Irish girls names

iamwhoiam

Tombo2001 wrote: »

OK....

If I could put this way.

You are talking to me about meanings.

Lily is a name, most people would recognise it as such.

Lile isnt.

The meaning is really besides the point. People dont go around thinking, here comes Daire - that means Oak. They just think, here comes Daire.

Lily was not always a name either ! It evolved and became one .Maybe the first Lily was scorned at too and the people pointed and said " Why Lily , when Lilium is already a name ! "

iamwhoiam

silver campaign wrote: »

Our first born is called Réiltín . (Pronounced Rail-teen) It does mean little star, but the spelling of the name is slightly different to the spelling of the noun Réalta meaning Star.

We have only met one other Réiltín, but have come across the name in newspapers and TV , so there are a few more out there.

I know a Réiltín who is now a grandmother !

Tombo2001

Peregrinus wrote: »

But "Lily" wasn't a personal name until people started naming their children after the flower, a practice which AFAIK didn't arise until the late nineteenth century, in the US, from where it spread to other countries. Why should it not also spread to Ireland? Why should it be acceptable to use the English word in this way, but not the Irish?

Its not a question of 'acceptable' or not 'acceptable'.

Roisin is (or was) a very common Irish girls name that is named after a flower, that is the same flower that inspired girls names in Spain, France, Russian, Germany.

The point is that Lile is not by any standards a name that is recognised in Ireland as being a name.......

Is that a problem? Well thats for OP to decide.

The other poster referred to Reiltin - thats a gorgeous name. Also not a recognised name (although I have heard of it, unlike Lile)..

I'd add, just from an observational point of view - that its a stronger name, stronger fada's and the n at the end.

When you hear the word Reiltin, its very clear. In my view, less so with 'lilleh' i.e. Lile.

Tombo2001

iamwhoiam wrote: »

Lily was not always a name either ! It evolved and became one .Maybe the first Lily was scorned at too and the people pointed and said " Why Lily , when Lilium is already a name ! "

Its a recognised name now.

Balmed Out

laoise, beibhin, clodagh, maebh, doireann

Plenty of what one generation might call common disappear in the next. So many women born in the 50's called Mary or the 30's called Hannah but they go out of fashion with Hannah coming back in the last decade and Mary in the last few years. Niamh, Aisling, Siobhain, Sineid were very common among my generation but rare now with Lilly, Lucy, Emily, Mia etc replacing them. I have a Laoise and in her creche classroom of a dozen there is another little girl called Laoibhse, personally I wouldnt be trying to go for an unusual name just a name I like. You could pick a name that you feel is unusual only for it to become very popular. In my area 10 years ago a wave of Sean's, few years later lots of Darraghs and now Odhran is a fairly standard name while up to 5 years ago I had only come accross it twice from fairly old men from Co. Waterford.

Peregrinus

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Its a recognised name now.

Unlike Tombo!

More seriously, the OP says right in post #1 that she wants a name that's "different and unusual", which points to employing a word that isn't predominantly known as a common name.

iamwhoiam

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Its a recognised name now.

Indeed it is . And it was not always , you are not getting my point, names were always new at some stage . Why cant 2018 also be a stage ?

jimmymack

Bébhinn is another good girl's name, meaning "melodious woman". It's pronounced "bay-vin" but I've also seen "bay-veen". In that case there'd be a fada on the i.

Tombo2001

iamwhoiam wrote: »

Indeed it is . And it was not always , you are not getting my point, names were always new at some stage . Why cant 2018 also be a stage ?

That kind of presupposes that it becomes a recognised name; which is a pretty big assumption.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

Caoimhe pronounced the Donegal way is lovely I think (though not that unusual). I really like Sadhbh.

Lovely name when pronounced Kee-va unlike the phucked up version by many people from 'down the country' ie Kwee-va/Quee-va, which is just wrong and unnatural as there is no way that a word starting with 'Ca' can have a Kwee/Quee sound.

My daughers are Roisin (fadas on the o and 2nd I) and pronounced Rosh-een and not Roe-Sheen and Aifric (no fadas)

Tombo2001

Peregrinus wrote: »

Unlike Tombo!

