Classic old Irish/Gaelic girls’ names

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Agree. Also consider if it will annoy you to correct pronunciation of the name and you won't be able to just let mispronunciations go. If that's the case, reduce your general annoyance leve and pick a name that is clear (or close to clear) in both languages. I've seen some good suggestions on here - Maeve, Cara, Fiona, Sheila (I would use that spelling over the gaelic), Nuala, Cliona. You could also try Clodagh - though you'll probably have to correct that one too, many Americans should be able to come pretty close.

[Anonymous]

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.

You would think - but we often get “Meeve”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Siobhan

I have absolutely no idea help this name is pronounced

Sha-vahn

Not this again! If you are American, would you want to name your poor daughter a name that is not able to be pronounced using phonetic English?! Do her a favor and stick to Kathleen or Kerry if you want an Irish name.

Given that the Irish were not typically considered white by the British and WASP Americans, I find your comment pretty racist.

[Anonymous]

Everything is racist. If you don't like my wallpaper, you are racist and I am going to take a video of you.

[Anonymous]

My DH is Egyptian and I am of (recent) Irish descent. Norah is a name from both cultures so that is what we chose for our daughter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.cso.ie/en/interactivezone/visualisationtools/babynamesofireland/

Eh, the top names in Ireland only have a smattering of traditional names. Most have been named here.

How can the “traditional” names (lots of consonants together) be traditional if they’ve only really been used for last twenty years and even then not so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.cso.ie/en/interactivezone/visualisationtools/babynamesofireland/

Eh, the top names in Ireland only have a smattering of traditional names. Most have been named here.

How can the “traditional” names (lots of consonants together) be traditional if they’ve only really been used for last twenty years and even then not so much.

Not actually true. My wife was born in Ireland in the 1960s, has a traditional Irish name, and so do many of her family members. Families that were involved with the Irish Republican movement are more likely to have given their children traditional Irish names. Also, many people who live in Ireland are not ethnically Irish, so baby name lists probably reflect that. The Anglo Irish are not ethnically Irish at all, and would likely not choose ethnically Irish names. It’s a significant fraction.

[Anonymous]

Using traditional spelling is also regional in Ireland. If you are from Connacht or the Gaeltacht they are much more common. But less population so they don’t pop on the top names list.

My cousins have little kids including: Sadhdb, Caoimhe and Grainne. They aren’t the only ones in their classes with those names either. I married an American so we have gave them Irish names Americans can say but traditional Gaelic speller middle names.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH is Egyptian and I am of (recent) Irish descent. Norah is a name from both cultures so that is what we chose for our daughter.

Beautiful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Using traditional spelling is also regional in Ireland. If you are from Connacht or the Gaeltacht they are much more common. But less population so they don’t pop on the top names list.

My cousins have little kids including: Sadhdb, Caoimhe and Grainne. They aren’t the only ones in their classes with those names either. I married an American so we have gave them Irish names Americans can say but traditional Gaelic speller middle names.

I was going to suggest Grainne to OP. I think it's relatively easy to correct the mispronunciation. I think the gh and db consonants are the hard things for Americans to wrap their head around. Vowels tend to be all over the place anyway in American English.

[Anonymous]

Love Grainne.