Irish Name Ideas

[LadyNymeria]

Hello Baby Names board!

MH and I are expecting a little one in September and after a good NT scan yesterday it finally feels real enough to start thinking names. My family is Irish and I've always loved Irish names, but since I come from a huge family where we're close enough to 1st cousins to not re-use their names, I'm looking for some ideas.

The only requirement currently is that it has to be somewhat easy to pronounce/spell. For example, I like the name Siobhan, but MH nixed it quick because of the spelling.

So I was hoping for some suggestions to use as a good starting point. I've been looking online, but a lot of lists are huge and a bit overwhelming to start with right now. My apologies if this has been asked before - work has a website blocking tool in place that doesn't let me use the Search function on TCF.

Thank you!!

[helenahhandbasket]

My favorites:
Brigid
Colleen
Maeve
Maura
Orla
Shannon (like this for a boy too)

Eamonn (but could be issues with pronunciation)
Cary
Quinn
Padraig

[oreille]

Cian
Conall
Conor
Cormac
Declan
Eamonn
Sean
Seamus
Tiernan


Bridget
Maeve
Maura
Una

[bromios]

Most of my favorite Irish names probably fall into the "hard to spell/pronounce" category (Niamh, Caoimhe, Saoirse...), but here are some others:
Boy:
Alastar
Seamus
Padraig (or Patrick, but I like Padraig so much better and I think it's decently well known how you pronounce it)
Rhys
Ronan
Angus
Conall
Ciar
Ciaran
Fergus
Finnegan
Finnian
Lorcan
Torin
Ultan

Girl:
Alastriona
Una
Aoife
Catriona
Orla
Ciara
Emer
Eilis (okay, this one isn't intuitive, but might be better known since that movie Brooklyn came out recently)

[billyhorrible]

yeah, so my favorite girl name - Aoibheann probably falls in the "how do you pronounce that?" category.

Grainne and Aoife are probably a little iffy, but names you probably only need to tell someone once and they'll get.

Is Iseult/Yseult intuitive? It is to me, but I don't know about anyone else. Otherwise Nora and Mairead.

I do much better with boy names:
Connall
Desmond
Callum
Cormac
Emmet
Eamon
Seamus

[LadyNymeria]

Thanks for the suggestions!! Good thing we have lots of time, because this is apparently going to be even more difficult than I thought.

I've been loving the name Nolan and MH shot it down tonight because he thought it was a weird name. In what world is Nolan weird??

You've given me some great options to start with. Thanks again!!!

[bromios]

Feb 26, 2016 23:40:25 GMT -5 LadyNymeria said:

Thanks for the suggestions!! Good thing we have lots of time, because this is apparently going to be even more difficult than I thought.

I've been loving the name Nolan and MH shot it down tonight because he thought it was a weird name. In what world is Nolan weird??

You've given me some great options to start with. Thanks again!!!

Your DH hasn't heard of Nolan Ryan...?(!?!?)

[dreadpiratebuttercup]

I'll just list my favorites and let you decide what's easy to pronounce.

Ailis
Alastriona
Aoife
Catriona
Eibhlin
Eilis
Elva
Fiona
Honora
Liadan
Niamh
Oona
Orla
Roisin
Saoirse

Alastar
Cian
Ciaran
Cillian
Colin
Conall
Conor
Cormac
Desmond
Eamonn
Eoin
Fergus
Finnegan
Finnian
Ivor
Lorcan
Neil
Niall
Orrin
Padraig
Patrick
Riordan
Ronan
Rory
Seamus
Tadhg
Torin

You could also try going to behindthename.com and browsing the Irish category. Just stay away from the Ks!

[LadyNymeria]

Feb 27, 2016 2:09:03 GMT -5 bromios said:

Feb 26, 2016 23:40:25 GMT -5 LadyNymeria said:

Thanks for the suggestions!! Good thing we have lots of time, because this is apparently going to be even more difficult than I thought.

I've been loving the name Nolan and MH shot it down tonight because he thought it was a weird name. In what world is Nolan weird??

You've given me some great options to start with. Thanks again!!!

Your DH hasn't heard of Nolan Ryan...?(!?!?)

He has! And that's the example I used! I was so surprised he didn't like it!

[cbrandt1]

Declan is a great name .

[LadyNymeria]

Feb 27, 2016 14:40:44 GMT -5 alwayscheese said:

I'm not good with Irish names but I think all the ones I'm familiar with have been suggested.
LadyNymeria HI! Nice to see you not on the TTA board

Hi!! Thanks!!!

