naming baby

The Big Red Button

DUBACC wrote: »

But a word of warning. My wife and some of her friends are teachers and they see first-hand the un-merciless slagging and bullying that goes on towards some kids with 'unusual' names. I for one would hate to put that on a child, having been tormented in school myself.

A child called Odin is unlikely to share his name with another classmate, so that's a good thing (there were four other girls with my name in my secondary school year, which I hated!) But, with Ireland becoming so multicultural, in my opinion it's not "odd-ball" enough to be picked on or slagged. It's not like "Apple" or "Peaches" or whatever! It's just a nice, simple but unusual name. I can't see the name in itself leading to the child being bullied.

maxwell smart wrote: »

Why do people give their kids completly unprenouncable names? Names like Sadhbh, Aoibheann, Aoibhinn etc?

If I had two daughters, I'd call them Sadhbh (not sure if that's the right spelling, I prefer Sadbh but must find out which is more correct) and Aoibhe.

I know a lot of people with "common" Irish names such as Ciara, Gráinne, Siobháin, Aoife, Padraig, Seán, Ciarán etc who have problems with people pronouncing their names abroad. In a world where lots of people from lots of countries travel globally for work, well that's life! It might take a few tries for other people to grasp the correct pronunciation, but in my opinion that's preferable to those names dying out, and everyone's names being chosen from a small easily-pronouncable pool of names such as Jack, Adam, Anna etc.

ebmma

Das Kitty wrote: »

Hope your kids are either called Mohommed or Chen then!

Don't see the problem with traditional names to be honest, and a trend towards people not giving the names to their children due to pronouncability issues is going to lead to them dying out and most kids being called names that are pronounced exactly as they are written. Think it's a bid sad personally.

But isn't there already anglicised or half-anglicised Irish names that no one finds odd - like Emer and Maeve for example?

Little Acorn

deemark wrote: »

Sorry, have to jump in there. Eoin is a simplification of Eoghan, which was the Irish version of John. Owen is an Anglicisation of Eoghan/Eoin. You CANNOT put a fada randomly on an English name, there's a W in it ffs!

As for suggesting that people should anglicise names to make them easier to pronounce, did we not have 800 years of that?! All of my family have Irish names and like explaining to people their origin. Why make it easier for people to be lazy? In school, if I come across a new name, I check with the student how to pronounce it and make a conscious effort to get it right. Others, however, don't bother and call them whatever is convenient e.g for Natalia, calling the poor girl Natalie. It's basic manners, your name is the first thing people encounter, how you introduce yourself.

Eoghan,

I thought that it was something like that but didn't know how to spell it so googled Irish version of Owen,and got a site called "Ireland now, Irish names for babies."(1st on list)

It listed Eoin (spelt with a fada on the o) as being the Irish for Owen. It also mentioned that it was derived from the name John.

You CANNOT put a fada randomly on an English name, there's a W in it ffs!

I never suggested putting a fada on the english word Owen.
I was referring to the fact that Eoin had a fada on the o.

As for suggesting that people should anglicise names to make them easier to pronounce, did we not have 800 years of that?!

I never once suggested that people should anglicise their names to make them easier to pronounce.!
I was trying to suggest the Irish name Eoghan,but didn't have the spelling right so looked it up and got the spelling Eoin.

Now that I know the correct spelling is Eoghan,that's the name I would recommend as that was the name I was thinking of.

Like you,I also always make a conscious effort to get people's names correct, I just got the spelling wrong,that's all.

Little Acorn

Yesterday, 22:09 #32
chatterpillar

I know a lot of people with "common" Irish names such as Ciara, Gráinne, Siobháin, Aoife, Padraig, Seán, Ciarán etc who have problems with people pronouncing their names abroad. In a world where lots of people from lots of countries travel globally for work, well that's life! It might take a few tries for other people to grasp the correct pronunciation, but in my opinion that's preferable to those names dying out, and everyone's names being chosen from a small easily-pronouncable pool of names such as Jack, Adam, Anna etc.

I agree with this.
My favourite Irish name is Saoirse

(Although I do like the name Adam. Just like the sound of it. :-) )

Little Acorn

Little Acorn wrote: »

My favourite Irish name is Saoirse

That's my daughters name! But pronounced correctly of course

chatterpillar wrote: »

I know a lot of people with "common" Irish names such as Ciara, Gráinne, Siobháin, Aoife, Padraig, Seán, Ciarán etc who have problems with people pronouncing their names abroad. In a world where lots of people from lots of countries travel globally for work, well that's life! It might take a few tries for other people to grasp the correct pronunciation, but in my opinion that's preferable to those names dying out, and everyone's names being chosen from a small easily-pronouncable pool of names such as Jack, Adam, Anna etc.

