Classic old Irish/Gaelic girls’ names

[Anonymous]

Una is the traditional and more common spelling of Oona.

This might help for some ideas.
https://forebears.io/ireland/forenames

[Anonymous]

The third most common baby girls name in Ireland in 2019 was Fiadh, which is pronounced ‘Fee-uh.’ I had never seen it before.

[Anonymous]

The most popular names in Ireland in 2019 seem pretty American to me. Emily was the number 1 baby name in Ireland in 2019.

Emily
Grace
Fiadh
Sophie
Hannah
Amelia
Ava
Ellie
Ella
Mia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ailish, Sinead, Saoirse, Roisin, Mairead, Dierdre, Fiona, Maeve

Family friend named her child Mairead recently. Her line was Mairead rhymes with parade to help people with the pronunciation.

[Anonymous]

I love the name Siobhan. But people have no clue.

[Anonymous]

I posted previously about doing a lot of geneology and not finding any “Irish” names pretty far back. I believe that’s due at least in part to the English banning use of the Irish language in the 18th century. I don’t know if that ban extended to names but it probaby made less sense to use names in a language you weren’t allowed to use. Also, at least in the early 19th century, the church records were typically kept in Latin so even common names like Mary were recorded as Maria. It makes the research somewhat complicated.
The dicussion of Oona has made me think of the name Nora, which was often nicknamed as Noona or Nano (like Nano nagle)—i wonder if that was a nod to the irish oona and if there were other irish names used as nicknames.

[Anonymous]

Sheila

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted previously about doing a lot of geneology and not finding any “Irish” names pretty far back. I believe that’s due at least in part to the English banning use of the Irish language in the 18th century. I don’t know if that ban extended to names but it probaby made less sense to use names in a language you weren’t allowed to use. Also, at least in the early 19th century, the church records were typically kept in Latin so even common names like Mary were recorded as Maria. It makes the research somewhat complicated.
The dicussion of Oona has made me think of the name Nora, which was often nicknamed as Noona or Nano (like Nano nagle)—i wonder if that was a nod to the irish oona and if there were other irish names used as nicknames.

I think you’re a bit off there. I’ve never heard of either as a nickname for Nora (and there are three generations of Nora’s and Noreen’s in my family), and it appears that Nano was a nickname for Anne. http://www.rootsireland.ie/help/first-names/

[Anonymous]

Brighid (a goddess and a saint btw)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The most popular names in Ireland in 2019 seem pretty American to me. Emily was the number 1 baby name in Ireland in 2019.

Emily
Grace
Fiadh
Sophie
Hannah
Amelia
Ava
Ellie
Ella
Mia

That’s not OP’s question or concern!! Read the thread title again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like Oona because it reminds me of a finn maccool story.

I am half Irish and my mother always said that the Irish transliterated all the Irish words in the most confusing way possible just to mess with the English. She also said that people speaking Orish always sounded like the had a mouth full of marbles, though.

I feel like Sinead. Siobhan, and Orla are all well enough known to be manageable if you aren’t too picky about the accent.

Funny but Ive got back to the early 19th century in my irish family and can’t find a single “irish” (gaelic) name. I don’t count Nora because that’s latin (short for Honore). So many Mary, Ellen, Patrick and Terrances!

It’s spelled Una tho. Not Oona

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted previously about doing a lot of geneology and not finding any “Irish” names pretty far back. I believe that’s due at least in part to the English banning use of the Irish language in the 18th century. I don’t know if that ban extended to names but it probaby made less sense to use names in a language you weren’t allowed to use. Also, at least in the early 19th century, the church records were typically kept in Latin so even common names like Mary were recorded as Maria. It makes the research somewhat complicated.
The dicussion of Oona has made me think of the name Nora, which was often nicknamed as Noona or Nano (like Nano nagle)—i wonder if that was a nod to the irish oona and if there were other irish names used as nicknames.

I think you’re a bit off there. I’ve never heard of either as a nickname for Nora (and there are three generations of Nora’s and Noreen’s in my family), and it appears that Nano was a nickname for Anne. http://www.rootsireland.ie/help/first-names/

Nano Nagle was a very fanous Irishwoman of the 18th century. Her given name was Honore, which is the source of the name Nora (Nora short for Honore or Honora sometimes also spelled Hanora). There were a lot of girls named after her in Southern Ireland in the 19th century. I also know for a fact of Noona being used at least sometimes as a nickname for Hanora in the 19th century. Nan was often a nickname for Anne throught the English speaking world and Nano also. This list also lists Onnie and Nonie as nicknames for Honore:
http://www.rootsireland.ie/help/first-names/
Its kind of an interesting list of common Irish names from the 19th century along with nicknames.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most popular names in Ireland in 2019 seem pretty American to me. Emily was the number 1 baby name in Ireland in 2019.

Emily
Grace
Fiadh
Sophie
Hannah
Amelia
Ava
Ellie
Ella
Mia

That’s not OP’s question or concern!! Read the thread title again.

I understand.

I just think it’s a bit interesting (and perhaps oddly tryhard) to out Irish the Irish.

I mean, not even the Irish who live in Ireland use “traditional” Irish names.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like Oona because it reminds me of a finn maccool story.

I am half Irish and my mother always said that the Irish transliterated all the Irish words in the most confusing way possible just to mess with the English. She also said that people speaking Orish always sounded like the had a mouth full of marbles, though.

I feel like Sinead. Siobhan, and Orla are all well enough known to be manageable if you aren’t too picky about the accent.

Funny but Ive got back to the early 19th century in my irish family and can’t find a single “irish” (gaelic) name. I don’t count Nora because that’s latin (short for Honore). So many Mary, Ellen, Patrick and Terrances!

It’s spelled Una tho. Not Oona

Both are common.

[Anonymous]

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? 😬