More seriously, the OP says right in post #1 that she wants a name that's "different and unusual", which points to employing a word that isn't predominantly known as a common name.

:P

Not my real name!

Rmgblue

Sadhbh is nice. I still love Aoife, Niamh, Caoimhe. Blaithin too.

Tombo2001

Other thing with names is that if you give them a name thats difficult to say, then people end up calling them something else - and you've no control over that when it happens.

iamwhoiam

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Lovely name when pronounced Kee-va unlike the phucked up version by many people from 'down the country' ie Kwee-va/Quee-va, which is just wrong and unnatural as there is no way that a word starting with 'Ca' can have a Kwee/Quee sound.

My daughers are Roisin (fadas on the o and 2nd I) and pronounced Rosh-een and not Roe-Sheen and Aifric (no fadas)

Caoi is actually not pronounced either Quee or Kee it has a pronounciation I cant type as it comes from the throat !

jimmymack

Lovely name when pronounced Kee-va unlike the phucked up version by many people from 'down the country' ie Kwee-va/Quee-va, which is just wrong and unnatural as there is no way that a word starting with 'Ca' can have a Kwee/Quee sound.

I don't agree with this, there are many words in Irish that have the "Kwee/Quee" sound, or something quite similar to it anyway. Caol, pronounced like "quail" and meaning slender is a good example. "Cao" makes a "kw" sound and "aoi" (like Saoirse) makes an "ee" sound. It's just how the language works. Actually, talking about Cao reminds me of Caolfhionn, meaning "slender blond/e". Can be used for boys and girls if I remember rightly!

Peregrinus

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Lovely name when pronounced Kee-va unlike the phucked up version by many people from 'down the country' ie Kwee-va/Quee-va, which is just wrong and unnatural as there is no way that a word starting with 'Ca' can have a Kwee/Quee sound.

Regional differences. "Kweeva" is fairly close to how this name would be pronounced in Munster Irish; "Keeva" is closer to the Ulster pronunciation.

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

My daughers are Roisin (fadas on the o and 2nd I) and pronounced Rosh-een and not Roe-Sheen and Aifric (no fadas)

Regional again. The fada over the 'o' would lead to a "Roe-sheen" pronunciation in Munster; they'd tend to shorten that vowel sound in Ulster.

Hoboo

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Lovely name when pronounced Kee-va unlike the phucked up version by many people from 'down the country' ie Kwee-va/Quee-va, which is just wrong and unnatural as there is no way that a word starting with 'Ca' can have a Kwee/Quee sound.

My daughers are Roisin (fadas on the o and 2nd I) and pronounced Rosh-een and not Roe-Sheen and Aifric (no fadas)

Should do fada on the first O of Róisín not make an 'oh' sound? Otherwise it should have no fada, which wouldn't spell it correctly?

Just asking to learn, I know different dialects have different pronunciations

alchemist33

I skipped over a few pages, so apologies if this has mentioned. I know of an Einín. Whether it's a "real" name or not (and these days it doesn't seem to matter) is one thing, but it's Irish, unusual and has a nice ring to it.

Tombo2001

alchemist33 wrote: »

I skipped over a few pages, so apologies if this has mentioned. I know of an Einín. Whether it's a "real" name or not (and these days it doesn't seem to matter) is one thing, but it's Irish, unusual and has a nice ring to it.

Again I do think you have to have consideration where school teacher or montessori teacher of ballet tutor or football coach turns around and says to little child

".......and whats your name".......and little child answers......and said person is listening trying to work out wtf the child just said......that will happen again and again and again. Pleased to meet you Aideen.

is it a problem? up to you to decide.

If you are going for an unusual name; it helps if its a name that can be very clearly and easily pronounced by a child. Reiltin is a good example.

Of course its a problem for any person with an Irish name that goes overseas.....but at least they are adults at that point.

downtheroad

Ckpippa wrote: »

Oh no I wouldn't do that I was just wondering was there any alternative? I wonder what moon is in Irish.

bee06 wrote: »

Isn’t Luna Latin for moon. I wouldn’t say picking any old name and putting a fada on a vowel makes it Irish.

Wants Irish name...can't speak Irish?