[melimo1315]

Both my DH and I are half Irish and have a very traditional Irish last name. We have 2 sons the younger one being just a few months old. We had a hard time coming up with one boy's name nevermind needing another ones few years later. Our oldest is Brody and the younger is Bryson. Some people find them too trendy but I still like them hahahaha

[claud]

For boys, I like

Connor
Declan
Kieran

For girls, I love
Bridget
Colleen

[brusselssprout]

How do you feel about Colm? DH loves it... I'm not sold.

[LadyNymeria]

I'm with you brusselssprout, I'm not totally sold on that one. Not really sure why, it's just not up there with other options IMO.

[hangry]

Yea, I don't feel like Colm flows out of the mouth very easily.

[dreadpiratebuttercup]

Not a fan of Colm.

[billyhorrible]

Love Colm.

I'm fairly certain it can also be a nickname for Malcolm if you wanted something else to fall back on.

[bromios]

billyhorrible, your siggy photo is the most terrible thing I have ever seen. I am going to have nightmares.

[billyhorrible]

Mar 3, 2016 1:10:10 GMT -5 bromios said:

billyhorrible , your siggy photo is the most terrible thing I have ever seen. I am going to have nightmares.

I know.  Crying children bother me too.

[sparklegrump]

DD's name is Niamh, and it's my favorite. The pronunciation/spelling thing can get in the way at first, until people realize that the mh make a v sound, and then they're fine. It may not meet your criteria, but I think it's beautiful.

Eta: if this baby is a boy he'll be Rory, possibly Rory Malcolm.

[bromios]

Mar 4, 2016 23:20:19 GMT -5 sparklegrump said:

DD's name is Niamh, and it's my favorite. The pronunciation/spelling thing can get in the way at first, until people realize that the mh make a v sound, and then they're fine. It may not meet your criteria, but I think it's beautiful.

Eta: if this baby is a boy he'll be Rory, possibly Rory Malcolm.

Niamh was our number one for a girl for a long time. It doesn't really go with our ln, but as a fn in a vacuum it's one of my very favorites.

[ottertails]

Most have been said already, but I wanted to throw out Eileen and Moira.

[k3am]

Mar 5, 2016 5:35:11 GMT -5 ottertails said:

Most have been said already, but I wanted to throw out Eileen and Moira.

I love the name Moira, but I hate the fact that it gets shortened down to "Mo" as a nickname. 

[Deleted]

Mar 9, 2016 13:29:08 GMT -5 k3am said:

Mar 5, 2016 5:35:11 GMT -5 ottertails said:

Most have been said already, but I wanted to throw out Eileen and Moira.

I love the name Moira, but I hate the fact that it gets shortened down to "Mo" as a
nickname. 

Eww to the nn

[purple]

Mar 9, 2016 13:29:08 GMT -5 k3am said:

Mar 5, 2016 5:35:11 GMT -5 ottertails said:

Most have been said already, but I wanted to throw out Eileen and Moira.

I love the name Moira, but I hate the fact that it gets shortened down to "Mo" as a nickname. 

I've never, ever heard Moira nicknamed at all. It's one of those names that doesn't lend itself to nicknames.

[k3am]

Mar 13, 2016 0:19:26 GMT -5 purple said:

Mar 9, 2016 13:29:08 GMT -5 k3am said:

I love the name Moira, but I hate the fact that it gets shortened down to "Mo" as a nickname. 

I've never, ever heard Moira nicknamed at all. It's one of those names that doesn't lend itself to nicknames.

It's one of my friend's mom's name as well as a cousin.. both of whom end up going by Mo a lot and neither of which have overlapping social groups. People can nickname anything. 

ETA: DH also has a coworker named Moira who gets called Mo occasionally.

[mkrosebud]

My son is Cormac and we call him
Mac for short!

[LadyNymeria]

I've heard of both Moira and Maureen being shortened to Mo.

[spring78]

For what it is worth, we named our now 5 month old Ciaran. It has not been pronounced correctly even once, but I really do not mind. I just kindly explain it is a traditional Irish name with the traditional Irish spelling and more often than not folks express interest in the background and otherwise it is no big deal. It gives us a natural opening topic of discussion and helps break the ice. My sister has had a similar experience with her daughter's Scottish name, Eilidh. I think the same can be said for any Gaelic name. So pick a name you like and stick to your guns on spelling as long as you are okay with the role of educating people about the name. That is my two cents, anyway.