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Original poster

Irish names English people can say

138 replies

Annie29 · 07/06/2006 15:20

Any Irish mums or mums-to-be out there with English OHs???
I really want my baby to have an Irish name, so that, despite my fading accent (the shame Blush), we can still maintain a bit of heritage (it's all getting lost with the World Cup coming up!).
DH and his family are from Up North, so they have trouble pronouncing any of my sisters kids names, all beautiful Irish names like Saoirse (they say Sushi), Ciaran (Key-ron), Blaithin (Blah-hoon!!) .
We've been told it's a girl, so any suggestions would be welcome! I have a DS, but couldn't come up with an Irish name for him, so this one HAS to have an Irish name!!!

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leander · 07/06/2006 15:30

a bit dim i know but how is Roisin pronnounced?

Tinker · 07/06/2006 15:30

Rosheen

expatinscotland · 07/06/2006 15:30

Aoife's a pretty name, but isn't the tale behind her name sad?

We have a lovely chap called Oisin, which I thought was so beautiful, till one of my pals, a lecturer and Dubliner, can and ruined it by telling me Oisin's sad tale.

bossykate · 07/06/2006 15:31

Saoirse

er, bit embarrassed about this but how do you pronounce that?

is is sor-sha?

leander · 07/06/2006 15:31

oh thanks , yes that is gorgous,but go for ErinGrin

oliveoil · 07/06/2006 15:31

Orla

LadySherlockofLGJ · 07/06/2006 15:31

Sair (to rhyme with hair) sha

expatinscotland · 07/06/2006 15:32

LGJ, we also had a student called Aoibheann.

I had to ask an Irish person how to say that.

LadySherlockofLGJ · 07/06/2006 15:32

Laoise.........Leesha

Piffle · 07/06/2006 15:32

My brothers and I all have irish middle names
Both of kids have irish middle names
Padraig, Donovan, Siobhan, Niamh

Niamh is quite good as is Siobhan, Sinead
I loved Siofra for our dd, but she didn;t suit it when born, it means little pixie or elf, she suits it now though LOL

leander · 07/06/2006 15:33

Im having trouble thinking how most of these names are saidBlush

Piffle · 07/06/2006 15:33

And I adore Fionuala :)

expatinscotland · 07/06/2006 15:34

One of Dh's cousins is called the Irish form of 'Gerrard'. I can't say it to save myself and he said, 'Just call me Gerry.'

Yeah, okay then. Gerry is good.

Original poster
Annie29 · 07/06/2006 15:35

Aoife is my secret favourite!!!!
I have a friend Orlaith, DH calls her Olla, or Ole...
Erin and Kerry are good (I'm from Kerry!!)
Emer we like, or Eimear, though he says Eemaaah!! I have a very good friend called Eimear though.
Bridget, sorry no! Just makes me think of old biddies...
Maire/Maura, again a bit old fashioned, sorry!

Attracta!! I had an old nun who used to teach me called that. Can't call a poor kid that!!

Ailbhe... nah...
Ashling... ok...
Kathleen... nah...

Again, Maeve = Mauve...

Fidelma!!!

cara - knew a girl called that, didn't like her
ciara - we have a Ciara in the family already
clare - Dh's ex was called that...

Bronagh, too sad!!

hope I'm not offending anyone...???

OP posts:
Carmenere · 07/06/2006 15:36

My beautiful niece is called Sorcha(pronounced sorsha) as her parents wanted to give her and English version of an Irish name.

expatinscotland · 07/06/2006 15:37

I had another midwife called Emer.

In fact, the whole ward was crawling w/Irish midwives.

Fallon? Gaynor :o?

Esmummy · 07/06/2006 15:38

Am struggling with some too - how do you say Aoife?
I need a talking computer for this thread

expatinscotland · 07/06/2006 15:39

eefah.

JanH · 07/06/2006 15:39

\link{http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/iri.php\Here you go, Annie} - lots of head-messing names there (it is a US site so the pronunciations may well be wrong!) I was struck by Gobnet and Gormlaith Shock

How about Dervla? Or Dymphna?

Piffle · 07/06/2006 15:43

I do like Maeve, if we have another girl ... we would like to call her Nora Maeve

blueteddy · 07/06/2006 15:47

We have a little girl at the school I work in, called Eilish. It is an Irish name & I think it is quite pretty.

Original poster
Annie29 · 07/06/2006 15:47

Roisin and Siobhan are nice, but maybe a bit too obvious...
Niamh is lovely too, I really like that.
Expat, my niece Saoirse is 8 and they still can't say her name, she's usually called sushi... It's pronounce Seer-sha

We already have an Aoibhin in the family as well, it's a gorgeous name too.

Laoise I like a lot!! Was on the shortlist for DS before we knew he was a boy. Don't know why we'd forgotten about that!!

Siofra is lovely too, Piffle, I'd not heard of that before.

Sorry leander, that's exactly why I need to ask, as the in-laws are having trouble saying them. It must be in the accent I think.

Fionnuala, DH likes that, but I'm not sure.

Gerry is good. But not for a girl Grin Might be taken as Geri, or (God love her) Bluebell... Oh and I had an ex called gerard... was your DH's cousin called Gearoid? Said Gar-ode

thanks everyone, this is great!

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 07/06/2006 15:48

Chose a few names as she may not suit the one chosen.

Eilidh didn't. She had no name for 4 days and then one of the midwives said, 'If you ask me, she looks like a wee Eilidh.'

And so she was and she's every bit an Eilidh.

expatinscotland · 07/06/2006 15:51

Dh was threatening to call a boy baby 'Coinneach'. :o

MrsRecycle · 07/06/2006 15:53

I am English with an Irish OH (and surname) and like Expat have an Eilidh (Aylee). We love it - it took some getting used to (especially the spelling by dh) but when people struggle with the pronounciation we just say "Hayley without the H". Dd learnt to write it (and spell it before she was 3). It really does suit her.