Classic old Irish/Gaelic girls’ names

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Irish living in the US. My daughter is named Maeve and I’d say it’s 50/50 on whether people pronounce it correctly on their first try. It doesn’t bother me or her too much though. The name is gaining in popularity for sure. I know of at least 4 other Maeves in our town of 20k people in NJ (two with Irish parents, 1 Irish-American, one with no Irish connection that I know of).

How can Maeve be mispronounced? It's quite straightforward, in my opinion.

Is Maeve pronounced how it is spelled? Rhymes with rave?

Yes

[Anonymous]

I'm Indian. Here's what is going to happen:

One, pick an easy to pronounce Irish name (Mary, Bridget, Fiona, etc.). Everyone can pronounce it, kid doesn't have to correct anyone, happy happy, but you may regret it. Kid may meet a friend named "Aiofe" and be all "why didn't you give me a super cool and unique name???" and grow up to give herself a fake Irish name (witness my Indian friend Julie who now goes by Radhika).

Two, pick a Gaelic name no one knows how to pronounce. Everyone will slaughter it on the first try. DD's friends and teachers will pick it up after she corrects them. She may hate you for giving her a pain in the ass name and start spelling it phonetically or come up with an English nickname (witness my Indian friend Amrita who goes by Amy) or she will love it and beg you to do her junior year of high school as an exchange student in Ireland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I’m probably the only one still interested in this but Ivwent back to my 1914 baby naming book handed down from an old Irish priest. Note it only contains «Christian” names. Neither Oona nor Una is there. Kathleen is, as is Keyna meaning jewel, noted as a virgin from the irish lists. Niora or Niorah are listed as the airish forms of Honora, as are Nioreen, Niorena. Maureen is listed as an irish form of mary but maeve and mairead aren’t listed. Fiona not listed either. Basically, no saint, not on list. Which is probably another reason the old “Irish” names weren’t used by the Irish. With a few notable exceptions (Brigid), they did not qualify as baptismal names.

The name on the baptismal certificate isn’t necessarily the name the family called the child. Both my parents discovered their legal name wasn’t the one they had used all their lives when they went to emigrate to America. So they had an official name and a family name.

And Una is actually used as a nickname for Winifred, so you might find Winifred listed, but many of those babies would probably have been called Una.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you know the Irish -laugh at you. All. Day. Long.

Off to sip my Barry’s since you are getting that on Amazon thought we know there is better. Right? Hence the name of your dual citizen child. You know the right tea— like the right name? 😬

OP and her husband are Irish, idiot. But those of us who can read are all laughing at you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maureen
Saoirse
Niahm (you could always spell it Neve)
Erin
Brigid
Molly

I love Niahm but Neve looks like French for snow. You'll have to add another letter somewhere. Nieve?

I know a few Irish Americans/Irish-other diaspora named Neve - parents/girls maybe have to correct the first time (most often people say Nehv, like Neve Campbell), but people mostly get it. I've never seen it anglicized as Nieve.

Nieve means snow in Spanish. I think it also means some sort of mole in English?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maureen
Saoirse
Niahm (you could always spell it Neve)
Erin
Brigid
Molly

I love Niahm but Neve looks like French for snow. You'll have to add another letter somewhere. Nieve?

I know a few Irish Americans/Irish-other diaspora named Neve - parents/girls maybe have to correct the first time (most often people say Nehv, like Neve Campbell), but people mostly get it. I've never seen it anglicized as Nieve.

Nieve means snow in Spanish. I think it also means some sort of mole in English?

The mole is “nevus”. I think the plural might be “nevi”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know someone who spells it Chavonne. Could always do that! (I kid)

You kid? This is the best thing to do. The name is the same, and Americans can read) spell it. What's the problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know someone who spells it Chavonne. Could always do that! (I kid)

You kid? This is the best thing to do. The name is the same, and Americans can read) spell it. What's the problem?

Because if they return to Ireland with a child named “Chavonne” instead of “Siobhan”, they’d all think the op was gone daft!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm Indian. Here's what is going to happen:

One, pick an easy to pronounce Irish name (Mary, Bridget, Fiona, etc.). Everyone can pronounce it, kid doesn't have to correct anyone, happy happy, but you may regret it. Kid may meet a friend named "Aiofe" and be all "why didn't you give me a super cool and unique name???" and grow up to give herself a fake Irish name (witness my Indian friend Julie who now goes by Radhika).

Two, pick a Gaelic name no one knows how to pronounce. Everyone will slaughter it on the first try. DD's friends and teachers will pick it up after she corrects them. She may hate you for giving her a pain in the ass name and start spelling it phonetically or come up with an English nickname (witness my Indian friend Amrita who goes by Amy) or she will love it and beg you to do her junior year of high school as an exchange student in Ireland.

Yep, this is so true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aoife

Is this basically Eva?

Just spell the Irish name the American way.

Spelling a name in Gaelic is really no different than spelling a name in Chinese characters. Americans won’t understand it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm Indian. Here's what is going to happen:

One, pick an easy to pronounce Irish name (Mary, Bridget, Fiona, etc.). Everyone can pronounce it, kid doesn't have to correct anyone, happy happy, but you may regret it. Kid may meet a friend named "Aiofe" and be all "why didn't you give me a super cool and unique name???" and grow up to give herself a fake Irish name (witness my Indian friend Julie who now goes by Radhika).

Two, pick a Gaelic name no one knows how to pronounce. Everyone will slaughter it on the first try. DD's friends and teachers will pick it up after she corrects them. She may hate you for giving her a pain in the ass name and start spelling it phonetically or come up with an English nickname (witness my Indian friend Amrita who goes by Amy) or she will love it and beg you to do her junior year of high school as an exchange student in Ireland.

Nailed it. PP should write a book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tallula
Mairaide (sounds like parade)
Siobhan

You kinda butchered the spelling for Mairead there.

Can you believe it?

Plus there is an accent mark somewhere in the name!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aoife

Is this basically Eva?

No it’s Efa

Just spell the Irish name the American way.

Spelling a name in Gaelic is really no different than spelling a name in Chinese characters. Americans won’t understand it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Irish living in the US. My daughter is named Maeve and I’d say it’s 50/50 on whether people pronounce it correctly on their first try. It doesn’t bother me or her too much though. The name is gaining in popularity for sure. I know of at least 4 other Maeves in our town of 20k people in NJ (two with Irish parents, 1 Irish-American, one with no Irish connection that I know of).

How can Maeve be mispronounced? It's quite straightforward, in my opinion.

Is Maeve pronounced how it is spelled? Rhymes with rave?

Yes

Maeve is actually a pretty common U.S. Irish name. I wouldn’t worry about it.

[Anonymous]

Oona