Irish American names of a certain era

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worth noting that it is traditional in the Catholic faith to name children after saints. The website https://sanctanomina.net/ is fun to peruse for those interested in baby naming of the Catholic variety!

My Irish SIL's priest initially told her he would not baptise her fourth child, because she wasn't given a saint's name.

Seriously.

Ugh. Refusing to baptise a baby who had no say in what they were named, thereby keeping them out of heaven, is definitely what Jesus would do! Ridiculous!! I hope they found another priest, permanently!

[Anonymous]

Colleen
Collette
Shauna
Shona
Maureen
Clare

[Anonymous]

Nigel
Cormac
Niall
Liam
Ryan
Brendan
Declan
Desmond
Colin
Kiernan
Peter
Thomas
Edward
Patrick
Sean

[Anonymous]

No one has said it but Iona.

[Anonymous]

I love Bernadette and Deirdre.
Also Orla, Maeve, Moira

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I need help coming up with names that evoke names like Kathleen, Eileen, Bridget. Think like the names of the eight children in a mid-century Irish Catholic family in Indiana. I know that sounds so niche but it’s a whole genre of name and I’m trying to compile a collection because I’m really into them. I feel like all the double barrel Mary names (Mary Ellen, Mary Kate, Mary Beth) fall into this bucket as do some more classic/mainstream Irish names like Deirdre but not more current ones like Saoirse. Let me know if you have any to add! Boys or girls but girls tend to be more distinctive. I know there are a bunch but I’m struggling here to come up with them so any help is appreciated

But, why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worth noting that it is traditional in the Catholic faith to name children after saints. The website https://sanctanomina.net/ is fun to peruse for those interested in baby naming of the Catholic variety!

My Irish SIL's priest initially told her he would not baptise her fourth child, because she wasn't given a saint's name.

Seriously.

Ugh. Refusing to baptise a baby who had no say in what they were named, thereby keeping them out of heaven, is definitely what Jesus would do! Ridiculous!! I hope they found another priest, permanently!

It is technically a requirement to have a saint’s name or similar for baptism. You don’t have to use it but you do have to have it for the baptism. So you get stuff like Montana Joan or whatever if you want to name your kid Montana. Also, almost all names have some saint connection-I have a baptismal naming book from 1902 from my Irish great uncle who was a priest and carried it with him to baptisms in case the parents still needed a name. Names like Faith, hope, Grace while technically not saints are acceptable, as are all the our lady derivations (Fatima, Dolores, etc.)

There are actual Irish and Irish American naming conventions, though. I think they are:
First son after father
First daughter after maternal grandmother
Second son after maternal grandfather
Second daughter after paternal grandfather
Third son after paternal grandfather if not already used
Third daughter after paternal grandmother
Etc. But they often did it as middle names (so Ellen’s granddaughter might be Mary Ellen)
And once you got down to the 4th etc. kids you were often just free wheeling it.

I’d add to the list Maura (more common spelling than Moira in 20th century America) and Grace (Grace o malley being a famous Irish pirate or something). Anne was a wildly popular name in part because Anne is the patron saint of childbirth and pregnancy so if you had a rough pregnancy or childbirth it was common to pray to st Anne and name the child after her in gratitude for a healthy delivery.

[Anonymous]

Fidelma

[Anonymous]

Geraldine

[Anonymous]

Kathleen and Molly?

[Anonymous]

Bernadette, usually shortened to "Bernie"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worth noting that it is traditional in the Catholic faith to name children after saints. The website https://sanctanomina.net/ is fun to peruse for those interested in baby naming of the Catholic variety!

My Irish SIL's priest initially told her he would not baptise her fourth child, because she wasn't given a saint's name.

Seriously.

Ugh. Refusing to baptise a baby who had no say in what they were named, thereby keeping them out of heaven, is definitely what Jesus would do! Ridiculous!! I hope they found another priest, permanently!

My mother’s baptismal name is not her birth certificate name for the same reason. The priest changed it at the font rather than not baptize her. We find it hilariously funny though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worth noting that it is traditional in the Catholic faith to name children after saints. The website https://sanctanomina.net/ is fun to peruse for those interested in baby naming of the Catholic variety!

My Irish SIL's priest initially told her he would not baptise her fourth child, because she wasn't given a saint's name.

Seriously.

Ugh. Refusing to baptise a baby who had no say in what they were named, thereby keeping them out of heaven, is definitely what Jesus would do! Ridiculous!! I hope they found another priest, permanently!

It is technically a requirement to have a saint’s name or similar for baptism. You don’t have to use it but you do have to have it for the baptism. So you get stuff like Montana Joan or whatever if you want to name your kid Montana. Also, almost all names have some saint connection-I have a baptismal naming book from 1902 from my Irish great uncle who was a priest and carried it with him to baptisms in case the parents still needed a name. Names like Faith, hope, Grace while technically not saints are acceptable, as are all the our lady derivations (Fatima, Dolores, etc.)

There are actual Irish and Irish American naming conventions, though. I think they are:
First son after father
First daughter after maternal grandmother
Second son after maternal grandfather
Second daughter after paternal grandfather
Third son after paternal grandfather if not already used
Third daughter after paternal grandmother
Etc. But they often did it as middle names (so Ellen’s granddaughter might be Mary Ellen)
And once you got down to the 4th etc. kids you were often just free wheeling it.

I’d add to the list Maura (more common spelling than Moira in 20th century America) and Grace (Grace o malley being a famous Irish pirate or something). Anne was a wildly popular name in part because Anne is the patron saint of childbirth and pregnancy so if you had a rough pregnancy or childbirth it was common to pray to st Anne and name the child after her in gratitude for a healthy delivery.

Montana Joan. I think we’ve settled it, winner for best baby name on DCUM for the month of October.

[Anonymous]

My Irish side family members of that generation:

Noreen
Grace
Virginia
Alice
Margaret (called Peggy)
Margaret (called Molly to differentiate her from cousin Peggy)

[Anonymous]

Eileen
Kathleen
Alice
Dorothy
Mary
Grace