Baby names!

ainy

I love ailbhe! its on my list but it reminds himself of someone from school so I think its a no! we're having that problem with a lot of girls names!

Kauto0709

ainy wrote: »

I love ailbhe! its on my list but it reminds himself of someone from school so I think its a no! we're having that problem with a lot of girls names!

Hey ainy, fancy seeing you over here! My due date twin! :P

Yeah I found that with a lot of names too, they reminded me of specific people and that put me off them!

Thanks everyone for the great advice, I am definately thinking Ailbhe now :-)

dori_dormer

I love clodagh as its my sisters name! Is ailbhe pronounced al-va or is that the bad pronunciation your thinking of?

It kinda sounds a bit fuddy duddy/ old to me, but I don't know of anybody with it.

What do people think of Sienna? It's my sisters no. 1 choice for a girl (baby due in 4 weeks) but I can't put my finger on why I don't like it!

ainy

dori_dormer wrote:

What do people think of Sienna? It's my sisters no. 1 choice for a girl (baby due in 4 weeks) but I can't put my finger on why I don't like it!

It wouldn't be for me, It just reminds me of celebrity names, think i'm in to more of a normal everyday names!

Frog Song

I prefer Clodagh over Ailbhe personally.

Sienna was in our future girl names for a day or two then I went really off it again. A bit too celeb like probably like ainy said. It's getting more popular though.

seventeen sheep

I also much prefer Clodagh to Ailbhe, not sure why though. Also I know someone who called her baby Aibhe recently, I thought that was quite nice ... On a similar theme, Aoibhe is one of my favourite girls names.

SurferRosa

Just butting in here!
I like Ailbhe - have a first cousin (aged 1) and a niece aged 18 months called Alva. Besides that I've seen one or two brand new Ailbhe's at the local toddler group so I think it may be on the rise

SurferRosa

My husband has a long mouthful of a foreign name so I find it hard to pick a nice first name to go with it. This will be our 4th and my husband is keen on an Irish name.
I just can't think of any.

My fav girls names at the moment are: Evelyn,Eleanor, Lousia, Ailish (Ay-lish) (He likes Maebh - I don't )

Boys I like: Emmett, Fionn, Senan and Ellis ( he likes Cathal- not me)

I think this is going to be a tough one for us!

Frog Song

I love Ellis. Never heard that before.

OldNotWIse

When I have mine (which wont be for four years) a girl will be Sarah. Mostly because it was my nannys name but also because I want a good solid name, not some nouveau alternative spelling one. For a boy, it will be James or possibly Anton as a variation of his fathers name. I prefer James though. But like people said, it can change once you see them!

SusieBlue

I love Evelyn and Eleanor

There was a baby called Scarlett-Skye on Jeremy Kyle yesterday..Both fab separately but together they sound like a description!

Ms2011

I really like Skye but it clashes with our surname!

Bundaberg

Big lover of the Irish names here, my son is called Tadhg. Cara is my number one for a girl, hubby loves Caoimhe. Also love Finn, Sean, Orla.. The list could go on!!

BlazingSaddler

Bundaberg wrote: »

Big lover of the Irish names here, my son is called Tadhg. Cara is my number one for a girl, hubby loves Caoimhe. Also love Finn, Sean, Orla.. The list could go on!!

My eldest is Caoimhe, I'm English and you should see some of the spellings we get in Christmas cards from the relatives! Still love the name though. There is another Caoimhe in her year at school who pronounces it Keeva. Now that annoys me. We have no. 3 due in 4 weeks and are struggling for girls names. The wife insists on another Irish name but I don't want anything too complicated this time.

seventeen sheep

mattb74 wrote: »

My eldest is Caoimhe, I'm English and you should see some of the spellings we get in Christmas cards from the relatives! Still love the name though. There is another Caoimhe in her year at school who pronounces it Keeva. Now that annoys me. We have no. 3 due in 4 weeks and are struggling for girls names. The wife insists on another Irish name but I don't want anything too complicated this time.

See as far as I know, the Keeva pronunciation is just as correct as Kweeva (or even Kayva or Kwayva) depending on dialect. So it's not as though the other Caoimhe's name is being pronounced wrong.

I can understand how it must be annoying/confusing having a few kids in the same class with names with the same spelling but different pronunciations.

traineeacc

Having awful trouble picking a boys name! What do people think of Sean? We both agree, however my husbands fear is there will be loads of kids with same name in his class in school!

venusdoom

traineeacc wrote: »

Having awful trouble picking a boys name! What do people think of Sean? We both agree, however my husbands fear is there will be loads of kids with same name in his class in school!

I've always liked Sean, and have taken a shine to Seanie after hearing it out recently. I don't think its as popular anymore, well not in my childs school anyway. I think its a nice strong name.

