When I was in school there were lots of Niamhs, Orlas, Ciaras, Maeves, Sinéads, Deirdres and Aoifes (it was a girls only school). I suspect these names seemed a bit odd to my grandmothers’ generation of Kates, Hannahs, Noras, Mollys, Bridgets and Ninas.
The latest generation have gone for even more challenging spellings; how about Orfhlaith (pronouned Orla), Maebhdh (pronounced Maiv), Rudhán (pronounced roo awn), Eoghan (pronounced owen), or Sabhdh (pronounced sive – rhymes with drive)? Irish is all about extra consonants. Also, the currently favoured boys names? They often end in a – try Setanta, Barra, Fiachra or Fachtna.
We also have reimported names from America. Kathleen is an anglicisation of the Irish name CaitlÃn (pronounced Kathleen, trust me here). CaitlÃn emigrated and became Caitlin which the Americans, as anglophones, pronounced Kate Lynn. That’s fine by me but really, I think there is nothing dafter than an Irish child, born in this jurisdiction being called Caitlin pronounced Kate Lynn. There, I’ve said it. Other American imports that leave me very cold are the range of Irish surnames being used as first names: Casey, Riley, Brandon, Ryan. This is just wrong, I tell you, wrong. Whatever might happen in far off America, it’s just odd here. So there.
Please do put your least favourite names in the comments. Ah go on.
Children of various friends of mine – only one of these parents is actually from Ireland – are Eoghan, Tiernan, Riley (girl), and Tadhg. All of them live in California.
My Boss, admittedly from Norn Ireland, told me the name of his new born daughter.
Me: So are you spelling that N-I… er M-H or some other strange spelling?
Boss: Are we bollocks, none of that shite. We’re spelling it N-E-A-V-E
There was also the telephone call a few years back after I received an e-mail from an Aisling asking me to ring her.
Me: Hi is that Ay-sling?
Her: It’s ASHling actually.
Here’s a question for you:
I married an American man of (ahem) Irish descent with the last name Daly. He wanted Irish-sounding names for our kids; since I am a mongrel American of no particular heritage, I agreed as long as they were pronounced the way they were spelled (he liked Aoife, but no one would have ever gotten it right). So we chose Kathleen and Claire. Tell me, would these names pass muster in the Irish schoolyard, or we be immediately branded as faux Irish? The girls are now 9 and 5 years old. Could we have made better choices?
Anything featuring “princess”.
If you really wanted to traumatise your child you could use the alternative dialect pronunciation of Sadhbh, which sounds like “Sow”. But no-one is that cruel.
One of my cousins is gnashing her teeth – 4 years ago she named her daughter the unusual Irish name of Éabha, which she’d always liked. Unfortunately in the couple of years since then the same-sounding name Ava has become wildly popular. So she has the worst of both worlds.
Meanwhile I know someone else caught out by the new popularity of the name Molly. My mother had an aunt Molly, and also an aunt Lucy, which I hear is the big girl’s name in the U.S.A. At this rate I expect a wave of Mauds any day now. (I don’t think we’ll see too many Agnes(s) or Bridgets, though.)
Kathleen and Claire sound perfectly normal to me, there are plenty of Claires my age and quite a few Kathleens my age and then some more older Kathleens.
I’ve always thought my Mother’s name came from her Father being born in Ireland. It is only in recent years I’ve learn’tthat it was a compromise between her parents. Her Father chose “Polly” while her Mother wanted “Mary” – so dear Mum was named “Molly”.
This Grandfather had two younger sisters – May and Kathleen (both born after the family had emigrated to NZ).
Oh I love this topic! I’m surprised there were so many Irish names in your class at school (or did you mean the lower years?) as the revival of true Irish names really only began in the late ’60s and took off in the ’70s and we know -ahem – that you are of an age as it were. I am one of the very few pre-1970s Ciaras I know. I have a bit of a mote in my own eye when it comes to choosing “authentic” Irish names, particularly my second daughter – Bláthnaid (pronounced BLAW-NIDTH sort of). Poor pet will never have her name spelled or indeed pronounced properly – and that’s just in Ireland . Belgian kindergarten in September should be quite a challenge!!! I did vaguely consider the idea of using my surname as a girl child’s first name, but it was only for an in-house joke and I agree with you would be a travesty. By the way Michelle in NZ, Molly is an Irish diminutive of Mary so your granny really won the argument – as mothers always do!
I have a colleague called Padraic with an Irish surname – as English sounding as they come – and he’s just saddled his new daughter with Aiofe – he should know better as no-one in England can pronounce or spell his own name.
Mr Spouse has a Welsh first name (another fun kettle of fish) and no-one can spell it and Americans can’t pronounce it. He writes his name in an email and signs it at the bottom and it’s in the “From” field and people still misspell it in their reply.
