Name translation or meaning.

fixXxer

Hi there all.

We have a baby on the way I'm are following convention with naming the wee one.

Looking around for names I've been struck by the name Faela. I believe it's an irish name from the Cork/Kerry region but have been unable to find very much information.

Does anyone have any info on the name Faela or know where I might investigate further?

Any help is much appreciated

Speedwell

I'm only familiar with the name as a diminutive of Rafaela in Spanish (I'm from Texas but I'm told the name is common in South America).

fixXxer

I've seen the Rafaela thing mentioned a few times. I'd have left it at that except I've found enough mentions of an Irish version that I'm curious, sometimes with a fada.

"Did a bit of research on the name and didnt get much info but didnt care loved the name and went with it. First I email the girl who i knew was called Faela she told me the story behine the name is that it is really old Irish name, it orginates from Galway and means generosity not party as everyone thinks !!! An Irish professor from UCC researched it. Her parents got if from a really old book of Irish names and it can also be spelt Faile."

That's my most recent bit of information. Seems I was wrong about the cork/Kerry origin.

Speedwell

fixxxer wrote: »

I've seen the Rafaela thing mentioned a few times. I'd have left it at that except I've found enough mentions of an Irish version that I'm curious, sometimes with a fada.

"Did a bit of research on the name and didnt get much info but didnt care loved the name and went with it. First I email the girl who i knew was called Faela she told me the story behine the name is that it is really old Irish name, it orginates from Galway and means generosity not party as everyone thinks !!! An Irish professor from UCC researched it. Her parents got if from a really old book of Irish names and it can also be spelt Faile."

That's my most recent bit of information. Seems I was wrong about the cork/Kerry origin.

Interesting. I'm just not sure it reads as "Irish" to a global audience. In my mother's generation, for example, "Juanita" was a popular girls' name in parts of the US in which it never registered as Spanish (she happened to have been from Pittsburgh). My grandmother still thinks that certain common names, such as "David" or "Sharon", are dog-whistles for their bearers being Jewish (she herself is Jewish, so it's not prejudice talking). My birth first name is one that a lot of people mistake and mispronounce and it's a complete hassle.

I'd like the "Faile" variant more if it didn't bear an unfortunate resemblance to a negative English word. Just for fun, here's a noted, successful, well-regarded professional who has overcome a truly cringeworthy hyphenated last name: http://www.vitals.com/doctors/Dr_Barbara_Moran-Faile.html

dubhthach

fáel is the old irish for faol (wolf), you see it names such as Fáelán/Faolán (which gives us surnames such as Ó Faoláin eg. Phelan/Whelan in english). The name literally means "Little Wolf" in direct translation, and was a man's name.

Fáela strikes me as a variation of this (perhaps modern)

fixXxer

dubhthach wrote:

fáel is the old irish for faol (wolf), you see it names such as Fáelán/Faolán (which gives us surnames such as Ó Faoláin eg. Phelan/Whelan in english). The name literally means "Little Wolf" in direct translation, and was a man's name.

Do irish names have masculine feminine versions?