Non-ugly Irish girls' names

[skidoodle]

I'm looking for suggestions of Irish names (broadest interpretation of same OK) for a girl that are not hideous.

Irish boys' names are easy, but girls are way trickier as so many of them are just not very attractive IMHO. Others are lovely when pronounced properly but very lumpen in the mouths of non-Irish speakers, and DH (and family) are English.

So, what am I not considering? The more unusual the better here.

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Hi there - this thread is a little old. [[https://www.mumsnet.com/baby-names/most-popular-irish-baby-names
If you’re looking for an Irish baby name, find inspiration here]]. MNHQ

Sibéal - sorry i am really not sure how to pronounce this one?
it looks pretty....

SHIB-el

I had a friend called Deborah at school. They insisted on calling her Gobnait at Irish college.
I knew a Jacinta as well. She had a sister called Jude... the patron saint of hopeless cases. Never quite got to the bottom of that.

I had an actual great aunt called Concepta and another called Mercy-Madonna. Yes, Mercy-Madonna, you did read that right.

Majella was very in vogue when I was a youngster. And Carmel.

Dymphna is my worst Irish girl's name ever.

There are some bad Irish names all right! Is Phyillis Irish? When I was growing up my best friend's Mum was Gertie and she had sisters Phyllis and Carmel.

Gobhait always reminds me of the Frank Kelly 12 Days of Christmas song. SO funny.

I had forgotten Majella.

I know an English Jude here. My Mum used to wish me luck in exams by saying "Now just do your best, that is all you can do and I'll say a prayer to St Jude for you". Every time.

Caitni - send me your Barry's Tea! I used to live in West Hampstead (well more Cricklewood really!) and would regulary wander up to Cricklewood to stock up on Irish 'delicacies'! Am off home on Sunday and will be doing a large food shop - Barry's tea for me, Tayto crisps and sausages and black and white pudding for DH, Chipstix for DS. And anything else I can fit in my case.

Majella really is a terrible, terrible name (sorry to any Majellas out there).

Is it even Irish? I've never heard of anyone outside Ireland called it, but it doesn't sound Irish, does it?

It's like Carmel, Assumpta, Attracta, Goretti, Imelda etc.

Those names don't come from Irish, the Catholic Church is to blame for those.

LOL @ Mercy-Madonna

When I was making my confirmation lots of girls wanted to take Madonna as their confirmation name, but they weren't let. How unfair.

Is this a good time to confess I took Jacinta as my confirmation name????

My Mum wanted me to take Therese and I was being rebellious as she didn't like Jacinta. I now understand why. In my defence when I was really little I had a babysitter called Jacinta and she was gorgeous so it was that association I was after!

I think all the Majellas were named after St. Gerard Majella,the patron saint of expectant mothers www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=150. I know 3 all around my age (forty something). Thankfully it seems to be a fashion that died out in my generation!

Oh my god Majella is my most hated Irish name!
Me and my cousins call each other Majella as a joke!

Apparently it was the surname of a Saint Gerard Majella hence the popularity with Irish catholics. He must be really popular around Derry

Thank you ludog and BunnyLebowski for solving that mystery for me. I've been sitting here thinking "Majella, Majella, where on earth did they come up with that name?"

Jacinta

In our class we rebelled by each choosing multiple names and refusing to take the pledge

All these 11 year old brats going around saying "why should I promise the Church not to drink until I'm 18?"

Majella is a truly terrible name - goes to show how fashions thankfully change - though it's good to understand where Irish parents were getting this terrible name from (I used to wonder if it had anything to do with Majellan ). In fairness though, all the Majellas I've ever met have been lovely...

Buda lol at Jacinta as a confirmation name although my own is far more hideous - Antoinette - I wanted Veronica but was told "she was a fallen woman in the New Testament" and wasn't allowed . My sister wanted Madonna but had to settle for Louise (Madonna Louise Ciccone). My best friend at the time wanted to take Dawn but wasn't allowed (pagan). Funny remembering it now! And Buda I'm pregnant with my first and am actually looking forward when h/she is old enough to sample the delights of chipstix (although rancheros were my own true love!).

Veronica was a very popular name in my Mother's generation....wasn't she the woman who wiped Jesus face when he was carrying the cross? I never heard of her being a fallen woman (unless she tripped on her face cloth!)

LOL at tripping on her face cloth!

Oh the Irish Catholic childhood! And the names.

Catni - lol at Antoinette - another name I don't think i have ever heard outside Ireland. Obv for St Anthony. Another of my Mum's faves to pray to. Esp if you lose something. Believe it or not I once lost a diamond earring at my mums. Took them off in bed and could only find one next morning. Looked all over. Shook out bedclothes. Looked on floor. Nothing. My mum says a prayer to St Anthony and I went back into room for something and there was earring in middle of floor! I kid you not. He should be cannonized. Oh - he was!

Funnily enough she didn't pray to St Anthony when she realised I had lost my virginity! It was St Jude all the way then!

I remember the emerald heart falling out of my cladagh ring (was a present from my auntie-emerald my birthstone) in the middle of mass. I couldn't find it anywhere and spent the entire hour praying to St Anthony.

Didn't work and my ma could have killed me!

My confirmation name is the relatively mild Theresa. My best friend at school's was Magdalena!

Someone mentioned further up Kimberley biscuits - they are all i'm craving this pregnancy and i can't get them here!!

And it wasn't until my cousin pointed it out that i realised i'd named my son after a well known brand of batch loaf...

I went to school with an Ignatius and a Pius (ok boys names I know). How could you inflict names like that on a child?

I'm not mad about ordinary kimberley biscuits, but CHOCOLATE kimberleys.....mmmmmmmmm!

Cate Blanchett has an Ignatius!

It will probably become uber fashionable so!

Ignatius the Leprachaun!

Buda lol at St Anthony (another of my mum's favs too!) and strangely, my ma also didn't pray to him when she discovered I was no longer pure as the undriven snow

I [whispers] quite like Ignatius but would never be allowed to inflict it on a son of mine. I know a few Pias (a name I love) which kept the religious Padre Pio loving grannies happy . Also quite like Cornelius, another name I've never heard outside of Ireland...

If Veronica wasn't a fallen women then I'm even more bitter about not being allowed it for my confirmation!! Bloody Sister Eucharia and her anti-Veronica bias

PS my grannie was a Gertie and wanted every granddaughter born to be called after her. Finally my mum told her my younger sister had it as a third name...cue my younger sister bragging "I have three names before my surname" as a smallie...it was only when my granny died that my mum told my sister of course they didn't use it, horrible name that it was, and had she never noticed it wasn't on her passport! The things you do to keep your mum happy...

My granny had a sister called Greta-Mae and I sometimes think I'll see a thread "Honestly, what do you think of Greta-Mae" on here

[caitni wanders off eating kimberley biscuits and drinking cidona]

Now that's just nasty, Caitni - but it's got to be Kimberley and Red Lemonade...

Ds's girlfriend is called Jacinta! She is lovely, so I now associate it with lovely girls!