Any thoughts on these Irish names?

[ninja]

Dh Irish and DD1 has an Irish name - so I may regret this but gives us your views....

Girls

Maebh (Maeve)
Aine (Onya)
Molly (+DH's contribution - to my mind not really Irish but quite pretty)

Boys

Fionn (Finn)
Aodhan/Aidan
Fearghal/Fergal

Thanks x

ps, I was lying about the nissan micra too. I don#t have a nissan micra. You see, I am getting the hang of this.

You're right, I go to superquinn for all the free cakes, sausages, cheeses... I train the children to steal things from low shelves.

Have to say, Cuckoo, your name has floored me! I thought I knew what it was but then realised that what I thought it was would be Ni Chonchubair. So no!
I am not usually a SAHM but am on ML at the moment till mid-October. Unfortunately not running IBM, though!
I shop in Superquinn but dh balances it out by going to LIDL!

Cuckoo, I see your point, but what I meant was they wouldn't call their kid a "local" for want of a better word name just in case said kid ever decided to travel. But obviously if you are say Irish, living in UK, and not in an insular Irish community, then to choose a name like Toirbhealach would be twattish.
And I don't think we'll be calling this baby Toirbhealach because I'd feel a bit bad for him hanging around after class for 10 minutes spelling his name while all his friends were outside playing! Though I have kind of taken to the name now... But spelt more simply...

usually when presented with an Irish name I can make pretty good sense of it, because of the sounds the letters make, like bh, si, cu, etc but I don't expect every person I meet to know.

Also, I love getting to Superquinn early enough to sample everything, but some milk and then head to tesco. Is that wrong???

Good, cos we're heading out soon and will be passing by one, might need a snack!

dara is lovely can be used for either a boy or girl-i esp like for a girl...roisin (girl) and finn (boy) are great too

Ha Flowermum, I do that too. Gorge on carrot cake samples, offer my son the array of cheeses, buy one thing in the express aisle and then do my proper shopping in Tesco.

I never sample anything in Tesco because there's usually a scary 'boofed up' blonde lady in a white coat handing out samples in a very controlled manner..

Dara for a girl, I knew one years ago. I couldn't get my head 'round it when I met her. Especially as her boyfriend (French) was called Jean. It was more than insular little brain could handle at the time.

Seems normal now though.

Dara is lovely for a boy or girl. Quite like Roisin too and I don't think that's too out there for non Irish speakers, is it?

There are loads of lovely Irish names that are easily pronounced (cathal my fave from list above) but I wouldn't go angliscising them, but then I'm like that!

Ninja, any other names you like?

Cuckoo, the trick with the ladies in Tesco is wait till they wander off from boredom, or to re-stock, then grab what you can and run!

I had a friend called Dara years ago ( girl) so then it seemed odd to me that there were boys called Dara.
I love Aisling and Roisin but one of my aunts who speaks fluent Irish ( my Dad's sister) thinks they are "namby-pamby" names. But she is the aunt you avoid at weddings.

Don't you know that's the official seal for your chosen names? At least one member of your family has to threaten to vomit if you use the name.

My mum said she knew a Stella who only had one leg and so I couldn't use that name. Mum! not v. pc! and I wasn't allowed use Greta either as the girl who helped milk the cows on her Dad's farm was a Greta!
So it's jsut too hard to keep family happy. My uncle said my children had terribly 'graaaaaaaahnd' names in a snidey voice that I wasn't supposed to hear. But then, when he was telling us his own grandchild's name (kiki) he said "brace yourselves".

Ah well. They're named now, and can't be re-named, but I think that's why I can't leave the names board alone.

I called my son Tiernan (spelt the English way for ease) as his father is Irish. It means 'noble' and when he was in an incubator at 2lb + (10 weeks prem) he certainly had a certain nobility about him! He is now 10 and still loves his name and enjoys being unique (in Surrey anyway).

I think if you liked an Irish name but you had no Irish heritage then you should spell it the english way, but if you have Irish heritage then definitely the true Irish spellings because the spelling of the name will also have meaning for you. I think too many people are trying to have "global" names that fit on an international level but it's a shame for the traditional ones to die out. And this is coming from a person who has a completely unpronounceable foreign name - well easy to say but no one could ever say from just looking at the spelling and had a very difficult time at school and beyond!

Takver - that's not my experience of having an Irish name, people dont ask, they say it phoenetically and seem to think I'M wrong if I correct them??

Also, I cannot tell you the amounts of household bills that come in all variations of my name - some only vaguely similar

I dont plan on living in Ireland any time soon so wont be giving my child an Irish name because my experience of having one in the UK had been a pain in the @ss