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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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![/quote]

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.[/quote]

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!  :roll:  Ridiculous!! I hope they found another priest, permanently![/quote]

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.[/quote]
Gráinne Ní Mháille was the famous Irish pirate queen whose name was Anglicized to Grace O'Malley. She was a bad ass B and everyone reading this should go and read about her ASAP
[/quote]

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