Yup. I'm usually called Grain - ee. And don't get me started on my surname. Damn husband.

hacked

oh daisy...i love the name Saoirse! It would have been a front runner for girls names for me if I didn't already know a Saoirse quite well.

That was the problem I had with finding names. If I am in any way close or friendly with someone who has a name I like I automatically can;t use it...it doesn't seem right to me. My baby needs to have it's own individual name that isn't going to remind me of someone else!

Das Kitty

ebmma wrote: »

But isn't there already anglicised or half-anglicised Irish names that no one finds odd - like Emer and Maeve for example?

Well neither of those are pronounced exactly as they're spelled either.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against any name but choosing not to name a child a name that you actually like based only on the way people will pronounce it is a bit sad IMO.

ebmma

Das Kitty wrote: »

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against any name but choosing not to name a child a name that you actually like based only on the way people will pronounce it is a bit sad IMO.

I can agree with that. I think it was just coming across as 'people should give their kids Irish name to keep the tradition alive whether they actually like those names or not' to me

Das Kitty

ebmma wrote: »

I can agree with that. I think it was just coming across as 'people should give their kids Irish name to keep the tradition alive whether they actually like those names or not' to me

Not at all. In fact the few names we have short-listed aren't traditional Irish ones (in spite of us both being Irish speakers).

implausible

Little Acorn wrote: »

It listed Eoin (spelt with a fada on the o) as being the Irish for Owen. It also mentioned that it was derived from the name John.

I never once suggested that people should anglicise their names to make them easier to pronounce.!

I wasn't accusing you of this, I was referring to another poster, thought it was obvious, obviously not. Sorry.

Eóin is wrong, websites aren't always reliable.

finneran2000

lolli wrote: »

enilec wrote: »

I'm aware of who Odin is - that's not what puts me off the name, it's just that I'm not sure if I actually like the name itself. The only thing that makes me like it really is the mythology behind it! I like the name Aidan (I'd probably spell it Aedan) which has quite a similar sound but the OH is putting his foot down & WANTS Odin but he named our daughter so surely it's my turn now...

what did you call your daughter? I quite like the name. Something different anyway.

Hey i like that name odin :-) when are u due what hospital

Oral Slang

Finneran2000, I presume they had their baby already, seeing as that post is 2 years old next week!

pennypitstop

My husband was very wary of the Bullying factor when we named our children, he could find some way of teasing nearly every name I suggested (and all from experience of an all-boys school education). Apparently its a big thing among boys.

The child will have to live with the name forever so my advice would be make it easy to spell and pronounced as spelled!
We had our 1st boys name decided long before the birth and then changed it to something we hadn't even considered when we saw him,it felt right.

Synchronicity

It's a good idea to think of the nicknames the names might lead to. I've done the calculations, and in this case, there's a 71.3% chance the kid will end up being called "Odie" (Oh-dee).

ShaShaBear

Well my mother went with Alisha for me (Al-Eesh-ah) and I love my name, the spelling and pronunciation. It's a lot more common now than it was 24 years ago when I was given it (I got Cassandra as a middle name, my mother is pro). But the atrocious amount of trouble Ive had with people trying to say it. I've had Aisling so many times I answer to it. There isn't even a "G" in my name, how could anyone come to that conclusion? I've also gotten Eilis, Alicia, Eleesha, Al-eye-sha and Alley-sha. Seriously.

Myself and my boyfriend aren't expecting, but we had Summer/Ferris for a girl and Reece/Simon for a boy. I love the names and it makes me broody just thinking about them!

wmpdd3

Synchronicity wrote: »

It's a good idea to think of the nicknames the names might lead to. I've done the calculations, and in this case, there's a 71.3% chance the kid will end up being called "Odie" (Oh-dee).

You can't win, I had a friend called Tom, his nick name was Quasimodo. :eek:

implausible

Synchronicity wrote: »

It's a good idea to think of the nicknames the names might lead to. I've done the calculations, and in this case, there's a 71.3% chance the kid will end up being called "Odie" (Oh-dee).

Kids can be far less imaginative that you think, and what may occur to you, rarely occurs to them, so I wouldn't factor bullying in unless it's for something really obvious, like Willy, Dick or Satan:eek:

I've taught kids called Mouse, Nipper, Goofy and kids who never get called anything but their surname and I went to college a Bongo and a Spurt! Most nicknames are to do with appearance/characteristics or something stupid that happened and very rarely to do with the kid's name.

My child's surname is the same as a character in a popular kids' programme, which I'm hoping won't be still popular when he's in school!