Unusual old names in Ireland from 1920s

[Weligama]

Thinking of old family and friends names from this era not always Gaelic in origin - possibly church related - my list includes the following - anyone else have any other suggestions:

Malachy,
Jarlath,
Cornelius
Aloysius
Jeremiah

Can’t recall many unusual female names except maybe Philomena, Immaculata, Attracta,

It is. Usually Dearbhla or Dearbhaile. Though from what I remember of Dervla Murphy’s memoir, her parents wanted to call her Devorgilla.

Camillus

One of my uncles was James Mary... youngest child, not sure why it was chosen. He was born in the 40s though, not 20s.
I know Gay Byrne was famously Gabriel Mary, I remember when he told the story on the Rose of Tralee.

Auntie Cissie in my family was an Elizabeth. We have Auntie Shirley who is really Bridget but there were a lot of Bridget's in the West of Ireland in the 30s and 40s so she decided to change it. There was also a Flan, short for Flannery, Shamie, short for Seamus along side the usual Margaret, Mary, Kathleen, Oonagh, Joseph, Michael, Gerard and Olive.
There was also a Gurly (sic) Nash. I have zero idea on that one.
I worked with a lady who was Mary but when by Theresa. Her surname was Brown...
I, in turn named my DD Bridget Valkyrie. I appreciate this outs me just a bit so NC. 😁

My daughter is a Marcella, inspired by my great great aunt who was from an Irish family. We also had Josephine, Anastacia and plenty of Roses

Eucharia
Rosarii
Pius (for a girl, she went by her middle name!)
Valentine
Dolores
Carmel
The rest of the family are variations of Mary/Anne/Kathleen !

Was Gurly female?

My friend calls her daughter "girlie" as a term of endearment

My mum was Rosario - the nuns marched down to the house and insisted on the name as she was born on the feast of the Holy Rosary. She always hated it called herself Rose - my daughter has Rosario as a middle name.

Also a few Josephine’s - beautiful name.

I weng to college with a brendan mary...

Yes, my granny gave four of her sons Mary as a middle name in the 40s and 50s.

Yes! I’ve seen it, it’s gorgeous.
Harry Clarke, I think.

I swear that there was a cat in Bosco called Rosario and I cannot find this info online. I know I am slightly mad in the head but I know that there was a cat called Rosario!

That's it! Yes I think it is Harry Clarke.

I also had a male university classmate with the middle name Mary.

The using of the middle name for everyday was still very widespread in my day. Loads of friends and family have that. I think possibly the first name was often after a relative but the middle name used to avoid confusion. Or the name they wanted was not a saints name so one had to be tacked on at the start.

I also know several slightly older women where neither of their official names were ever used and they have always been called something else!

Yes, the Honan windows are glorious!

Ooh that’s interesting! I’ve never thought about why Rose might be so common in an Irish Catholic family before but I wonder if we had something similar.

I used it as a middle name for Marcella and she is the sixth girl with Rose in her name in a row*

*Except for my great great great grandma Eliza Doolittle, yes really 😅

I think that is the worst girl’s name ever.

I used to find it odd. But it has grown on me. Familiarity I suppose.

Love this thread😄
There were at least 3 'Cis' or 'Cissy's in previous generations of my family, all Frances.

And then there are men called 'Sylvie' from Sylvester, like the great Galway hurler Sylvie Linnane.
You could have a family of boys called Sylvester, Cornelius and Florence aka Sylvie, Nelly and Flo!

Try telling English people that calling a girl 'Attracta' is not naming her after a piece of farm machinery - I think their accent - some English accents anyway - tends to put an 'r' at the end so it does sound awfully like 'a tractor'.

Somebody told me they had heard of a girl called 'Annette Curtin', but I think it's apocryphal - entirely possible, though, so maybe it is real!

Only ever knew one, but my friend married a man called Ambrose, anyone else heard of one?

Yes, but it was a nun in my convent school, Sr. Ambrose.

We called her Creamed Rice.

There was a Kerry footballer in the 80s called Ambrose iirc.

Wasn’t there an Ambrose in Ballykissangel in the late ‘90s? Also an Assumpta played by Dervla Kirwan.

I personally don’t know any, although I do know people with the surname Ambrose.

Yes you’re right, there was one in Bally K!

The Knox family had a Laurence, aka Larry the Liar, he was an estate Agent.
The Leader of the family was Florence McCarthy Knox (male)
An Uncle Lucius, Loosey in the family
Cissy was in "Hard Times"

😂😂😂