Irish girls names

Vetch

ideb wrote: »

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'

Another saint's name is Sunniva - a Norwegian saint but allegedly born in Ireland although Wikipedia says the name is Old Norse/Old English. I think it's a lovely name though. Have only met two Sunnivas in Ireland.

To go along with Fódla another poetic name for Ireland is Ealga. Have only ever met the one.

heldel00

HelgaWard wrote: »

I like Nóinín which is the Irish word for Daisy. Réidín is lovely, I've read different theories on the source for this one, but the one I find most believable is the it is a pet version of Mairead. I love Doireann. Irish girls name that were popular when I was in school were Grainne, Sinéad, Siobhan etc but don't think there are too many babies being named these now.I think Siobhan is lovely, I actually really like all the ones with the V sounds. Meadhbh, Sadhbh, Ailbhe, Niamh, Eibhlin. One I came across when I was researching names for my own kids was Méiní. Did you ever hear of Méiní the Blasket Nurse? I think it's pronounced May-nee. Best wishes for your new arrival.

My granny was Maynie! Never heard it or saw it as an Irish name. would have loved that as a second name for my little girl. Maybe next time!!!

drunkmonkey

What do think of Rhea, sounds Irish but it's not, She's a Titan and mother of all gods. Zeus etc.

ceo

Donnfhlaith, Dúlta, Ornaith, Laoise, Nóinaí(Noney), Ailís/Eilís, Aoife, Saileog, Nora, Neansaí, Nean(Nan).

Just a few suggestions.

jonnybravo

drunkmonkey wrote: »

What do think of Rhea, sounds Irish but it's not, She's a Titan and mother of all gods. Zeus etc.

Also the name of a bird

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhea_(bird)

tupenny

Never heard of the name F before..
Just makes me think of blood

tupenny

That was Fola with a fada on the o.. damn phone

Purple Mountain

There is a story in today's Irish Independent about a student called Siomha (fada on i) who won some award.

Cee-Jay-Cee

purpleisafruit wrote: »

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

Keen-ooh.

RhubarbCrumble

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

purpleisafruit wrote: »

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

Keen-ooh.

I'd pronounce it KWEEN-a. Like queen but with an a on the end.

ted1

ceo wrote: »

Donnfhlaith, Dúlta, Ornaith, Laoise, Nóinaí(Noney), Ailís/Eilís, Aoife, Saileog, Nora, Neansaí, Nean(Nan).

Just a few suggestions.

Aoife isn’t Irish is it? Isn’t it Aoibhe, or one of the million derivatives

SusieBlue

ted1 wrote: »

Aoife isn’t Irish is it? Isn’t it Aoibhe, or one of the million derivatives

Bh makes a ‘vee’ sound in Irish. So Aoibhe should be pronounced ‘Eva’.

Cash_Q

ted1 wrote:

Aoife isn’t Irish is it? Isn’t it Aoibhe, or one of the million derivatives

Aoife is Irish. Eva would be an angliciseed version.

Rubberchikken

I dont think an unusual name makes for a unique individual.
I personally dont like irish names and the ones that just seem made up to appear different are tiresome.

Yes ill get shot down for it but its my opinion and im entitled to express it.

LegacyUser

I've a very Irish name and it's caused me no issues, in fact it's always been a great conversation starter. I travel a lot for work so most see my name written in emails before hearing it and it's usually the first question I get asked when I meet people in person but it's never annoying, it's always that's interesting vibe. I work in a creative field and it's helped people remember me for jobs etc and I rarely ever need to use my surname the name has a real personal connection for my parents so it wasn't given to me as a fad or 'to be different'.

Have you considered Fódhla? (not my name btw)

splinter65

Rubberchikken wrote: »

I dont think an unusual name makes for a unique individual.
I personally dont like irish names and the ones that just seem made up to appear different are tiresome.

Yes ill get shot down for it but its my opinion and im entitled to express it.

I agree with you. In fact I know it’s a bit cheesy but every single child is unique and special and giving your child what you consider a unique name seems to indicate that you as a parent are a bit concerned that your child will not be “special”...so you have to make up this meaningless moniker to stick on him/her so they’ll stick out from the crowd?
Hope I’m not hurting anyone’s feelings here, it’s just my take on it.

Purple Mountain

https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/living/2018/0827/987802-19-unique-gaelic-baby-names-and-their-meanings/

Dave147

DJIMI TRARORE wrote:

How about Ceola,Laoise or Siobhan

Not a big fan of Irish names in general but Laoise is a lovely name. Also love Caragh.

flandabieduzie

reap-a-rat wrote: »

What about Etain? I've only ever met one.

How do you pronounce this name?

iamwhoiam

flandabieduzie wrote: »

How do you pronounce this name?