Our future children will have English names I think. We do live in England after all.
Oh Boy! This is a fun topic! I am living in America, married to a (real) Irish man named Padraic. He is one the phone a lot for work and just says ‘Patrick’, it saves about 10 minutes of confusion. We have two boys, Eamon and Brendan (very little). Eamon is okay, people remember it when they see it, but he is doomed to be called Aidan for his whole life, it is very very popular over here. Brendan is quite common, but not too much, I think the relatives were thinking we would call him something a little crazier, but no luck. We also liked the names Owen and Liam, but they are getting too popular for us, and we like Declan but for some reason never chose it. I know quite a few Maeves, and I do like that one too. If Brendan were a girl he would have been Bridget probably, becuase we like it and also to get in with a rich aunt (ha ha!). If a third child comes along, I am sure we will come up with something rediculous just to make their life miserable. I mean, why not? We do like Niamh, and also know a couple of Islas, though I think that is Welsh?
We have niece/nephews (in Ireland) named Cathal, Padraic, Roisin, Ciara and Laoisa (and many w/ anglicized names).
Oh, and anything that is an amalgamation of the parent’s names, or names that are totally made up.
Angeline, I don’t really mind Eoghan and Tadhg because I regard these as proper names, if a little unpronounceable in other jurisdictions. They are really pretty ordinary here. Tiernan and Riley are sinful abominations though.
Now cha0tic, you are not going to like this but I really don’t like Neave. Just nasty in my view, now Niamh, Niamh is a grand name. Aisling is too. Actually, that’s not one that even occurred to me as being unpronounceable until, while living in Belgium, an English colleague passed me a card with “Aisling” on it and said nervously, “How the hell do you pronounce that?”
Jankat, Kathleen and Claire are lovely names. You might think that I would say that anyway but my brother-in-law does not call me “Anne, I speak your weight” for nothing. If I didn’t like them, I’d say so (trying to combine tact and honesty). For the school yard, Kathleen is a little old fashioned but in a nice way and I’d say it’s due a comeback.
Oh Eimear, that is unfortunate about Ava. I dunno, I’d say we might see Agnes and Bridget back – I mean whoever thought Norah would make such a comeback. I don’t think we’ll see many more Gobnaits though.
Michelle, that’s rather sweet about your mother’s name.
Lucy, yes re princess, yes, yes re amalgamation and worst of all, made up.
C, interested in what you’re saying about the names. No, this was a pretty accurate reflection of names in my class though we also had Jennifer, Rachel, Helen and so on. I wonder could the movement have caught on slightly earlier in Cork given the enthusiasm for the first national language there?
Katie, I do think Aoife is quite nice though…on the other hand I can see how it could be tiring. An English woman I know, with an Irish mother is called Gráinne. Not one of my favourite Irish names but I was kind of startled when I saw that she had taken to calling herself Grania on her business cards. Welsh names, now, there must be a blog post in those.
Diana, those are all very good names in my view though Isla is Scottish, I think, and I feel somehow pronunciation might be tricky for me.. I must say, I do like Laoise, it’s a bit trendy over here at the moment but I suspect safer in the US. Also v. popular here but perhaps more unusual over there is Aifric.
One of my most-hated is “ceilidh” bastardized to Kayleigh, Kaylee, Caylea, Kaighley (no, i’m not kidding). It’s like naming your child “dance party.”
It’s a minefield. My friend Laoise (resident in London) is regularly called ‘Elisha’. I like Irish names, but they don’t always travel well.
My little niece is called Ffion. We joke that her middle name is ‘withtwoeffs’.
Ouch Katie! My latest is called Aoife which I thought was giving the world a break! At least Belgians seem to be able to pronounce it, though without seeing the spelling, which I admit is a bit of a decoy. I like Laoise (and Naoise) but am a bit dubious about names that could be masculine or feminine (one of each here folks).
Oh Islay, I so agree about Kayleigh and all its variations. QoP you realise that your brother refers to your school friends as Siofralaoisediofra?
TM, oh dear – very challenging but at least people can say it, even if they can’t spell it.
C, well I quite like Aoife too as discussed above but it may present more of a challenge abroad than you had thought…
Yes, I think if people hear Aoife they will be fine. They are thrown by Padraic as so many of them want to spell it with a g at the end, pronounce it with a g at the end, or pronounce it with t in the middle (I actually don’t know how it is pronounced in Ireland but this colleague pronounces it as if it were Padrick i.e. Patrick with a d in the middle. At least, I think so – I’ve heard so many mispronunciations now I’m not sure what he actually says!). And so anyone that hears him say it, can’t spell it, and vice versa.