Neyite

One I heard recently and that's not been mentioned yet is Fóla, also written as Fódla or Fótla (modern spelling: Fódhla, or Fóla)

It's got a lovely origins in Irish mythology, and is used sometimes as a literary name for Ireland. And she'd be named after a goddess of Ireland

I like the 4 letter version, Fóla - I think it's pretty, simple and won't cause too much angst trying to spell or pronounce it by non Irish speakers.

Neyite

downtheroad wrote: »

Wants Irish name...can't speak Irish?

That's coming across as a bit snobby.

Not everyone managed to retain the basic language skills they learned in school especially if they don't use it in daily usage. Or maybe they have dyslexia meaning languages are nigh on impossible for them to learn. Or they are not Irish originally but married an Irish person and want to continue their partner's heritage into the next generation.

Tombo2001

Neyite wrote: »

That's coming across as a bit snobby.

Not everyone managed to retain the basic language skills they learned in school especially if they don't use it in daily usage. Or maybe they have dyslexia meaning languages are nigh on impossible for them to learn. Or they are not Irish originally but married an Irish person and want to continue their partner's heritage into the next generation.

Agreed.

Irish language names are amongst the most popular baby names in the UK and the US.

Liam is one of the most popular baby names in Belgium.

None of those folks speak Irish. They just like a nice name.

ideb

Don't really want to get into the debate about whether we should or shouldn't create unique names for our children. That is a personal choice and if people want to name their child Muckanaghederdauhaulia because that is where the baby was conceived, so be it.
Just want to point out though that some names go a bit deeper than just translating Irish words. 'Bláithín' falls into this category. In the past, names were given to coincide with feast days of Saints within the date of the birth of the child. My second name is Blaithín. I was given the name to represent the feast day of Saint Thérese of Lisieux (Saint Therese of the Little Flower). Why not just Threasa or Treasa? I think it is because there are a few Saint Theresa's and my mother (being very religious........and a staunch Gaeilgeoir) wanted to name me after the one that represented the month I was born (October). Saint Thérese was popularly known as just "Little Flower". So the name Bláithín represents that (at least in my case), not the fact that it is the Irish for flower. My first name, like most people, is after my Grandmother, but is also a Saints name.

The idea was that you could pray to your particular saint. So for any religious people out there, maybe that is something to review also? I'm not religious at all, but just saying that if people want to follow traditions, it is a way of narrowing down options. I'm just glad that Saint Therese of Lisieux had a nice nickname. Otherwise, I could have been called 'Lisieux'

iamwhoiam

ideb wrote: »

Don't really want to get into the debate about .

The idea was that you could pray to your particular saint. So for any religious people out there, maybe that is something to review also? I'm not religious at all, but just saying that if people want to follow traditions, it is a way of narrowing down options. I'm just glad that Saint Therese of Lisieux had a nice nickname. Otherwise, I could have been called 'Lisieux'

Which is dangerously close to sounding like a sneeze !! Which reminds me when a baby girl in the family was named Orla a german guy in the family said it sounded like the german word for earhole ( Ohrloch ) !!

Hoboo

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Agreed.

Irish language names are amongst the most popular baby names in the UK and the US.

Liam is one of the most popular baby names in Belgium.

None of those folks speak Irish. They just like a nice name.

I always recommend Amadán when asked abroad. Often wonder how many actually used it.

ideb

Hoboo wrote: »

I always recommend Amadán when asked abroad. Often wonder how many actually used it.

Rumour has it that someone once asked an Irishman what the Irish for sausages was, because he was starting up a sausage factory..........and that is how the name mogerley sausages came about. ;)

AnneFrank

It's not Irish but i like Jolene

purpleisafruit

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Lovely name when pronounced Kee-va unlike the phucked up version by many people from 'down the country' ie Kwee-va/Quee-va, which is just wrong and unnatural as there is no way that a word starting with 'Ca' can have a Kwee/Quee sound.

My daughers are Roisin (fadas on the o and 2nd I) and pronounced Rosh-een and not Roe-Sheen and Aifric (no fadas)

How do you pronounce the irish word for crying, ag caoineadh?

purpleisafruit

AnneFrank wrote: »

It's not Irish but i like Jolene

Would you not worry she might develop man-stealing ways?