E - tane

maxsmum

flandabieduzie wrote: »

How do you pronounce this name?

Very much like 'attain'

nikkibikki

maxsmum wrote:

Very much like 'attain'

I thought there was a fada on the E and the A, that would make it Ay-tawn

iamwhoiam

nikkibikki wrote: »

I thought there was a fada on the E and the A, that would make it Ay-tawn

https://www.babynamesofireland.com/etain


I knew a girl named Etain . It was E -tain with no fada

Peregrinus

Etain is a very ancient name, which comes to us from Old Irish, which is quite a different language to modern Irish. In old Irish its spelled with a fada over the 'e' and another over the 'i', but it would have been pronounced (we think) something like AY-da-inn - stress on the first syllable. (How do we know how Old Irish was pronounced? It's a bit hit-and-miss, but we can have a stab at it by looking at poetry, which contains clues both as to stress and sound (e.g. which words are considered to rhyme with which.)

Over the centuries both the pronunciation and the spelling changed, and in modern Irish it has become Éadaoin, which is anglicised as Aideen.

In the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, however, a number of old Irish names were repopularised in their original form. But at that time people generally had no clue how Old Irish was pronounced, so you could pronounced these names how you liked, and very often they were given pronunciations based on English orthography - i.e. letters and letter groups are given the sounds that they represent in English words. So the pronunciation of "Etain" was fairly rapidly standardised as something like Eh-TAYN, and it has been like that ever since.

catrionanic

Peregrinus wrote: »

Etain is a very ancient name, which comes to us from Old Irish, which is quite a different language to modern Irish. In old Irish its spelled with a fada over the 'e' and another over the 'i', but it would have been pronounced (we think) something like AY-da-inn - stress on the first syllable. (How do we know how Old Irish was pronounced? It's a bit hit-and-miss, but we can have a stab at it by looking at poetry, which contains clues both as to stress and sound (e.g. which words are considered to rhyme with which.)

Over the centuries both the pronunciation and the spelling changed, and in modern Irish it has become Éadaoin, which is anglicised as Aideen.

In the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, however, a number of old Irish names were repopularised in their original form. But at that time people generally had no clue how Old Irish was pronounced, so you could pronounced these names how you liked, and very often they were given pronunciations based on English orthography - i.e. letters and letter groups are given the sounds that they represent in English words. So the pronunciation of "Etain" was fairly rapidly standardised as something like Eh-TAYN, and it has been like that ever since.

And here was me thinking you were just a Brexit brain... clearly an Old Irish expert also!

Peregrinus

catrionanic wrote: »

And here was me thinking you were just a Brexit brain... clearly an Old Irish expert also!

I'm a handy man in a pub quiz. Just don't ask me any football or music questions.

Patser

Called our little one Aislín (Ash-leen), as we didn't really like the g sound at the end of Aisling. As far as I'm concerned (and worried Peregrinus will correct me) it means Little Vision - and since she was born near Christmas her second name was Nollaig.

So Little Vision at Christmas (which loses even more meaning when we chuck in the surname, which I'm not doing here)

Peregrinus

Since you ask...

Aisling means a dream or a vision; also something seen in a dream or vision; also (as we all remember from school) a literary genre in which a dream or vision is recounted as an allegory for some real-world experience or state of affairs, usually political.

Aislín, however, would not be a diminutive of aisling; it's a diminutive of aisle, aisil or some such word. So what, we ask ourselves, do aisle and similar words mean?

Aisle is not a common word, but it does exist, and it has several meanings. Happily, one of these is a simple variation of aisling, probably coined by a poet who needed a shorter word to make the line scan. So you can truthfully tell your daughter that her name means "little vision, little dream". But it could also mean "little axle" or "little linchpin". Finally, at a stretch it could mean "little donkey" which, yeah, could tie in with the whole Christmas/nativity theme that you've got going on there. Still, maybe don't mention that one.

Patser

Peregrinus wrote: »

Finally, at a stretch it could mean "little donkey" which, yeah, could tie in with the whole Christmas/nativity theme that you've got going on there. Still, maybe don't mention that one.

Think I'll save that one for her 21st or at her wedding

nikkibikki

nikkibikki wrote:

I thought there was a fada on the E and the A, that would make it Ay-tawn

iamwhoiam wrote:

I knew a girl named Etain . It was E -tain with no fada

And I know a girl with the fadas and pronunciation as above!

Names and spellings change over time. Fadas get dropped which is a bug bear of mine. All my kids have fadas in their names and without the fadas, their names are not spelt correctly. We've probably subjected them to a lifetime of mis-spelled names.

So many people calling their daughters Aoibhinn now and pronouncing it Ay-veen, it has become the norm. E with a fada makes an "ay" sound. "Aoi" makes a kind of an "ee" sound.