Digs

I really like Sean too, always have!

My 3 month old nephew is called Shea, initially I wasn't sure what I thought of it but it has really grown on me. Suits him to a t as well he looks like a real little Shea

traineeacc

Love the name Shea only there would be a cousin with same name and surname. Its such a big decision I think, we agonised so much over our first sons name!

Frog Song

I really don't like Shea/Shay. But that's the beauty of names I guess, everyone has their own preferences or we'd all be picking the same names for our kids!

I think Sean will always be pretty popular but if you like it go for it. There might be one or two other Seans in his class but no big deal. My niece has 4 other girls with the same name in her class and one of them has the same surname! The class below and above have none of that name then, typical!

Saralee4

I really Danny and Dara for a boy but my husband will not go for them at all. We have come up with a name but im not saying it to anyone.

We also cant get a girls name. I have one but he is kind of meh about it so im hoping it grows on him!

He likes Arianna but no offense to anyone but I feel its a bit too Disney Princess!

Moonbeam

I like Dara for a boy too.
Seán is a lovely name and no where near as popular as it was.
My Caoimhe has another Caoimhe is her class in Naíonra,Caoimhe and Caoimhe eile:)

Roesy

I teach in a big suburban school and there are 3-4 of every class. I'm working a lot with the infants this year and there are no Sean's in this years juniors. I think there might be one in 90 something Senior Infants. However, my nephew Sean is in Seniors and goes to school in a small village and he has another Sean in his class and I think there might have been 2 others in his Montessori. It's popularity might be dependent on location. Where did it come in recent C.S.O lists?

YumDeiseMum

Saralee4 wrote: »

He likes Arianna but no offense to anyone but I feel its a bit too Disney Princess!

How about Alanna as an alternative to Arianna.

seventeen sheep

traineeacc wrote: »

Having awful trouble picking a boys name! What do people think of Sean? We both agree, however my husbands fear is there will be loads of kids with same name in his class in school!

My thoughts would be that a lot of people would confuse it with Seán (pronounced Shawn), whereas Sean (pronounced Shan) is a name in its own right. In fact, even in this post, I'm not sure whether you're suggesting Sean or whether you actually mean Seán? Then there's also Séan, pronounced Shane (less common that the other two.)

So I personally would avoid all three. Too confusing! (Although, of the three, Sean is probably my favourite.)

Sligo1

seventeen sheep wrote: »

My thoughts would be that a lot of people would confuse it with Seán (pronounced Shawn), whereas Sean (pronounced Shan) is a name in its own right. In fact, even in this post, I'm not sure whether you're suggesting Sean or whether you actually mean Seán? Then there's also Séan, pronounced Shane (less common that the other two.)

So I personally would avoid all three. Too confusing! (Although, of the three, Sean is probably my favourite.)

I thought Sean was pronounced Shaun not Shan? Always thought there were 2 spellings (Shaun and Sean) and the pronunciations were the same of these 2.

seventeen sheep

Sligo1 wrote: »

I thought Sean was pronounced Shaun not Shan? Always thought there was 2 spellings (Shaun and Sean) and the pronunciations were the same of these 2.

I've always pronounced Sean as Shan - maybe it's another dialect thing? I just can't see how the "ea" would make a long "aw" sound though, tbh. I've only ever met a couple of Sean's, but they pronounced it Shan. It's a nice name, but the meaning is "old", so it seems like a funny name to be giving a new baby!

Sligo1

I knew loads of Shauns in new Zealand. And I dated one here in Dublin for a year (a couple of moons ago). And they both pronounced it exactly the same. Maybe it's a dialect thing as you say.

implausible

The correct spelling is Seán. In most of the country, a fada over the a (á) makes an 'aw' sound. In Donegal Irish, á is an 'ah' sound. So 'Shawn' and 'Shan' are different pronunciations of the same name, the difference is in the dialect of the speaker.

Another example is the Dáil - most of the country pronounces it "Dawl" or "Doyle", in Donegal it's "Dahl."

In my opinion, it's one of the least confusing Irish names out there, everyone knows a Seán.

I do like Shane too though.

Sligo1

implausible wrote: »

The correct spelling is Seán. In most of the country, a fada over the a (á) makes an 'aw' sound. In Donegal Irish, á is an 'ah' sound. So 'Shawn' and 'Shan' are different pronunciations of the same name, the difference is in the dialect of the speaker.

Another example is the Dáil - most of the country pronounces it "Dawl" or "Doyle", in Donegal it's "Dahl."

In my opinion, it's one of the least confusing Irish names out there, everyone knows a Seán.

I do like Shane too though.

But there is Sean without a fada isn't there?