation is an anglicised one.

Daisy is ok but I wouldn’t like to be called Daisy as a mid 40’s woman who is not a celebrity.

Daphne is pretty but every Daphne I know, all of who are in their 50’s and 60’s goes by Dee, DeeDee, Daff or Daphy because they don’t like Daphne.

Fiadh probably will be mispronounced or misheard but loads of names are. One of my kids has what I thought was an easy to pronounce biblical name and it’s often misheard. However children have school friends with all kind of names and all different spellings. Most people get used to it.

Im Irish and in Ireland...but if I have a message to call someone called Niall then I can politely ask if I am pronouncing their name 'properly '.
I asked someone during the week if she was Rachel or Rachael. She seemed quite happy about that.